Electric Picnic 2023 **No Ticket Sales / Requests ** - It'll be grand

Fatfrog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120775537#Comment_120775537

18-27 year old and mainstream demographic only, seems to be the model they’re going for.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120777440#Comment_120777440

Not entirely, a fair proportion of the acts, the ones that I mentioned earlier. There are a dozen acts that appeal to a less mainstream demographic, and probably more to come. But yeah, they’re looking like outliers and how many will there be in 2024?

Last year had indie bands as two of the three main acts (Arctics & Tame Impala) as well as Pixies, Sleafords, For Those I Love, Fontaines, Just Mustard, Mick Flannery & Susan O’Neill, Perfume Genius, Khruangbin, Bright Eyes, etc. How long until we look back at 2022 with envious eyes? Reading/Leeds is utterly unchallenging blandness and that alas is the future of EP.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120777666#Comment_120777666

Grim times. I feel lucky to have been around when fests didnt all look like EP and Reading 2023.

SachaJ

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120778119#Comment_120778119

While I do agree the lineup is muck for myself, in my late 40's, it is probably on par with the mainstream. I was at quite a lot of the Feile festivals and the music was aimed at the then 16-30 age group. Just in those days the 16-30's had better taste with the likes of Primal Scream, Wonderstuff, Prodigy, RATM, Bjork, Cypress Hill, Blur, Sultans, Neds etc

I guess what I'm trying to say is that back in 92/93/94 RATM, Wonderstuff etc were in the Top 30 charts etc and were the mainstream bands just like Billie Eilish is now.

Still a **** lineup though.....

dav09

I think the issue is pop music these days mostly sounds unoriginal, bland, manufactured, formulaic, and I'm in that 'core demographic'. Of course there are a few outliers but back in the 90s you could barely compare the acts mentioned above to each other, very unique sounds. There seems to be 3 or 4 formulaic genres in pop these days that take up what feels like 80% of the charts, the shape of the music industry has changed for the worse gradually.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781339#Comment_120781339

The 90’s acts mentioned above weren’t exactly “pop”. Sure in late eighties/early nineties stock aiken Waterman etc controlled uk /ireland charts and defined pop music.

pop music and music genres in every decade coalesces around particular formalic sounds. You had all the grunge acts coming on the back of pearl jam/nirvana etc.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781244#Comment_120781244

+ Huge competition both nationally and internationally for festival line ups. A lot of twatty exclusivity clauses.

+ Huge competition nationally with stand-alone events attracting the top talent away from grasp of festival bookers.

+ Reliance on social media/populist markers like number of streams to build (and justify) line up decisions. Shyte.

+ Trend away from tried and tested indie/rock bands for older festival attendees to a hybrid mix of pop/dance/crap for younger cohort.

+ Trend away from generic geeky music attendee willing to be challenged at a festival to the "pished by 9am in GAA shorts by the tent" punter.

__

Im 46 and was too young to attend those absolute vintage Feiles in 93-95 btw. Very envious if i'm honest.

crl84

Here's the UK charts in July 1993:

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19930704/7501

and 1994:

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19940710/7501

Chock full of "unoriginal, bland, manufactured, formulaic" dogsh1t.

It's rose-tinted glasses to look on the 90s as some musical utopia, where Bjork, Primal Scream, Wonderstuff etc were huge with the mainstream. In reality, the mainstream was full of plenty of crap, and plenty of stuff that you'd probably consider crap now if you weren't a teenager/20s immersed in it then and familiar with it. And the occasional "good" thing.

Just like now.

CantonaGod

Just used the Ticketmaster resale option in the ticketmaster app which has only recently gone live to get rid of a spare ticket (Toutless didn't work for me ), sold and received the cost price €245 (early bird ticket) and buyer paid €245 plus fees. Surprised it wasn't sold at standard price.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781740#Comment_120781740

Thats actually pretty good to hear.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781740#Comment_120781740

Cause then ticketmaster would be breaking the anti touting legislation. Has to be sold for original face value plus fees.

SachaJ

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781617#Comment_120781617

To be fair, the '93 link has AC/DC, Levellers, Gloria Gaynor, 4 Non Blondes, New Order, Debbie Harry, Jesus and Mary Chain, Jesus Jones, Blur, Moby, David Morales, Smashing Pumkins, Billy Idol etc which would probably go along with what I said above.

Penfailed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781613#Comment_120781613

I'm 47 and was at Feile in '93 and '94.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782074#Comment_120782074

V envious!

Would have just been starting 6th year in 1994 and not a hope of me going to Tipp to see this. I seem to recall a handful of lads in my year in Dublin went.

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781901#Comment_120781901

Not really. Aside from several of those acts being far down the charts in 30 or lower, the songs never getting higher by the looks of things, the ones you list are generally the exception, rather than the rule.

It's mostly tripe, lots of it Adult Contemporary MOR (or whatever you want to call it), and Eurodance.

Jesus Jones having a single at no.31 doesn't negate the M People and UB40s....

Mainstream charts in the 90s were full of sh1te, same as today.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781244#Comment_120781244

I think that’s a case of what we enjoyed in 1992, etc. Mainstream music has always sold well. REM make the top ten albums of 1992 but the list is dominated by Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey, Kenny G, Billy Ray Cyrus, etc.

Some festivals are aimed at lowest common- denominator stuff. Others are more indie, hip-hop, retro or quirkier. EP was the latter and now it’s almost entirely the former. It is bland and unchallenging when it doesn’t need to be. It has always sold out with an eclectic range of artists. It would continue to sell out with this model. The promoter’s laziness has jeopardised this, and I believe endangered the long-term survival of the festival. Recession hits and they’ll have lost the demographic who would probably have ensured their survival. They’ll go under.

https://bestsellingalbums.org/year/1992

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782363#Comment_120782363

Really well said. Full agreement.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782363#Comment_120782363

If recession hits redirecting the line up to capture a few thousands older clientele wouldn’t save EP from financial ruin.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782699#Comment_120782699

Abandoning them completely won't help.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782699#Comment_120782699

They did through the last recession. And you seem to have a poor grasp of Festival age demographics. Ticketmaster research in the UK (almost certainly reflected here) shows that less than a quarter of attendees are 25 or under. 76% are over 25 with 50% above 35. The older demographic, with more cash, ensure the survival of fests.

Bland programming drives the more discerning fans away and ensures the event’s vulnerability to economic changes. There’s no hope of getting 70k under-25s with enough cash to go if a recession hits on an island of 6m people. Reading/Leeds would survive from a population of 67m. It’s very short-sighted and not very clever.

https://business.ticketmaster.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/State-of-Play-Festivals-UK-2019.pdf

CoffeeImpala

I'd argue that the bland, unchallenging music is very appealing to the demographic that grew up listening to Take That/Boyzone/Westlife.

This demographic are usually a big ancillary revenue generator for the festival by insisting that their group does glamping, making hair/make-up appointments, and only buying cocktails/other drinks with a higher margin than beer. They're also a demographic that is much more marketable to advertisers and are likely to be the reason FR have attracted sponsorship from Dyson this year.

endainoz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783039#Comment_120783039

Your literally describing women in their early 40s... Do they not deserve to enjoy a festival too?

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783057#Comment_120783057

None of the women I know Enda, thus far anyway. 😄

But there’s definitely an older demographic who’d love the announcement of Robbie and others who’ve hit the two main stages of Glasto and IOW in the last fortnight.

Dreamweapon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782074#Comment_120782074

I did 91/92/93/95. 1991 had Ride, Happy Mondays and The Wonder Stuff plus a surprise appearance from Black Francis immediately after Ride. The rest of it was shite but it was a start at least. 1992 was when they definitely went more indie. Even so, they still had a lot of rubbish on too. 1995 in Cork probably had the best overall lineup of them.

Wooderson

EP has had sustained success in the breadth and quality of their offering over the years. Yes theres been investment and expansion (Terminus etc) but what set it apart were things like MindField, Theatre of Food, Fine Dining, Family Camping, Despacio etc. All targetting an older demographic - and very successfully too! These continued to evolve over the years with tweaks and improvements an iterative and committed process. These aspects have given the festival a lot of its cultural flavour.

Going by yer logic @Fanirish would these aspects of the fest now be viewed as spurious? Should all be defunded/scrapped in favour of a populist mandated spotify stream driven "what will make this sell out fastest" line up.

I wasnt in attendance last year but have heard the "replacement" for Body and Soul bore little comparison... the first visible step on the route to "Give the (young) people what they want."

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783203#Comment_120783203

The expanded Mindfield in the Mind & Body (or whatever it’s called now) worked well but everything else was poor. It lacked the creativity and ingenuity of the B&S team. The programming was poor with many of the acts playing the main area doing second sets there. I caught some enjoyable stuff on the main stage (Nixer, Thumper, etc) but this is no longer the mini-amphitheatre that brought us midnight sets from Tune-Yards, Young Fathers, Janelle Monae, Matthew E White, Perfume Genius, etc.

Thankfully the Salty Dog, Jerry Fish and Trailer Park are still allowed to display some scheduling idiosyncrasies. Vive la difference!

CoffeeImpala

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783057#Comment_120783057

Yes, but maybe a bit younger, and they certainly do deserve to enjoy a festival. I just think the catastrophising over the end of EP, because some of the performance slots previously allocated to appeal to males born in the late 70's/early 80's are now aimed at another demographic, is a bit over the top. Especially as some of the replacement demographic are likely to be bigger spenders at the festival.

We're only on the second announcement with 55 acts named (removing Lewis and the blur). By a rough count on clashfinder there were 100 acts between main stage, the three tents, and mind & boby, with a further 12 on terminus. At the moment the split is 46:9 so we have a further 55 arena and 3 terminus to be announced.

That's without including Salty, Gerry, Trailer Park, Mindfield, etc. which is where a lot of the variety comes in anyway.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783518#Comment_120783518

Most of that I’d fully agree with. My only contention would be that the older males you refer to are not seeking the music of their youth but a more eclectic and varied mix than is currently being offered. Last year said demographic (from my reading anyway) seemed delighted with the likes of young acts like Little Simz, Fontaines DC, Thumper, Sprints, Denise Chaila, Just Mustard and CMAT.

I cannot speak for others but what I want is variety and challenging music.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783203#Comment_120783203

Do I think that EP organisers are going to throw money and effort at EP areas or acts that would primarily be of interest to the older clientele? Probably not.

most of the areas you mentioned are niche or small scale things. Not saying they are enjoyed by people but can easily see them disappearing but by bit. Despacio for example was one time thing for obvious reason.

with all the sponsor stages, limited space in main arena I just see them being squeezed out or pale imitations.

EP has evolved constantly, and end of the day as a very large festival in a small country it’s directed towards capturing that 18-35 age group in large numbers.

as a festival gets older it’s core audience naturally leaves and you want to replace it with the youth.

also the number of proper stages in the main area has not increased whilst the numbers attending has greatly increased. To please more with the same number of bands/slots it naturally means that bookings go broader for larger appeal.

capturing those large names to entertain the masses costs a lot of money.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783766#Comment_120783766

All v fair. This is why people worry about the festivals future.