Electric Picnic 2022 - Here we go again! - **No Ticket Sales / Requests **

I went for the day on Saturday and yes, it's changed a lot. And let's be honest, it's been a big commercial pig for a good while now but the increased capacity this year has really shone a light on it.

My single biggest problem with it (and this too goes back years at this point) is that it's not relaxing to just 'be' there. Yes, you can find little pockets dotted around the venue to sit down and just enjoy the vibe, but the days of lounging around outside the Electric Arena with beer in hand, half listening and half talking, are long, long gone. The sheer number of branded stages and food and drink stalls pumping out the same music really grates. Unless you're standing in a large music tent or in front of the main stage, then you're caught in some sort of sound clash.

I can live with the line up being mostly not to my taste any more (if I want three days of 'my music' I can get that in Europe for half the price while wearing sandles) and the gangs of 22 year olds that people are complaining about don't bother me either. I was young once, too.

But it's the scale and the sheer noise and heft of the thing that has changed it beyond all recognition. At the Salty Dog, or deep in the woods or in the Mindfields area etc., it's mostly the same festival, but in the main area it's simply a different animal now.

Overall, the festival has had a fantastic run over the years. Some of the best line ups, ever, were in Stradbally, Co. Laois, of all places, year after year. I've some fantastic memories (Kraftwerk and a mouthful of Mexican truffles being a particular highlight). But for me this is the end of the road. I want a different type of festival experience and unfortunately that means packing a bag and giving up the luxury of being able to come home to my own bed each night. For everyone that did enjoy it, keep on enjoying it!

Re the gangs of 22 year olds - I dont have a problem with that either, and it would be a pretty dull festival if it was all 30 and 40 somethings.

Why I think people are criticising the EP is its apparent focus on the early 20s demographic to the effective exclusion of everyone else, so that it it is now more like the old Oxegen rather than the mixed-ages EP from ten years ago, or that Glastonbury still is.

I say that with the proviso that I wasn’t there this year, haven’t gone in ages, but based on what I’ve heard here and elsewhere and particularly on the line up

I haven't been since 2018. I remember a massive surge/crush towards the main stage for Dua Lipa. The lineup was ebbing away in quality around then and looks like it's kept going south in terms of headliners albeit with some great alternative acts mentioned here. I can recall the old layout of the festival quite well - there was never these crazy queues for food and bevvies. Has the layout itself changed/expanded or have they just squashed more punters in?

I think there is a common trend on the Monday after EP the last few years. The same complaints (some definitely valid / some maybe the fact you are getting older).

I'm 43 myself and going to festivals since around 2003. I'd disagree that it is Oxegen 2.0. Yes parts of it are similar for sure and it isn't EP 2005 anymore, but Oxegen never had Mind and Body, Salty Dog, Trailer Park, Hazel Wood, etc etc.

I live close-ish so I don't have to camp. I don't go near the main stage area at all unless it is an act I really really want to see. I'm usually successful at sneaking some cans in, I bring some of my own food (a big filled baguette roll can set up up for the day :)).

But if I didn't live close, I'd defo be doing my research on where I could camp away from the messiness. I can see how ATN would be way more attractive for many now.

Overall, I still think it is a great festival site in many ways. The land holds up really well there by and large. It is excellent for catching some up and coming acts in smaller stages. Fred Again on Friday night was class! As was Little Simz.

I'll be getting my loyalty ticket next week again. It is still great value for me personally in the amount of gigs I can catch and I think the vast majority of people down there (young and old) are decent folk in the main.

No the relevant legislation states that licensed venues are allowed discriminate on the basis of age. A minimum of 18 after nine but they can set it at whatever level they like.

Was not much fun for a friend of mine,he’s 50’ish, he went to check them out. He recounted this to me:

After they said that, he felt several eyes on him, and this lady called him out as a “shade”, “c**t” and told her boyfriend who was more than 6’2, to take care of him. The boyfriend squared up, and was about to go for it, my friend is a big lad, and well able to take care of himself, words like hospital and kill, were mentioned. After a lot of verbal abuse, and the “boyfriend” still ready to throw a punch, He decided to leave the tent.So, not much fun for him at Kneecap.

How an act is allowed, to deliberately incite violence at a gig, is beyond me. Some people, actually take what they say seriously.

I didn’t witness this, allthough i was, concidentally, at the back of the tent, came in for opening few tracks, and left after that, as i thought they were s**t

Just came down for the Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night was great: the Scratch, For those I Love and Tame Impala all brilliant. Also saw some of RSAG and Rina Sawayama who were pretty decent. Sunday saw some dodgy comedy and left after CMAT whose appeal I still don't really get, but hey to each their own.

Been to EP probably 5 or 6 times since 2008 I'd say. It's changed a lot for sure. I think the point around who the target audience are is we'll made but at the same time the three main stage closing acts were very much aimed at the "older" music fan I'd say. Having said that I was shocked at how many young kids were at Tame Impala and knew all the words!

The main thing that annoys me is what one of the other posters said about the likes of the Heineken/Bacardi/Coke etc stages blasting out inane beats nonstop so there's no where to escape it and during quieter moments at other stages it's all you can hear. It's been like that for years but they seem to have squeezed more of them than ever in this year

It’s not a licensed venue though. The bars are licensed, not the whole venue.

I noticed that also. We went into Stradbally each day for breakfast and to pick up stuff in SuperValu and I noticed a lot of dodgy looking types hanging around the place.

Ya, i should be, had a great time overall. You just have to make the best of bad weather. EP’s choice tops everything.

A great variety of acts, i deliberately went to acts i had not seen before, like :

Little Simz, Fred Again, Fontaines DC, Khruangbin, Wolf Alice, CVC, Naked Lungs, Thumper, Bright Eyes, Wolf Alice.

The two absolute standouts for me, were :Fred Again & Wolf Alice

Food wise, a very good variety, although tricky with the much longer q’s on Sunday.

For beer, i got cans in, Thursday to Saturday, so only actually bought a few pints from Sunday afternoon. Pink Moon was also very handy for leaving arena for a break, as its not that long a walk, and having a few cans in there, and then returning. The large Coleman Ultra Marine cool box, turned out to be a real star performer, still had the cans cold, on Sunday afternoon, after a final ice top up Thursday, at about 1pm in Portlaoise.

 The exemption to usual age discrimination laws in the Intoxicating Liqour Act 2003 for pubs specifically relates only to licences to sell alcohol. It does not apply to event licences.

if you were a “sheep” it was !

I got in from Pink Moon, on Thu to Saturday, via the woods, they eventually put up a barrier on the path just down from Fishtown, (marked in purple below),i encountered that, for 1st time on Saturday about 16:30, i asked nicely to be let in, and i was left in. Sunday morning no barrier, i had brekkie in trailer park about 9am, hardly anyone there, and better than the massive q’s for coffee in PM.

Later on Sunday morning, we were heading to some Mindfield stuff, and could not get in from PM at 11:15, as they had not gotten the all clear, so we went via the woods again, no issue.

Whoever was pushing 100 gecs on here, well done. They were excellent. Friday in general was great for music. Fred Again, Glass Animals. Kneecap were excellent on sat afternoon, filled Rankins Wood at 4pm.

Home and hosed. Not sure I'm ready for a review, not sure how I feel about the whole thing yet. I'll say first that I had a great weekend. In Eco for the first time feck all space by the time we arrived down on the Friday but were blessed to get a lovely pitch at the fence bordering on the Rave in the Woods. Loud as bejaysus at night but I slept pretty well and we'd loads of sitting out space, lovely neighbours. Everyone connected to Eco was sound, really happy with it.

Lots of decent music, Sleaford Mods top of the bunch for me absolutely loved them. Also really enjoyed Mick and Susan, Naked Lungs, Thumper, Sack, Silverbacks TCM, the Scratch, CMAT, Just Mustard and Arctic Monkeys. Saw way fewer full gigs that usual lots of bits and pieces. This was down to the absolutely undeniable fact that there was a HUGE lack of depth to the quality of music on offer.

Always about balance, isn't it? A few people have touched on it already. We joke about the teenagers on here sometimes but we all love our music and jaysus the cheek of the likes of me telling a teenager to do one while i nod my head to 'Bet you look good on the dancefloor'. Seeing a young lad roaring their heads off to 'There is a light' is a beautiful thing. But it has to be for all of us, that we have an equal share in it. That's gone this year, no question. The youngsters owned the main arena, whether it was some 18 year old on stage or the Pixies.

I disagree with the Oxegen comparisons but only because of what was outside main arena, all the magic that Jerry the Salty Dog, trailer park etc bring that I've never got anywhere else before but punters like me shouldn't be confined to thise areas and that's where we're headed.

Commercial set ups rule the arena now alright and I agree that it's almost impossible to chill out there anymore. The old Body and Soul area has been lost when it could so easily have been replicated. They've turned it into a throughway rather than a destination in itself. They're even dispensed with the fire.

Freetown has lots of potential but still really underutilised. They have to make it somewhere people want to visit rather than pass through.

Look, I was down with the brothers and we had a great time but I'm pretty sure or the first time in 10 years I won't be buying my ticket straight away. Maybe ATN is the way forward.

Last word for the crowd I met from on here. I'm so happy we started actually meeting up. Met loads of new Boardsies over the 3 days absolutely lovely people to a man. Or woman, soz @chanelno5 @desk tidy. Hardly a gig where I didn't have a few words with someone. It was an absolute pleasure.

It is evidence that the exemption to Equal Status Acts age discrimination laws that allows pubs to have 'over 21s' or 'over 23s' rule applies only to premises licenced for sale of alcohol. It is a provision of the Intoxicating Liqour Act 2003.

It's not me saying that service providers can't discriminate based on age. It's the law, as confirmed by IHREC; https://www.ihrec.ie/your-rights/services/age/