Electric Picnic is about new discoveries and great fun
Steve Lacy is one worth seeing at Electric Picnic.
This brings extra questions, especially this year. How can the summer end if it never started? And what about next year, when the festival will take place in mid August, in a change of tactics by the organisers as they celebrate its 20th year in 2024.
It’s an interesting decision, and there’s much speculation as to why the dates have been changed. Some reckon it’s because the Picnic has generally a younger demographic these days, but I’m not so sure. There’s plenty of over 25s and much, much older still going.
The potential clash with the well publicised Coldplay shows have also been mentioned and I guess some of the key personnel working at these shows will be needed in Stradbally for what is one of Europe’s biggest festivals these days.
Electric Picnic is quite mainstream now so I’d imagine there will be many Coldplay fans going to one of their shows and the Picnic.
The weather is another reason suggested, which again is interesting, as early September weather is traditionally probably just as good as mid August weather here.
I’m not sure what the outlook is for this weekend, but it’s been a terrible summer. The change of dates may provide an opening or two for some of the smaller festivals to move into that early September time-slot, but we’ll cross that road next year, and for now, preview this weekend’s festival.
As mentioned, it’s a million miles away from the festival that initially brought the likes of Jurassic 5 and Groove Armada to an intimate day out in the Stradbally sun. Electric Picnic expanded rapidly in the mid 2000s but had a few lean years before the Festival Respublic era, and the days of it being a Boutique festival are long since past.
It has expanded into a huge festival in recent years and the headline acts reflect this. Whether these acts excite you is a matter of taste really.
The six main headliners are Billie Eilish, Fred Again, The Killers, Niall Horan, Paulo Nutini and The Script. It’s not exactly the most enticing line-up of all time but this is a festival that sells out automatically and the organisers and indeed many of the punters won’t mind.
The days of Kendrick Lamar and A Tribe Called Quest and others seem long gone, but were only a few years ago really, and in Spotify or chart position terms the line-up makes sense. The Electric Picnic was initially special because of more creative music choices combined with a different approach to everything from food to music but as I say, those days are now gone. There are many other festivals filling the gap, most notably All Toghether Now, but the Picnic is a juggernaut that has moved on to a different level.
If the headliners don’t excite you there is always a raft of other acts playing, and a cursory look at the poster should at least give you something worth seeing. My own musical tastes will hopefully lead me to Steve Lacy, Belters Only, Sello, Jazzy, Nia Archives, Jamie XX or Young Fathers, but as always there is loads of stuff off the beaten track which will be rewarding for those who dig a little deeper.
This is what a festival should really be about, new discoveries and some great fun.
This has always made the Electric Picnic important to me and having attended all bar one of them since 2004, I can rarely recall the big-name music acts being the defining moment. It’s about the whole experience really, and as the years go by I can understand why some want a more comfortable time with less people. Personally I love the big crowds but it’s not for everyone, and you certainly need to be in the mood to do a lot of walking! It’s not quite Glastonbury but it’s still a fairly vast site, and there are many different stages and areas to get lost in.
Electric Picnic may have lost a little bit of what made it amazing along the way, but it won’t stop it being on everyone’s lips this weekend, and for many bands, singers, rappers and music fans, it will help define their 2023.
Roll on Stradbally!
