Electric Picnic 2017 **Discussion Only // No Ticket Sales**

sweeneed

absolutely agree! photos were taken and an email of complaint will be sent. I heard neighbours having the same problem the first night and two girls arrived the following day with masking tape to patch any holes that they could find. But of course there were further leaks as it is hard to spot little holes by visual inspection. these tents had clearly been through a few festivals in the UK and should not have been used. They were also quite flimsy to be honest - we were towards the back and it was like the last few were just thrown up any aul way! didnt feel it worth getting annoyed about down there as the damage was done and rain was over. negative energy and all that!!!

Ken Tucky wrote: »

I think I'd be well pissed off paying for a tent in pink moon and then having it leak to a point my stuff got wet. I bet most people camping didn't have that problem so the rain wasn't at fault ,it's a sh*te tent that let's the rain in.

I would be sending a letter of complaint.

Though some of the attempts at pitching tents on my way through Wilde was hilarious. Thank god I had the wife with me to pitch ours��. Taking it down nearly killed me though lol!

MJohnston

Ken Tucky wrote: »

I think I'd be well pissed off paying for a tent in pink moon and then having it leak to a point my stuff got wet. I bet most people camping didn't have that problem so the rain wasn't at fault ,it's a sh*te tent that let's the rain in.

I would be sending a letter of complaint.

Yeah, it does sound like one of the basic requirements of a company like Pink Moon, considering how much they charge. If there were a lot of people affected by this, it's time to start making noise about it, making get some money back, or at least warn people off for next year.

fourmations

sweeneed wrote: »

absolutely agree! photos were taken and an email of complaint will be sent. I heard neighbours having the same problem the first night and two girls arrived the following day with masking tape to patch any holes that they could find. But of course there were further leaks as it is hard to spot little holes by visual inspection. these tents had clearly been through a few festivals in the UK and should not have been used. They were also quite flimsy to be honest - we were towards the back and it was like the last few were just thrown up any aul way! didnt feel it worth getting annoyed about down there as the damage was done and rain was over. negative energy and all that!!!

out of curiousity....which style tents were you in?
we were in a four man proper camping Vango brand tents and are every year and never had a leak
we heard of the bellpads or whatever they are called leaking (the cnavas ones) and last year our mates were in one of the octopad ones
they hard timber yokes, their leaked as well, they got their roof replaced

i thought the PM toilets were ok, we used the green ones against the fence
sure there were unsavory ones but noat as bad as previous years
the trick is to just wait for a female to come out of one and they will be clean enough


cheers

Seathrun66

Former Former wrote: »

In fairness, it's both the parents and the guy p*ssing in the cup.

A guy shouldn't be there with his junk out, of course, but if you bring your kids to something like EP, then fair play but you have to accept that it brings some risks with it, like being exposed to some unsavoury sights. Security simply can't throw out every punter who takes a p*ss outside, you'd need an army to do so and it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

By that logic there's blame for parents who expose their kids to bad behaviour at football matches & dsytime/early evening pubs. I don't accept that. MJohnson is only asking that we don't behave like Neanderthals.

MJohnston

Seathrun66 wrote: »

By that logic there's blame for parents who expose their kids to bad behaviour at football matches & dsytime/early evening pubs. I don't accept that. MJohnson is only asking that we don't behave like Neanderthals.

I mean, that's basically it - the same things that make EP unsuitable or unsafe for kids also make it unattractive to a lot of childless people just looking for a friendly and fun weekend.

Seathrun66

MJohnston wrote: »

You wouldn't need an army, you'd just need security to actually to be seen to do it for a few cases and then behaviour might adjust. It's got this bad because they've never done anything about it, people see that and just think it's the way things are, so it gets worse every year.

Look folks, I've had plenty of hedonistic festivals, but I managed to do it all while keeping it personal among my group of friends. 'Hedonism' for an increasing amount of Picnic-goers seems to be less about enjoying the company of friends, or enjoying the music, and more about 'seeing what you can get away with' - pissing everywhere, picking fights with randomers (saw too much of this), wee lads being rude and abusive towards women and girls, and being loud and racist just because you can.

I just don't understand how people want to write off more aggressive and obnoxious behaviour as being "all part of a festival" - maybe it was with other fests like Oxegen, but EP was a place where you'd get the smiley and huggy types of drug-takers, and I'd have zero problem letting a child interact with those people.

I fully agree regarding people pis*ing everywhere. But I saw no examples whatsoever of the other behaviour you describe, nor did any of my pals. It saddens me that this was happening & I hope it was pretty isolated.
I didn't even have people pushing through the crowd in big groups & shoving through anyone in their way as I've had in previous years. Maybe it was due to the acts I chose, but pals going to other acts didn't complain of this either.
For me the vibe this weekend was the best in years & I'm not quite sure why. Plenty of older fans there but plenty of teenagers also. Would be happy with the same in 2018.

And MJohnson if no spaces in Family Camping then why not go for Eco Camping? Clean, mostly over 30s & very civilised.

kingtut

It was my first EP and I must write up my full thoughts on the whole weekend however on a short note I was disgusted at the amount of rubbish everywhere! I know there was a lack of bins in places but why people think it's acceptable to just leave their rubbish everywhere is beyond me :mad:

So disgusting!

MJohnston

Seathrun66 wrote: »

I fully agree regarding people pis*ing everywhere. But I saw no examples whatsoever of the other behaviour you describe, nor did any of my pals. It saddens me that this was happening & I hope it was pretty isolated.
I didn't even have people pushing through the crowd in big groups & shoving through anyone in their way. Maybe it was due to the acts I chose, but pals going to other acts didn't complain of this either.
For me the vibe this weekend was the best in years & I'm not sure why. Plenty of older fans there but plenty of teenagers also. Would be happy with the same in 2018.

And MJohnson if no spaces in Family Camping then why not go for Eco Camping? Clean, mostly over 30s & very civilised.

Only saw 2 fights break out (and thankfully later at night when I was walking on my own and kid was back in the camper) but that's 2 more than I've seen in 12 years of Picnics!

As for eco camping - well we were in the general campervan area, not camping - the problem wasn't the campervan site (which was mostly really great, apart from having about 4 toilets), it was the fact that our only access to the main arena meant we had to walk through either the Wilde or Warhol campsites, which are pretty dismal places to start with, but the parts along the gravel paths are absolutely depressing.

I think the route from the Family Campervan site takes you through a lot less of that, and is much closer to the main arena.

MJohnston

Seathrun66 wrote: »

I didn't even have people pushing through the crowd in big groups & shoving through anyone in their way. Maybe it was due to the acts I chose, but pals going to other acts didn't complain of this either.
For me the vibe this weekend was the best in years & I'm not sure why. Plenty of older fans there but plenty of teenagers also. Would be happy with the same in 2018.

Also I should note that the trouble I saw was outside of the main arena, in the campsites - I thought the main arena was grand in general, and yeah a lot less pushing through crowds (though I think that's because the main stage acts just didn't attract younger folks). Body and Soul and Trailer Park areas were wonderfully calm havens as usual.

Seathrun66

MJohnston wrote: »

Also I should note that the trouble I saw was outside of the main arena, in the campsites - I thought the main arena was grand in general, and yeah a lot less pushing through crowds (though I think that's because the main stage acts just didn't attract younger folks). Body and Soul and Trailer Park areas were wonderfully calm havens as usual.

Yeah, those areas were again great. But I found the whole site to be mellower this year despite it being very busy. While there are plenty of teenagers and early twentysomethings about there are also visibly increasing amounts of people in their 40s, 50s & 60s. I also spotted a few in their 70s at Touts. And that alone gave me hope for the future of EP.

Charlie

First to admit that I was one of those who was initially disappointed with the lineup put together for this year, and had thoughts that I wouldn't go early bird tickets again, but that weekend was probably my best picnic yet, and will definitely grab tickets when they go on sale next week. It's very much the weekend as whole, than the individual acts.

That said, I still do believe that Festival Republic are being tight when it comes to their spend on 'headline' acts. Previous years felt like you were getting something special with your ticket purchase with the likes of Blur, Arcade Fire, Florence etc. The amazing weekend I had was a) down to the group of friends I went with, and b) attributable to the many small acts that I imagine get paid buttons to be there. This includes Mother on Sunday night, Kelly-Anne Byrne, Le Galaxie, Dublin Gospel Choir, a phenomenal singer we stumbled across called Tyra and absolute heroes like King Kong.

Big highlight for me over the weekend, that I haven't seen mentioned, was Mura Masa. Third time seeing him live, and still enjoyed it as much as ever. Such a tight set.

Stayed in the Eco campsite this year, after being in Pink Moon the last few years. That change was a result of my group being too indecisive before Pink Moon sold out. I'll still push for Pink Moon next year, as i'd pay a kings ransom to get out of the grimness that is the Monday morning taking down the tent experience. That said, if I am general camping again, it can't be anything other than the Eco site. Absolutely great setup, lovely neighbours, and impeccably clean. The likes of Chaplin (which I liked years ago) looked quite dishevelled and rough by the Sunday.

I would love to see the Festival bring in some sort of deposit/bond that really forces peoples hand with tidying up after themselves. Walking through Wilde/Hendrix by the Saturday night/Sunday, and the place is an 'effing disgrace. The smell alone is like a refugee site and the appearance after 48hrs is staggering to comprehend. It works with the main arena and the plastic cups, they could attempt something similar for the sites.

Re. kids in attendence, I don't have any myself, but I think the festival would be a worse place without them. Any interactions I had with them (giving them my used cups etc.) was great banter and you could see parents appreciated it. That said, festivals have, should and always will be a young persons game. People giving out about young people letting loose and indulging for a weekend are out of touch with what the bedrock of a festival is all about.

PabloAndRoy

Was a great weekend. Best EP in years. I thought the crowd was a little older than the last couple of years and I saw no trouble. The gravel paths through the campsites are a massive improvement and really helped after the rain. Very relaxed security, bogs reasonably good everywhere, even the waste disposal in campervan field was in decent nick and never overfull that I saw (would still like some water at the point to wash the cassette out properly, but hey can't have everything). I hadn't noticed the lack of young ones pushing through crowds until someone mentioned it above, but yeah that is something I did not see this year.

I saw so much stuff I can't be arsed writing about them all.

Best Act: Parquet Courts ... this is what guitar music should sound like in this day and age, stunning. I am not even into guitar music but this was amazing.

Thought The Pretenders were very good. I still love you Chrissie after all these years, call me please.

Mura Masa was really excellent. I had no idea what to expect and was so glad I went along.

Rag 'n' Bone Man was a pleasant surprise for me. Top notch voice and top dude. Interesting the way as soon as "Human" was over, there was a solid stream of under 20s leaving the area.

Agree with previous comments about Young Fathers' set. Blisteringly good.

Michael Kiwanuka was excellent also.

Father John Misty also really good, but I just wasn't in the mood for it and headed over to Tale of Us.

The Duran/Soulwax/Kiasmos clash was a tricky one, but I went with Kiasmos which was good, but I was kind of sorry I didn't go with Soulwax which was fantastic by all accounts.

Sorry I missed PSB and Clark, but the rain and the tiredness got to me on the Saturday and I headed home during ATCQ (which sadly I didn't enjoy as much as I was hoping, might have been my tiredness, but I just couldn't get into it at all).

Overall for me this was the best EP since at least 2014. Top notch. I will be back.

And parents. Only you know what's good for your kids. Don't listen to the moaners. We never brought ours only because we felt that it would impinge on our fun.

One tiny gripe: No hand sanitiser almost all weekend. I think its indicative of how much that I enjoyed this year that that is all I would change.

Limerick91

Getting back to normal after a mid 40s couple had a brilliant first electric picnic. This forum was invaluable with tips on directions and what to pack, so thank you to everyone for that.
We booked Silk Road camping in the boutique camping area and we managed to get to the yellow car park even though we were coming from Limerick
The walk through the Hendrix camping site to our place was an eye opener even by Friday at 1pm. It was only a 20 min walk from car to campsite so not too bad.
Headed in soon enough as wanted to explore the place and ended up in trailer park for a few hours. Really enjoyed Roisin O and the Neil Young tribute act. The small gin caravan was cool and we met a few people there. Headed to the main arena to catch Divine Comedy, excellent, especially My Lovely Horse!! I didn't know much about The XX and I thought they were excellent, unreal voices. Also managed to see the end of Jenny Greene and Fallen Lights

Saturday we wanted to make the most of the day before the rain started. There was a trad band in Salty Dog so relaxed there for a while with a few cans. Saw plenty of music on Saturday afternoon; Madness, Riptide Movement, Frank and Walters, The Strypes, Le Galaxie and of course These Charming Men
The rain drove us home at about 11:30

Prosecco gourmet burger breakfast bap and the Dublin Gospel choir was a great way to start Sunday morning. The next course was a bit of ska with the gangsters in Salty Dog and Outer Limits in Jerry Fish before heading back to the campsite to watch/listen to the hurling with a few drinks. Were some of the Strypes with Outer Limits? The rest of the day consisted of lovely pizza, The Pretenders, excellent Father John Misty, the end of crow black chicken and some of the Rubberbandits. We really enjoyed Chaka Khan and Duran Duran. Simon actually knew he was in Stradbally, fair play and their encore with the gospel choir was excellent. Finished up in hazel wood with Jack L and the general madness of this area. It was a great way to finish the weekend

Security were excellent, treat people with respect and you usually get respect back.
I wonder how much extra would the tickets cost without Heineken, Logic, Bacardi crap areas. The "music" seeps into other tents and ruins Jerry Fish area. Also the crap music blaring from the funfair in my opinion is a disaster.

Overall will be back next year. Loved 95% of it. Great music and met loads of sound people

Stillill42

Pablo, I never thanked you for the app. Very remiss as I based my whole weekend around it. God bless you.

PabloAndRoy

Stillill42 wrote: »

Pablo, I never thanked you for the app. Very remiss as I based my whole weekend around it. God bless you.

Very welcome I do appreciate all the thanks. About 500 downloads, which is the same as last year. Ye are a loyal bunch. Am I they only one that it was crashing on?

Oh yeah, the fecking Three network was totally rubbish this year after being excellent for the last 5 years at least. wtf?

Charlie

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

Oh yeah, the fecking Three network was totally rubbish this year after being excellent for the last 5 years at least. wtf?

I'm Vodafone, which is usually rock solid, and had 4G bars all weekend, but found my actual connection was very hit and miss.

Monsieur Folie

MaxManis wrote: »

Would have to agree from what I could see there was no toilets too serve the Salty Dog, Trenchtown and the other voices stages. This make no sense with the amount of people who were attending these stages over the weekend

Just a guess, but it might have been because there doesn't seem to be any easy way for a truck to access those areas to empty the toilets. Definitely something they could work on though.

thebusher

Another thank you to Pablo here. Really helpful the app was. Cheers

Former Former

Seathrun66 wrote: »

By that logic there's blame for parents who expose their kids to bad behaviour at football matches & dsytime/early evening pubs. I don't accept that. MJohnson is only asking that we don't behave like Neanderthals.

I'm not blaming parents at all. The issue is merely that if you choose to bring your kids, you either keep them away from the busiest spots later at night, or you accept that they're going to see some unsavoury things. You accept that or you don't go.

schemingbohemia

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

Very welcome I do appreciate all the thanks. About 500 downloads, which is the same as last year. Ye are a loyal bunch. Am I they only one that it was crashing on?

Oh yeah, the fecking Three network was totally rubbish this year after being excellent for the last 5 years at least. wtf?

Nah, crashed on me a bit too. Am also with 3 and it was absolute rubbish all weekend.

Thanks for the app again.

chicken foot

Had a really great weekend also. Caught so many acts, can't say any were bad. Went to Pink Moon again, agree that standards have dropped slightly but still heaven in comparison to the other camp sites.
Found security pleasant also but feckin useless if you needed info. Had hoped to get into green carpark, were turned back and re routed to red, not a big deal at all in the end.
I'd happily spend three days in Salty Dog, is there a cooler stage setting anywhere like it? I agree that the lack of toilets there are a real negative.
Found the toilets near the main stage were always well maintained, toilets near Rankin's Wood were pretty awful at times.
Loved Trailer Park too, that little Boogie Bus was my Happy Place. Pity Jimmy Jukes didn't survive, caught a great band there Friday afternoon.
Crowd wise I found better than last year, still full of tits, tan & glitter & that was just the lads..I'm getting old I think!
The three weather extremes were... interesting!! Thought I'd prepared for the cold as it was nippy on the Fri night last year but Jesus, Friday was Baltic!!!
There will always be areas to improve upon, always be elements that I don't like but I'm sure we'll be there again next year!
We were up and out at 06.45am Monday morning, fairly straightforward that hour of the morning. My fit bit clocked 102,000 over the weekend, that must be the reason for the aches & pains!!

Seathrun66

One impressive aspect of this year was the sheer number of interesting, and varied, Irish acts on site.

I didn't enjoy all of them but it appears the local music industry is in rude health. I caught some or all of several tribute bands, Kila, The Fontaines, Trouble Pilgrims, Otherkin, All Tvvins, Touts, Ships, Wolff, Colombia Mills & some others. Missing Ash was painful & I heard that Talos were excellent. Gives me hope that we can produce another local headliner in the next few years. The Valentine's need some company on that list.

Seathrun66

Former Former wrote: »

I'm not blaming parents at all. The issue is merely that if you choose to bring your kids, you either keep them away from the busiest spots later at night, or you accept that they're going to see some unsavoury things. You accept that or you don't go.

My point remains the same. We can enjoy ourselves without demeaning ourselves. Irrespective of whether kids are there are not. It ain't difficult.

Ken Tucky

Big ask here, if anybody got a recording of the start of Booka Brass band on the salty dog stage late Friday/ early Saturday could you post please.
Seen them in other voices last year and while good I didn't get the big 'deal'

Well I got it on Friday night. Epic stuff.

Thanks

bodhrandude

So the boardsie I sent the festival build photos on Wednesday night through on Whatsapp never posted them on boards, why did I go through the trouble to do this and none of you got to see the photos pre-festival, what was the point of that?

Seathrun66

bodhrandude wrote: »

So the boardsie I sent the festival build photos on Wednesday night through on Whatsapp never posted them on boards, why did I go through the trouble to do this and none of you got to see the photos pre-festival, what was the point of that?

Save them for next year BD. We'll not know the difference.

phizzledizzle

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

Very welcome I do appreciate all the thanks. About 500 downloads, which is the same as last year. Ye are a loyal bunch. Am I they only one that it was crashing on?

Oh yeah, the fecking Three network was totally rubbish this year after being excellent for the last 5 years at least. wtf?

It was crashing for me Sunday morning when I clicked on the Sunday tab, but I reloaded the timetable and it worked fine then.

Wooderson

Charlie wrote: »

Re. kids in attendence, I don't have any myself, but I think the festival would be a worse place without them. Any interactions I had with them (giving them my used cups etc.) was great banter and you could see parents appreciated it. That said, festivals have, should and always will be a young persons game. People giving out about young people letting loose and indulging for a weekend are out of touch with what the bedrock of a festival is all about.

Baloney. You theoretically limit this fest to 18/19 year olds and it's dead in 24 months. A mix is key. Of all ages, genders and the rest. A "Festival" is what it is - a celebration. The 50 year old first timer gets to enjoy it just as much as the 18 year old.

Putting this falsehood out there about "what festivals are about" grinds my gears.

LowOdour

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

Very welcome I do appreciate all the thanks. About 500 downloads, which is the same as last year. Ye are a loyal bunch. Am I they only one that it was crashing on?

Oh yeah, the fecking Three network was totally rubbish this year after being excellent for the last 5 years at least. wtf?

Kept randomly crashing on me on both phones I had it on...it's a great app, just a blip in the matrix!

D.Q

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

Very welcome I do appreciate all the thanks. About 500 downloads, which is the same as last year. Ye are a loyal bunch. Am I they only one that it was crashing on?

Oh yeah, the fecking Three network was totally rubbish this year after being excellent for the last 5 years at least. wtf?

You should set up a PayPal or something for next year man. I'd have no problem sending a euro or two your way. Honestly so so handy.