Overview
Electric Picnic began as a one-day event in 2004, before growing to a weekend-long festival within a year, and becoming a three day affair in 2006. It is organised by Pod Concerts and Aiken Promotions. It is rapidly gaining ground on Oxegen as the most popular Irish music festival with the 2006 festival selling out faster than any other year. This said, Oxegen also sold out in record time for the 2007 festival. The festival also incorporates other attractions such as the 24-hour cinema tent, the Body and Soul arena (offering an ambient lounge with beanbags, massages and tarot card readings), the International Comedy Tent (curated by Des Bishop) and a silent disco.History
2004 festival
- The following are some of the headline acts from the 2004 festival:
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2005 festival
The 2005 festival took place on Saturday September 3 and Sunday September 4. It is best be remembered for Arcade Fire's performance which came before their subsequent mainstream success. Headlining acts included Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kraftwerk, The Flaming Lips, Röyksopp, Mercury Rev and The Human League.
The premiere of "Electric Picnic: The Documentary" took place at the Irish Film Institute on Tuesday July 4 2006 at 7pm. The documentary was filmed by a small camera crew who recorded the events of Electric Picnic 2005. Narrated by musician Nick Seymour and economist David McWilliams, the documentary includes footage from Kraftwerk's first recorded live performance in twelve years plus interviews with the performing bands and comedians, with a few festival-goers and with the locals of Stradbally Village, who claimed: "We get more trouble at the Vintage Steam Rally".
2006 festival
In 2006 the festival gained momentum, with all 30,000 tickets (each costing €175 including camping) selling out more than seven weeks in advance. Presale tickets went on sale on Monday November 28 2005. The event took place on the weekend of September 1 – September 3 2006, with the line-up being revealed on Friday March 24. Artists who performed across the seven stages included Sparks, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Basement Jaxx, Rufus Wainwright, Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gary Numan, François Kevorkian, Groove Armada, Damien Rice and The Frames. The Blue Nile's appearance was their only live performance of the year. The festival's biggest casualty was Gnarls Barkley who had to cancel their appearance after rapper/singer Cee-Lo strained his vocal cords. David McWilliams made an appearance as a celebrity. RTÉ Two televised the festival, with a special RTÉ Two Green Room being set up at Stradbally Hall Estate for presenters Tom Dunne and Jenny Huston.
The Comedy Tent in 2006 featured PJ Gallagher, Des Bishop, Neil Delamere, and Eric Lalor.
2007 festival
Electric Picnic 2007 was once again a three day event and ran from 31 August until 2 September. The festival maintained its current size of 32,500 festival goers and kept all the same elements plus some new additions. "Early-bird" tickets for the 2007 festival went on sale between Monday 11 December 2006, and Saturday 24 February 2007, costing €199, taking into account the VAT that must now be paid on all outdoor events. Full price tickets have been for sale since Tuesday April 3 at a price of €220. The first acts were officially announced on Monday April 2.
Besides the music other attractions included an inflatable church offering mock weddings, luxury tents, massage chambers, a fairground and silent disco. Acii Disco DJs began the festival on the Friday at 12 p.m. in the Bodytonic Tent. Amongst others to take to the stage on Friday were Björk, Hot Chip, Scott Matthews, Manic Street Preachers and Oppenheimer whilst the unnamed band responsible for The Good, the Bad and the Queen headlined the Electric Arena tent. The Sunday night was brought to a close by Primal Scream.
The festival was however marred by the death of a 23-year-old fan. The incident occurred as The Chemical Brothers came to a climax at 2 a.m. early on the Sunday morning. Organiser John Reynolds extended his sympathies and said: "A young man took ill at the festival, was treated at the medical centre, removed to Port Laoise Hospital and was later pronounced dead." Gardaí said they were not treating the death as suspicious.
2008 festival
The 2008 festival was confirmed for August 29, 30, 31 when the official Electric Picnic website announced the usual pre-sale was to happen again. These tickets went on sale on November 9 2007 whilst the genuine tickets go on sale on Friday March 28 at 9 p.m. Weekend tickets – there are no individual day ones – cost €240 including camping, with the various sites opening at 9 a.m. on Friday August 29. Camper van access cost €60. Also available are family tickets permitting entrance for two adults plus four children aged 12 and under. Otherwise it’s strictly over 18s with photo ID required. The Hot Press Chatroom will return for a fourth consecutive year, hosting exclusive public interviews with some of the weekend’s big names. Tickets had sold out by June 17.Recently the official website was replaced by a sequence of brightly coloured boxes (originally smaller in number and toward the centre of the screen but now expanded and growing rapidly) which when solved reveal a secret message concerning the line-up followed by the caption, "Electric Picnic, August 2008, Stradbally Estate, County Laois". The boxes then became more erratic and the message evolved to reveal a particular date and time referring to the release of the line-up.
35,000 will attend. The recently reunited My Bloody Valentine have stated that they will appear, as have German rockers Faust and Tindersticks. Sex Pistols and Franz Ferdinand have been confirmed, as have Sigur Rós, The Breeders and Grinderman. The full line up was officially announced on Wednesday March 26 at 6 p.m.
For 2008, Electric Picnic introduces the Myhab eco-friendly alternative to camping. Ticket holders can book a two-person myhab, which is very close to the action in the yellow campsite. When you arrive at the site, your myhab will already be waiting for you. Myhab users will also have access to toilets, hot showers, a safe box for valuables, and your myhab will be easy to find as you can personalise it when you book online. Myhabs are waterproof, spacious, and made from reusable, recyclable materials.
The 2008 festival was thrown into jeopardy in June when the Irish Music Rights Organisation said Pod Concerts had no right to run the festival again. IMRO is seeking more that €432,000 from the promoter because of royalties allegedly not paid from a series of music festivals, including Love Box and Garden Party, over the past four years. The organisers are making reassurances that the festival is in no doubt or jeopardy.
References
External links
- Official Electric Picnic Website
- Review of the 2005 Electric Picnic Festival
- The Ticket at Electric Picnic 2007
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 05:58:43 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
Overview
Electric Picnic began as a one-day event in 2004, before growing to a weekend-long festival within a year, and becoming a three day affair in 2006. It is organised by Pod Concerts and Aiken Promotions. It is rapidly gaining ground on Oxegen as the most popular Irish music festival with the 2006 festival selling out faster than any other year. This said, Oxegen also sold out in record time for the 2007 festival. The festival also incorporates other attractions such as the 24-hour cinema tent, the Body and Soul arena (offering an ambient lounge with beanbags, massages and tarot card readings), the International Comedy Tent (curated by Des Bishop) and a silent disco.History
2004 festival
- The following are some of the headline acts from the 2004 festival:
|
|
2005 festival
The 2005 festival took place on Saturday September 3 and Sunday September 4. It is best be remembered for Arcade Fire's performance which came before their subsequent mainstream success. Headlining acts included Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kraftwerk, The Flaming Lips, Röyksopp, Mercury Rev and The Human League.
The premiere of "Electric Picnic: The Documentary" took place at the Irish Film Institute on Tuesday July 4 2006 at 7pm. The documentary was filmed by a small camera crew who recorded the events of Electric Picnic 2005. Narrated by musician Nick Seymour and economist David McWilliams, the documentary includes footage from Kraftwerk's first recorded live performance in twelve years plus interviews with the performing bands and comedians, with a few festival-goers and with the locals of Stradbally Village, who claimed: "We get more trouble at the Vintage Steam Rally".
2006 festival
In 2006 the festival gained momentum, with all 30,000 tickets (each costing €175 including camping) selling out more than seven weeks in advance. Presale tickets went on sale on Monday November 28 2005. The event took place on the weekend of September 1 – September 3 2006, with the line-up being revealed on Friday March 24. Artists who performed across the seven stages included Sparks, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Basement Jaxx, Rufus Wainwright, Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gary Numan, François Kevorkian, Groove Armada, Damien Rice and The Frames. The Blue Nile's appearance was their only live performance of the year. The festival's biggest casualty was Gnarls Barkley who had to cancel their appearance after rapper/singer Cee-Lo strained his vocal cords. David McWilliams made an appearance as a celebrity. RTÉ Two televised the festival, with a special RTÉ Two Green Room being set up at Stradbally Hall Estate for presenters Tom Dunne and Jenny Huston.
The Comedy Tent in 2006 featured PJ Gallagher, Des Bishop, Neil Delamere, and Eric Lalor.
2007 festival
Electric Picnic 2007 was once again a three day event and ran from 31 August until 2 September. The festival maintained its current size of 32,500 festival goers and kept all the same elements plus some new additions. "Early-bird" tickets for the 2007 festival went on sale between Monday 11 December 2006, and Saturday 24 February 2007, costing €199, taking into account the VAT that must now be paid on all outdoor events. Full price tickets have been for sale since Tuesday April 3 at a price of €220. The first acts were officially announced on Monday April 2.
Besides the music other attractions included an inflatable church offering mock weddings, luxury tents, massage chambers, a fairground and silent disco. Acii Disco DJs began the festival on the Friday at 12 p.m. in the Bodytonic Tent. Amongst others to take to the stage on Friday were Björk, Hot Chip, Scott Matthews, Manic Street Preachers and Oppenheimer whilst the unnamed band responsible for The Good, the Bad and the Queen headlined the Electric Arena tent. The Sunday night was brought to a close by Primal Scream.
The festival was however marred by the death of a 23-year-old fan. The incident occurred as The Chemical Brothers came to a climax at 2 a.m. early on the Sunday morning. Organiser John Reynolds extended his sympathies and said: "A young man took ill at the festival, was treated at the medical centre, removed to Port Laoise Hospital and was later pronounced dead." Gardaí said they were not treating the death as suspicious.
2008 festival
The 2008 festival was confirmed for August 29, 30, 31 when the official Electric Picnic website announced the usual pre-sale was to happen again. These tickets went on sale on November 9 2007 whilst the genuine tickets go on sale on Friday March 28 at 9 p.m. Weekend tickets – there are no individual day ones – cost €240 including camping, with the various sites opening at 9 a.m. on Friday August 29. Camper van access cost €60. Also available are family tickets permitting entrance for two adults plus four children aged 12 and under. Otherwise it’s strictly over 18s with photo ID required. The Hot Press Chatroom will return for a fourth consecutive year, hosting exclusive public interviews with some of the weekend’s big names. Tickets had sold out by June 17.Recently the official website was replaced by a sequence of brightly coloured boxes (originally smaller in number and toward the centre of the screen but now expanded and growing rapidly) which when solved reveal a secret message concerning the line-up followed by the caption, "Electric Picnic, August 2008, Stradbally Estate, County Laois". The boxes then became more erratic and the message evolved to reveal a particular date and time referring to the release of the line-up.
35,000 will attend. The recently reunited My Bloody Valentine have stated that they will appear, as have German rockers Faust and Tindersticks. Sex Pistols and Franz Ferdinand have been confirmed, as have Sigur Rós, The Breeders and Grinderman. The full line up was officially announced on Wednesday March 26 at 6 p.m.
For 2008, Electric Picnic introduces the Myhab eco-friendly alternative to camping. Ticket holders can book a two-person myhab, which is very close to the action in the yellow campsite. When you arrive at the site, your myhab will already be waiting for you. Myhab users will also have access to toilets, hot showers, a safe box for valuables, and your myhab will be easy to find as you can personalise it when you book online. Myhabs are waterproof, spacious, and made from reusable, recyclable materials.
The 2008 festival was thrown into jeopardy in June when the Irish Music Rights Organisation said Pod Concerts had no right to run the festival again. IMRO is seeking more that €432,000 from the promoter because of royalties allegedly not paid from a series of music festivals, including Love Box and Garden Party, over the past four years. The organisers are making reassurances that the festival is in no doubt or jeopardy.
References
External links
- Official Electric Picnic Website
- Review of the 2005 Electric Picnic Festival
- The Ticket at Electric Picnic 2007
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 05:58:43 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.