Electric Picnic 2015

Mike Guide 69

seachto7 wrote: »

Were Low that bad? Caught their first song but legged it for Blur..
Did Alan Sparhawk say anything to the crowd?

No Low were'nt bad at all, in all fairness they played a cracking set, but it was the time slot that they were performing at,(11PM), wedged between 2 dance acts, that I think did not help the band at all. Alan Sparhawk was very appreciated of the crowd that turned up and thanked them, a better slot would have been to put them on before The 1975 , would have got a few newbies who were there to see The 1975 hear some of Low's set, but I enjoyed it, great guitar playing from him too during the set

Right Turn Clyde

Wooderson wrote: »

I don't think the comparisons to Witnness or Oxegen are fair either.

I spoke a bit about Witnness earlier but I was speaking specifically in the context of the commercial side of things. I agree that outside of that there's no point in comparing them. Two completely different experiences.

caff

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

Caught a good few acts and the weekend has been over all great but have been standing outside my tent for the past 2 hours as the group beside us starting lighting chairs and tents on fire... Few of them were lifted off by security.

Just waiting for light to take the tent down and get out of here..

In Hendrix? Was camped beside a group lighting chairs, security took one out but let him in a few hours later, found a tractor tyre beside my tent later on. Lucky they didn't get a chance to light that!
Had a great festival apart from that though!

connundrum

Klim wrote: »

I know I'm derailing here, but I have to ask... what was Homelands like from that side? As a wet-behind-the-ears teen, I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life (the first one anyway). You could've walked up to any stranger and been best friends within minutes.

An absolutely amazing event.

It was my first festival to work at (2000), and I'm assuming it was the first 'large gig' that the company I worked for had too - so we were all very much feeling our way round. The highlight was being sent out to accompany Garda sniffer dogs with a wheelie bin and shovel a day or two before it kicked off. I'd say I'd have had my house paid for with the amount of gear we found buried!

What felt like half our staff melted into the crowd as the event day went on, which left us very short when it came to emptying the place out. That said, everyone was so friendly and obliging it was a good bit of craic. Order of Malta were out the door all day though, jaysus.

Right Turn Clyde

scruff monkey wrote: »

Hang on, i missed this, when did MTV start showing music again?

There's a half-dozen different MTV channels now, so they're showing more music than ever. It's just that it's all 'top 50' and other badly curated crap.

Anyone remember Headbangers Ball or Party Zone? Actually, don't even start... I'm gonna start crying.

Right Turn Clyde

The Nal wrote: »

Ah come on. Wouldn't be a festival without seeing a big shoe in a urinal!

Read again. I don't think it was a shoe.

scruff monkey

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

There's a half-dozen different MTV channels now, so they're showing more music than ever. It's just that it's all 'top 50' and other badly curated crap.

Anyone remember Headbangers Ball or Party Zone? Actually, don't even start... I'm gonna start crying.

Headbangers Ball with Mick Wall

shudder....

Klim

connundrum wrote: »

It was my first festival to work at (2000), and I'm assuming it was the first 'large gig' that the company I worked for had too - so we were all very much feeling our way round. The highlight was being sent out to accompany Garda sniffer dogs with a wheelie bin and shovel a day or two before it kicked off. I'd say I'd have had my house paid for with the amount of gear we found buried!

What felt like half our staff melted into the crowd as the event day went on, which left us very short when it came to emptying the place out. That said, everyone was so friendly and obliging it was a good bit of craic. Order of Malta were out the door all day though, jaysus.

Thank you.

I found the second one (the one you staffed) slightly more intimidating crowd wise, and a bit more open with drugs. Not to say the first one wasn't completely fueled by Mitsubushi, but it just had a friendlier feel.

Still remember laughing at the 'subtle' 40 something undercovers in wolly jumpers, walking around with the 'kill me now' expression asking everyone had they 'any e's for sale'.

A superb event, which just encapsulated the time and the dance movement at the time for me.

MGMTea

TAME IMPALA though. Hope to see them headline some time, they deffo have the bangers for a headline slot.

Reggie noble

So when does next years tickets go on sale ?

Wooderson

Reggie noble wrote: »

So when does next years tickets go on sale ?

I was told Friday.

everlast75

I got an email last year as we drove out of the car park.

B*stards got me at my weakest moment.. bought two tickets :-/

Catmologen

Furious-Red

Barlivia wrote: »

Florence was great but was disappointed with the Tame Impala clash. Anyone here catch them what were they like?

scruff monkey wrote: »

They were epic, sound in the EA was terrible but they put on a great show, energetic and the right level of soothing sounds to finish off a great weekend of music

Yea always find the EA never has the best sound but still really enjoyed their det.

Also why do people keep mentioning that the 1975 played? Did they play or was i oblivious ha

Irish_rat

How can people not say this year's picnic is different compared to previous years? The larger cap was well noticeable, going anywhere near that "cocktail bar" across from Despacio was a warzone at times, showing the GAA on a big screen is very un-EP like. Sam Smith headlining was just so wrong on many levels when you had the likes of Interpol, Tame Impala and Paul Kalkbrenner around.

Still it was a brilliant weekend despite the few negatives, Body & Soul unreal, the perfect place to hang out for the day and night. Met many new friends, good music and the weather was A1 for most of it.

I think if the numbers remain the same I wont be too pushed for next year, Body & Soul however ..

Wooderson

@Irish_rat

Bars playing awful music at deafening volume is not unusual at EP, nor are sporting occasions being shown or pop acts playing on the main stage. If people swapped Paul Kalkbrenner into that spot you'd need to have your head examined.

The site is large enough to take these disparate aspects of the fest and they not impinge on enjoyment one way or another.

Peterd66

Did anyone see Benjamin Clemintine? He was astonishing, crowd left stunned.
Or was it my imagination and emotional state after 3 days of beer?

Bobby Baccala

Didn't know much by the war on drugs before this weekend, act of the festival for me.

Thought the rave in the woods was fairly average this year.

The rest of the festival as amazing as ever.

Anybody have a set list for the war on drugs set?

Martin_D

How to lump an extra 20c on the price of a pint - pretend you are running a "green" festival and run a nonsense plastic cup recycling wheez. Price of pint €6.20 (€6.70 for Paulaner). You get the 20c back if you beggar yourself at a designated collection point (in yet another queue) but bring back your cup for a refill at the bar they still charge you the €6.20
Handy money for kids doing the collecting but not a true and fair recycling scheme - most people gave up on it but the Bar operator pocketed a tidy extra profit. Oh and they insist that the returned cup is unbroken although they were just bagging them in bin bags presumably to be carted off to be preprocessed which was the only positive.

charlietully

it was an amazing weekend as per usual.
grace jones and underworld were brilliant on Friday, followed by chilling around body and soul then dancing away at the grooveboys and ryan skelton. I really noticed the increased capacity in the main areana Friday but that may be more to do with the lack of choice available.
Saturday had planned for alvvays but the banter in the campsite went on longer than anticipated. Headed in for the war on drugs enjoyed them but found the long outros a bit annoying.
Hot chip next and that blew me away, they were amazing, the jon Hopkins and the 2 bears, magic. Found the security scumbags on the way in Sat, they took two pre rolled of me and my mate had to bribe one with 50 euro as he got caught with 3 yokes, they did give the yokes back though.
sunday in the cosby was back to back brilliance, my fat white family, viet cong and then girl band who stole the show and were my find of the weekend, hadn't heard them before, they were amazing, caught a band from Mayo my new social on the oxjam sun afternoon. good wee band. finished up with julio bashmore then had to split for work today.
Around the cocktail bar near electric Ireland it was like a teenage disco, my 15 year old would not have looked out of place.
Saw a few fights at the taxi rank Friday which a first for EP, have never seen trouble at it before.
I loved it and will be back.

Bobby Baccala

When did security start making you empty your pockets and then stick their hand in your pocket? One of them stuck his hand in my pocket that had 3 pills in it, he didn't notice them though somehow, gave me a proper fright

podgemonster

Just back from my first picnic. Fantastic stuff, I really enjoyed it. Everyone there was just in great spirits for 3 days. The body and soul place was my favourite, so weird.

Bleary eyed, hungover sipping coffee while listening to the Inishowen Gospel choir was an odd highlight.

The rave in the woods was surreal. Haters gona hate but I enjoyed the Corona's a lot. Hot Chip were great fun, got wedged in then by Sam Smith fans so I went with the flow and though he was really very impressive. The casa bacardi area was immense. I also watched caught some of the GAA, great buzz there.

MS MR were class, Gavin James and George Erza's performances were a bit mellowed for a festival scene. Wasn't impressed by Underworld really but I only know one song. Florence was naturally quality. Some hip hop comedy group blew my mind yesterday, very sharp ab lib rapping!!

Pints were very pricey but its allowed me to pace myself anyway the natural buzz and joy of the festival would make anyone high. Great food choices too!

seachto7

No love for the Manics here? Thought they were spot on last night. A good alternative to the electro bands.
Got bored of Tame Impala about half way through the set.
Went to see Jerry Fish and much preferred it. His drummer was an animal! (RSAG)
Parquet Courts seemed decent . Only caught bits of Battles and War on Drugs.
Can't stand George Ezra or Sam Smith. All subjective I suppose but obviously catering to the young folk!
I would have liked a few heavier bands higher up the bill.
I often wonder with half the bands and the hype around them. So many bands were just "alright" for me at EP. Not great but you read about them and you're expecting something amazing and then it's just ok. Tis all subjective I suppose. I really wanted to enjoy Tame Impala though. Take away the fancy lightshow and give me songs!!
Raging I missed Low
Funnily enough I saw underworld and blur at a festival in 1999. I'm getting too old for this!
What's the story with the kids? Is not just a pain in the hole for everyone? Kids too young to enjoy the bands. Parents have to be watching the kids. People openly doing drugs around them too which I saw yesterday. Kids or the parents didn't cop the group beside them doing coke..

Wooderson

seachto7 wrote: »

What's the story with the kids? Is not just a pain in the hole for everyone? Kids too young to enjoy the bands. Parents have to be watching the kids. People openly doing drugs around them too which I saw yesterday. Kids or the parents didn't cop the group beside them doing coke..

All those old people too. ****sake.

frozenfrozen

I'll try my hardest to not write a big long post. On arrival I was left in without any searching at all whatsoever, I went up to the 3 plus fast queue and they just waved me through, so that was nice. I was pretty much the first person into the eco campsite which was great the whole weekend. Quiet, clean, and everyone was friendly and the people checking the wristbands where really nice too. The toilets were all 100x better than last year, really fair ****s to them for keeping them clean, I only heard a handful of people complaining about them and tonnes of people being pleasantly surprised at how on the ball they were in terms of closing off a ****ed up portaloo and waiting for it to be cleaned.

The security were 50/50 **** and very sound. I could do a whole standup routine about the guy who nigh on strip searched me at HALF EIGHT in the morning on my way in for a coffee and walk around. He even counted the money in my wallet as well as not laughing at my 'don't worry that's a double decker in my pocket I'm not that happy to see you' quip. A few more were of that elk -- searching terminators who don't have empathy. The rest were nice and just did the pretend little pat down and waved me through which was appreciated.

I spent a lot of time in the comedy tent, it was very good this year, I wasn't too impressed with the lineup but really everyone there gave a pretty decent performance. I will say this though, **** Daniel Sloss, I felt kind of bad for him after he bombed his set and kept blaming the crowd and trying to explain his jokes, which were funny but his delivery was atrocious, which is all you could expect after his opening line was 'I'm very drunk and stoned'. I stopped feeling bad for him when he completely snobbed me in the most holier-than-thou way the following day. I couldn't actually believe how up his own hole he really was. Actually **** this post being short here's the story; in between comics in the tent he was sitting down right beside me, I'd recognised him earlier and thought ok here's a moment to say a quick hello, he was doing the whole hood up no eye contact with anyone thing that 'famous' people do and I stuck my little irish head around and said 'are you hiding under there or just cold' and I **** you not instead of being a real human and saying literally anything else he said 'Just cold mate.' AND ACTUALLY ****ING MOVED FROM WHERE HE WAS SITTING.
It took all the will power I have to not say something about how I thought he was just hiding because of how badly he bombed his set, but I just sat aghast at how ridiculously up his own hole he actually was.

Notable mentions of good comedy performances; Andrew stanley did a good job mcing again. David McSavage gave a fairly raw and really quite endearing performance where he announced he was only getting 750 euro for the gig and really did sum up what electric picnic should be all about when he said he didn't give a **** about finishing the set with his funniest joke. Terry Alderton was good, very tight performance and he really turned the crowd around and had them in the palm of his hand by the end, which is quite a decent achievement with his bizarre style. Deirdre O'Kane was great she really seemed to be enjoying herself and after a bit of a slow start you could just see her love for standup, even when she wasn't being funny she had total control of the crowd. I can't really go on listing every single other comic I saw but really they all had solid material outside of Sloss who paniced when he realised he only had 15 minutes of material and 5 minutes of laughs planned, of which he got about 30 seconds.

Foil Arms & Hog were great. Clisare on stage was a damn fix.

Des Bishop closing the comedy tent for the weekend was a big mistake, it should've been McSavage. Des was still surprisingly good but just bad billing putting him in that slot.

The commercial stuff was really overwhelming this year, everything was an ad and I felt like I was getting milked all day for money. Big ****ing shout out to just eat dot ie who actually did something good, they had CHAIRS and MR FREEZES. That is how you win my heart.

There were too many people. There were queues for queues and lines for queueing for the queues-queues. and just generally it felt like trying to paddle to stay afloat in the sea where if you stopped for one moment you could be caught up in a current of sally hansen smeared, flower enrobed, short-so-shorts girls sprinting viscously while holding onto their feather headdress for dear life.

I had some great food. Kinara kitchen deserve every morsel of praise they get. The lamb and chicken on nan bread that I got was perfect, the their whole set-up looked great and they were all very professionally mannered compared to some of the other stalls. Just a little story about why they were so great, I was waiting for their first service on the Sunday morning and was sitting down on one of the benches, meanwhile a queue had formed with people waiting to order. One of the men working there climbed out, quietly came over to me and the others who had been waiting there for the longest and took our orders, then called us up to the front of the queue to be served first once it was ready. Seriously impressed with both the delicious food and the fantastic way they treated me.

I also had some other lovely food namely the pulled pork from the 'probably the best BBQ food in ireland' stall over near the trailer park area. Some lovely baby back ribs from a different place, and a few other bits and pieces around the place. Didn't have anything disappointing food-wise all weekend. Outside of the moment I stuck my head into the theatre of food, don't know who it was or what they were meant to be talking about but the only thing I stuck around for was someone talking about how making your own food at home is better than buying ready-made meals. No ****, this is the food tent anyway so you're preaching to the choir.

I paid NINE euro for those wok'n'roll noodles. Last year I remember paying 7.50 and the box was at least 2 times as big. This year it was still a decent portion but 9 quid is way too dear, but this was a common theme of everything at electric picnic this year. Totally overpriced and trying to extract as much money as possible. I would definitely blame this on the festival itself though not the stall owners as it's clear they were being charged an arm and a leg just to operate there. Where in a perfect world they should be able to operate there on a shoe string and sell fantastic food as cheaply as possible to the people who have paid 200 euro just for the privilege of being there.

I'm not too bothered about the heineken 20c per cup thing, but it was a total joke seeing ADULTS going around picking hundreds of cups straight out of the bins to cash them in. And as for only offering the money on undamaged cups -- what the **** was that about, it just meant all the cup collectors were leaving broken cups on the floor so the problem was still there. It was great seeing a few of the children making absolute bank though I saw one guy absolutely ecstatic walking away with a ball of cash.

this post was so long so I'll do a little too long didn't read summary: It was a good weekend, the crowd were generally all very nice, the sound was good at 90% of the gigs I was at, it was too full and I felt like I was just there to be ripped off. Might not go back next year. The end.

scruff monkey

caff wrote: »

In Hendrix? Was camped beside a group lighting chairs, security took one out but let him in a few hours later, found a tractor tyre beside my tent later on. Lucky they didn't get a chance to light that!
Had a great festival apart from that though!

This I don't get, why did they let him back in? Tents are not exactly fire retardant and with one person badly burnt last year they should have had a zero tolerance policy and f'ed them right out

Wooderson

I've done Glasto in 2011/13/14/15 and the last two Picnic's with kids. Its exhausting, but rewarding. Like every other aspect of parenthood funnily enough.

seiphil

Peterd66 wrote: »

Did anyone see Benjamin Clemintine? He was astonishing, crowd left stunned.
Or was it my imagination and emotional state after 3 days of beer?

No you're right. He was incredible.

Along with the drummer! My god he was insane.

Tame Impala were incredible really excellent live band.

Other stand outs were Blur, Future Islands, Battles, Mac Demarco and Chvrches.

Thought Villagers were boring. Wasn't mad on the acoustic version of "Pieces"

Jonotti

"Two, the amount of house music being played was a problem for me"

Well done on ruining the festival with your presence.

JohnDaniels

It was a weird festival for myself. The condescension towards the 'pill' heads and what I felt from the larger crowds at the picnic this year was disgust which made the experience quite jarring for large parts. I usually go to one festival all year and it is the only time I take pills for the whole year. I understand it brings certain elements but the pint drinkers should really get down from your high ****ing horse, if you seen the state of people falling out of nightclubs or coming home late at night during EP or even the really boozed up drinkers during the day it is not pretty. I think alcohol is probably the worst drug of the lot but everyone is different so if boozing your weekend away is your thing then cool it just isn't mine.

I'm pretty obvious when high, my pupils dilate to unhideable levels and just in general I couldn't hide it if I wanted too, the big grin that I can't get rid of is probably another dead give away. I have never been to an EP where so many people wanted to give their opinion on the state of me in the normal areas, actual disgust from some, to shouting directly at me. I have never experienced anything like it at EP and can only attribute it somewhat to the change in crowd. If you haven't done pills before you might not know this but I'm in a wee world of my own where everything is awesome and you are killing my buzz. The only time I felt comfortable high was in the woods. I was chatting with a mate in the woods on Friday looking around talking about how great the crowd was. Yeah if you see it from the outside, probably looks like lots of undesirable elements, people off their faces but man that crowd was in great form. Everyone saying sorry if they bumped into you, having a laugh and dancing their little hearts out with not one bit of trouble or hint of a fight. If that was a boozed up crowd it would have been carnage.

Sorry for the long post but I was a little taken a back to see the huge swing in attitude. I have no problem with different demographics attending the festival but to feel so unwelcome in a place that has nothing but happy memories through the years was quite disconcerting. I mean I don't sit judging your choices to sit plying yourself with alcohol until you can't walk so why the **** are you judging me.