Electric Picnic pushed back three weeks; Organisers confident festival will go ahead

Organisers of the Electric Picnic festival have said they are "still confident" the event can go ahead this year.

Hundreds of Corkonians flock to the Stradbally festival every year for the three-day event of music and entertainment.

The music festival, originally scheduled to take place on September 2-5, has been pushed back by three weeks, to September 24-26, to give it the best chance of proceeding.

Anyone with tickets for the original dates who is unable to make the rescheduled event will be entitled to a full refund.

A spokesperson said: "Given the great progress the HSE is making on the vaccine rollout so far, and the recently announced target of having at least 70% of the country fully vaccinated by the end of July, we are still confident that the festival can take place this year.

"That being said, we feel we have a much better chance of that happening by moving the dates back a few weeks to September 24th-26th instead of the original dates of September 3rd-5th.

"We are as desperate as everyone else to get our industry back up and running, and if moving the festival further back in September helps that dream become a reality then we feel it's the right decision to make.

"We also understand that this may not suit everyone, and if you cannot make it that weekend then you are entitled to a full refund."

Festival organisers said they hope the event can be a "light at the end of the tunnel" for music fans.

"Everyone in our industry, and the entire country for that matter, needs some sort of hope that the end of this pandemic is in sight" the spokesperson said.

"We truly wish that Electric Picnic will be the light at the end of the tunnel and we can welcome you all to Stradbally this year."

The news comes following an announcement by the Government that it will provide 25 million euro worth of funding to support live music events, which have been devastated by the pandemic.

Festival Republic, the team behind the Electric Picnic, was awarded 420,000 under the scheme for live shows at Stradbally Hall and the Olympia Theatre.

Culture Minister Catherin Martin said: "I know this funding will assist in the employment of performers, artists, technicians, creative and performance support staff across the sector, bringing much-needed employment to many who have not had work for many, many months.

"I look forward to the high-quality artistic output, as demonstrated in the pilot, which has been so important and enjoyed by so many."

The news comes as over €2m in funding has been allocated to businesses and organisations in the entertainment sector in Cork.

The allocation is a boost for Cork’s live entertainment sector in Cork.