Electric Picnic 2016 // **Discussion Only / NO Ticket Sales / Requests** //

murphyebass

MJohnston wrote: »

Just because you cant fathom it doesn't make it unfathomable

True and each to their own which is why I said it was only my opinion.

Would be a boring place if we all thought the exact same way.

johnpatrick81

Yep, seems like Oxegen is back folks! Ah well, only a few years til it implodes again in a campsite riot and EP reverts back to niceness.

keyboard_cat

Anyone who came away from that weekend thinking that EP was a good environment for a child to be in is delusional and should have their child taken away

murphyebass

keyboard_cat wrote: »

Anyone who came away from that weekend thinking that EP was a good environment for a child to be in is delusional and should have their child taken away

Child taken away is probably a bit strong but I agree with the first part.

keyboard_cat

murphyebass wrote: »

Child taken away is probably a bit strong but I agree with the first part.

Possibly but i am in a bad mood after a weekend of having my tent pissed upon by scumbags :P

drunkmonkey

I don't think we should be sacrificing adults rights to act the maggot for the rights of under 12's

Some parents are responsible then you've others off to to rave in the woods with prams.

Kids should be allowed into 6 or 7pm but that's it.

Martin_D

SoundOfSilence wrote: »

Are you basing that off the fact he said it was a guitar band? Or did he actually say something else that implied it's radiohead?

He was pushed to name them - no budge - then asked are they from Europe? give us even a letter - "G" - "one of them plays a guitar" - It was a nothing aside to a fluffy interview with Sean Moncrief.

Crowd too big
Predictable spots that were going to turn to mud streams not looked after properly - more gravel, wood chips

What was that monstrous stage in the main arena - bouncers/security

Noise bleed from other stages much more noticeable

Noted plenty children - what of it! - its the childlike adults are the problem.

Anyone know what a food stall has to pay to be on site - seems like an ATM for money making but I expect the fee is massive as well.

Music - mixed bag but LCD, John Conneely Inc, RTE orchestra, ABC in the background while eating SABA and supping the pint out of the 20c cup

Evil Sausage

Martin_D wrote: »

He was pushed to name them - no budge - then asked are they from Europe? give us even a letter - "G" - "one of them plays a guitar" - It was a nothing aside to a fluffy interview with Sean Moncrief.

.....Guns n' Roses?!

srm23

MJohnston wrote: »

Just on the whole "the crowd has changed" thing - I've been going to EP for 11 years now, and that statement has always been true to a certain extent, but I've always shrugged it off because the festival itself maintained plenty of the right feeling. This year I noticed a big jump in the negative direction - there was a bit of a lack of the friendly festival camaraderie, lots of people too ****ed early in the day, and of course the worst sign: people singing Oasis songs all over the place without the snipers getting them.

Anyway, this year proved to me that an Oxegen revival would be very popular and profitable, and they could and should bring that back and let EP return to a more balanced attendance figure of 30-40k. Otherwise the family crowd will drift away, and EP will just become Oxegen. Be a real shame if that was the case!

there is already longitude, which doesn't have the camping.
but the line-up of say V festival in the UK from this year would sell huge here with that crowd i'd imagine.

roll

Ah lads. I was a bit worried for the weekend given the 55k, but I had a whale of a weekend! Actually, come to think of it, I have really enjoyed the last three years and I'm beginning to think that the reason is Pink Moon. That wee bit of order amid the general disorder means I'm in good shape starting off each day. In all fairness to the organisers, they eeked out every bit of available space to hide that crowd. Yes, sadie is prob right that the 'extra' crowd made it a little more difficult for families but i would still venture that there are way more families attending than 10 -12 years ago? Certainly I had a 9 yo nephew there and when his Tipperary mother came to collect him to go to Croker, not a hope would he leave!

I thought the arty area was very good and the tin foil disco (well that's what i call it anyway) was so cool for a boogie-kinda reminded me of despacio a bit! The increase in size in treanchtown and the beach were all plusses.

Any negatives......... not really, tbh. Its hardly perfect but then what is? I think the general organisation was pretty much as good as you can expect.

Music? Saw lots and danced lots. BSS, RTE Orchestra and SFA (after a slow start) were the highlights of Fri. On Sat, the 3 hours dancing to King Kong Company followed by LCD may lead to getting new knees! Savages (what a frontwoman!), New Order and the glorious Phosphorescent brought my fetival to a close.

The line up was (for my tastes) the weakest, possibly ever, but it didn't matter (of course!).

Couple of questions:

Coz of KKC, I missed DBFC - how were they?
Did they move either main stage or the sound desk of the main stage? Our meeting point was always the small trees on the rhs, but they seemed miles away from the stage this year?

murphyebass

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I don't think we should be sacrificing adults rights to act the maggot for the rights of under 12's

Some parents are responsible then you've others off to to rave in the woods with prams.

Kids should be allowed into 6 or 7pm but that's it.

The issue there is people drink all day long so a 6 or 7pm curfew doesn't work either imo.

I think off the top of my head my first festival at 16 years of age and was Slane and then Wittness and I was honestly blown away (not in a good way) by the level of intoxication. People were in ditches cling to slabs of beer wasted by midday and that's no exaggeration.

Maybe I was a little naive but I just found it incredible that this happened.

What a waste of watching music I thought and realistically it's the reason I don't bother going to them anymore. Having to deal with gob****es knocking into me spiking beer and looking for a fight, no thanks.

Actually the more I think about it would you go to a nightclub with you kids? I doubt it somehow. Similar idea.

Last gig I was at was Neil Young sitting in the point or whatever it's called these days. That'll do me.

sadie06

keyboard_cat wrote: »

Possibly but i am in a bad mood after a weekend of having my tent pissed upon by scumbags :P

That would ruin anybody's weekend.

No need to take my kids. I agree…it was not a suitable environment this year….certainly not the Sunday.

roll

one other question-did anybody stay up for Overhead The Albatross last night? if so can they remember if there were any good?!

scruff monkey

keyboard_cat wrote: »

Possibly but i am in a bad mood after a weekend of having my tent pissed upon by scumbags :P

Classy

ab4248

I think previous years was more friendly for kids and families. The extra capacity is off putting. Havent been to Body and Soul or Indiependence but will be looking into it for next year. Spent most of my time in the Body & Soul area anyway. I want something onto EP but without the crowded feeling of this year. Hope Im on the right track. Prob end up back at EP too tho. Although our own tent gave the tents in the arena a run for their money

MJohnston

sadie06 wrote: »

That would ruin anybody's weekend.

No need to take my kids. I agree…it was not a suitable environment this year….certainly not the Sunday.

Nobody is really disagreeing that EP has become "unsuitable" for kids this year (though feck off with people proclaiming what parents *should* do, sound like the Catholic Church), and will probably negatively continue in that vein.

There are just those of us who remember well when the festival *was* great for families, who preferred the atmosphere that brought long before we had kids of our own, and who lament it becoming increasingly about EDM, overuse of drugs, and crowds packed into sponsored tents.

I can see Body and Soul leaving EP in a year or two, they're increasingly out of place there.

Easy Rod

roll wrote: »

one other question-did anybody stay up for Overhead The Albatross last night? if so can they remember if there were any good?!

I stayed for the first half and yep they were deadly. Bit mellow in places for some of friends though!

sadie06

MJohnston wrote: »

Nobody is really disagreeing that EP has become "unsuitable" for kids this year (though feck off with people proclaiming what parents *should* do, sound like the Catholic Church), and will probably negatively continue in that vein.

I think we are on the same side!

BullBlackNova

Heard that the loyalty scheme will only be open to those who attended this year, but haven't read it any of the articles about tickets going on sale.

Anyone able to tell me for certain? Normally would dismiss it but more than one person said it to me today!!

I can get over the price increase (though it is a little annoying given the massive jump in capacity in recent years) but cutting out anyone who skipped 2016 (or even just bought their tickets through second-hand markets, for e.g.) is a bit ****ty.

EDIT: Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Skipped it this year as I just couldn't justify the spend with whatever else I had going on this summer. Will consider next year, though might look elsewhere too.

RTE's coverage is all I can comment on - thought it was decent. Annoying that it's limited to the main stage, B&S and Jerry Fish's chest for some reason, but you got a good snapshot of the first 2 days, a decent segment of Noel Gallagher and Nas (all they are allowed to show anyway) and I actually liked Eoghan McDermott - you get that he just really loves some of the music, which is nice to see IMO. Also loved the amount of Irish acts, even if I don't like the acts themselves (if I never see or hear Gavin James or Picture This again, it'll be too soon!!) We always complain that Irish acts don't get exposure on tv and radio here - well I enjoyed watching Rusangano Family, Sample Answer, All Tvvins and Saint Sister on late-night TV - more of that please RTE!!

Beechwoodspark

roll wrote: »

one other question-did anybody stay up for Overhead The Albatross last night? if so can they remember if there were any good?!

Heard they were really good but didn't see em myself-was in the woods having a late night boogie at that stage

scruff monkey

BullBlackNova wrote: »

Heard that the loyalty scheme will only be open to those who attended this year, but haven't read it any of the articles about tickets going on sale.

That would be ****ty indeed

MeatTwoVeg

murphyebass wrote:

It's the same as the parents who bring heir kids to a pub all day Sunday. Ugh

No it's not.

BullBlackNova

scruff monkey wrote: »

That would be ****ty indeed

As I say, it was just people mentioning it in passing to me, but more than one saying it had me a little worried...

scruff monkey

BullBlackNova wrote: »

As I say, it was just people mentioning it in passing to me, but more than one saying it had me a little worried...

Yeah, can understand the worry, but unless they had the r word band with Bruce Springsteen on backing vocals and a resurrected 3D prince on lead guitar, I'd say there would still be tickets floating around for cost price the week of it.

murphyebass

MeatTwoVeg wrote: »

No it's not.

To be fair maybe it's more akin to a nightclub situation but personally I wouldn't like my kids being exposed to people drinking all day long or night whether that's in a pub or field.

I don't thinks appropriate for a child to be in that situation.

As I said already though that's just my opinion.

LeperKing

It was my first time to a music festival, and I really struggled to get a sense of the scale of it. We had entered from the Athy end, and got quickly parked into the yellow car park. Thus begun the low point of dragging our stuff from there to the Pink Moon area, after taking at least two wrong turns, as the staff's level of the area was very hit and miss. I nearly lost the rag with one of the security staff, after he sent us into the main area queue while I was carrying two crates of beer, and bags of clothing. Thankfully some kind souls waiting in the queue, told us of our mistake, and we figured out the correct path to take.

Pod-pads area was great, and it's location to the festival was a major plus. Friday's main stage lineup provided a great back drop to leisurely pints on sunny Friday evening. Saturday was a damp squib, most of our time was spent in the Comedy tent, with Rubber Bandits being a highlight, and some issues were seen getting people to sit back down after them as well. Walking through the Hendrix campsite was eye-opening. It's definitely a young man’s game camping there.

For Sunday night, had to sacrifice seeing Relish instead seeing the Dublin Gospel choir which was definitely a feel good experience. Lana Del Ray sounded great for what I heard, until I got dragged to other spots. I wished I had being able to hear Bat for Lashes, as she sounded great as we were passing her tent.

I know there's a lot of debate on the family friendliness of the festival, sadly I can't see it being really at the top of the organizers priorities, if kid’s entry is free. If you don't charge for kids, then the level of expectation is questionable. I don’t think they have their heart in it.

To summarize what could be improved....

STOP
- Prerecorded DJ music overpowering neighboring live music performances at a festival. Just seems wrong to me. Thumping bass frequencies just over power everything and everyone around.
- Not sure of the need of a funfair & circus in a music festival.
START
- If you want to cater for families, then you have to have family allocated toilets. For me that's a fundamental deal breaker to bringing kids.
- Improve staff training on the layout of the area.
- Pre allocating/registering car park spaces.
CONTINUE
- The artwork around the site was great, and evoked the festival spirit.
- The 10c per glass return is a great idea.
- The choice of food was great.
- Water points was great.

Glad to hear they don't intend to increase size next year.

Thanks,
LK.

Weepsie

For a festival of apparently 55000 people, I never felt that there were close to that there to be honest.

Got in quicker than ever, got home quicker than ever, got through security at all times bar 1 quicker than it other years. Only noticeable for the men's toilet queues. Seemed to be bigger than normal.

Was it like Oxegen? Possibly but not at its worst and Oxegen often had a better lineup than this EP.

There were definitely a lot of 17-21 year olds there for Lana Del Rey and Years & Years and nothing else. They never bothered me, kept to their own groups.

LCD Soundsystem, Phosphorescent, New Order and Glass Animals were the best things I saw. Toots was good too.

Lineup for the main the main stages was mostly bland or awful to me, but tastes change I guess.

A Saturday of New Order and LCD Soundsystem would've made a lot of sense. Noel Gallagher could've probably closed the main stage on Sunday judging by his crowd and his back catalogue.

Lana del Rey after New Order though is a little embarrassing. Proper musical legends, responsible for some of the best pop, dance, rock songs of the last 40 years followed by a very carefully created and fairly bland pop star with a handful of songs.

Also had the displeasure of seeing Catfish and the Bottlemen. Awful band. Not as bad as accidentally hearing Gavin James butchering Bruce Springsteen. Another one whos just so MoR it boggles.

Won't be there next year due to other commitments, but I hope they work on improving the line up, especially given the quality of some of the bands and DJs touring lately

UsedToWait

SoundOfSilence wrote: »

Are you basing that off the fact he said it was a guitar band? Or did he actually say something else that implied it's radiohead?

Ah not really.. I just wanted to start the rumour mill good and early for next year..

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

EP is no place for kids

MadYaker

Finally back in Galway after a slow start to the day. Overall I had a very enjoyable weekend once again. Highlights for me were LCD Soundsystem, Noel Gallagher and Skepta. Noel Gallagher into LCD was one of the most enjoyable nights I've had in a long time. Caught a bit of Daniel Alverys set after which was also great. The Chemical Brothers were good as well but 2 cans down my trousers and 2 ziploc bags full of vodka in my wellies had me absolutely scuttered and I can't account for the rest of the night. I was spotted returning to my tent at about 6am, no idea where I was, what I did or who I was with!

I took a bit handier on Saturday and Sunday and had a much more enjoyable time as a result. The weather was tough at times, especially last night with the near constant rain. Kormac played a rocking set on the Salty Dog and everyone seemed to be enjoying it despite the rain. I got a bit smarter with security this year. I didn't fail once at getting cans into the main arena. If you watched for a few minutes you could pick out the lads that were doing a half arsed pat down and aim for them.

I agree with posters on here that the festival demographic is headed in the wrong direction. I don't think it'll ever go full oxegen but it definitely gets worse every year in that regard. They need to clamp down on the 13 to 17 year olds big time. They just shouldn't be allowed in full stop. ID anyone that looks under 30 and only accept passports, age cards or driving licenses and if security see someone they suspect to be underage they should be able to ID them and chuck them out of they are. It seems over last few years that every family that doesn't go gets replaced by about ten drunk 16/17 year olds. Especially on Sunday.

That said I thought the crowd was quite nice this year? Although maybe I'm part of the problem, everytime I see someone on here complaining about people being totally out of it on drugs and drink I always think they could be talking about me. Apart from the drunk teenagers I didn't notice any scobes, our neighbours in Oscar Wilde were lovely and I had loads of great chats with random strangers. Maybe I just got lucky.

The were a few changes to site this year that I didn't think were great. The lake swimming is pointless nonsense and has apparently made a mess of the access route for families. The Anarchronica thing in the woods is a piss poor replacement for the RBMA stage imo. To be honest I was out of it whenever I was there but I thought it wasn't as good, it seems smaller. I also thought the sound in the Electric Arena wasn't great. I noticed it this year at Broken Social Scene and last year at Jape. Couldn't really hear the vocalist and it was all just overbearing bass. Also why was there such a massive distance between the barrier and the stage in there? Was it always like that? Skepta even mentioned it during his set which was excellent by the way despite the young and slightly rough crowd. The Hazel Wood area was nice though. I wandered in there on Saturday morning when I was in a right heap and it was a nice relaxing place to chill and nurse a can into me.

Overall it was a great weekend and I reckon I'll be buying my ticket this friday.