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

The signage seemed to be a big issue alright. At one point on Saturday, a group of young last came up to me asking where freetown was, then as I was standing there two more came up to me looking for Rankins woods, then another looking for EA and salty dog. I must have the appearance of some EP elder or something 😂😂.

@Still Ill

Trial and error. Albeit I am not good at this.

On 2 occasions I misidentified a boardsie (only got it right with one - hey @Stillill42). Then again I congratulated a randomer on his Nixer show, thinking he was the lead singer. I later spotted the girl from Silverbacks but decided against saying anything.

Maybe we need our own festival band. Maybe for next year!

Caravan fire in the camper field this morning. Not sure what happened, it looked like it could have been abandoned, there was no car and didn't appear to be any people looking at their stuff going up in smoke, so I don't think anyone was hurt, thank god.

Took an awfully long time for the fire brigade to arrive, it's possible that the access lanes were full of campers leaving but it could have gotten really messy if the field had still been full.

Kneecap sound cringe as ****- loads of little middle class rebels chanting along about undercover cops- pass the sick bag

Arrived around midday Friday, definitely more traffic than past years at that time but I was quicker than ever getting my wristband. Straight into Eco Woodlands for a feed of cans. Eco felt a lot busier than last time but still tidy and plenty room to sit out sipping. Glass Animals, Pixies, Fontaines with a bit of Kinara, great night all round. Rain was making a start as I was calling it a night.

Went straight in Saturday morning for a bit of Pieman and the area was noticeably busier around midday but I'd put that down to people being sick of the sight of there wet tents and going for a wander. Generally floated between Main and Electric. Lyra, Becky Hill, KKC etc. Finished the night below in Jerry Fish with Dec Pierce. Another good day.

Up to that point, I'd never have guessed there was 20k extra people. Although it does look like people are arriving a good bit earlier in general and the demand for Eco growing. 

Sundays I always dread a little. I avoid drinking too much which might be part of the problem. I no longer take much notice of the 18 to 25 year olds but on Sundays, there always seems to be a flood of 13-16 year olds dragging eachother around. Not sure are they locals who get day passes or what's the story. Stuck it out for Snow Patrol and Arctic Monkeys, both very good but they did drag a little in the middle for me.

Previously the portaloos were pretty much as good as u could expect, always toilet roll and lads spraying them down full time but they seemed to be abandoned this year.

Now I have to deal with this pain the hole. This is the response I got when I emailed pictures of wristbands and ticket receipts. I don't have any past purchase on my account itself. 3 hours to the nearest kiosk.

"If any or all of your Electric Picnic Ticket purchases were from Ticketmaster Kiosks, you will need to return to one of our Loyalty Registration Kiosks on Weds Sept 7th, and Thursday 8th Sept with valid proof of purchase."

The good -

Pixies, Sleaford mods, kneecap TCM,Ham sandwich (no love here for them here?)Sound neighbours in pink moon. Pretty much free flow with the booze .

The bad

Queues, 5 quid for an Americano, singnage, main stage

The ugly

Vendors charging sterling instead of euro, weather at times, waking up this morning

Interestingly, got chatting to lad who works in the festival food business . He said EP were crying out for vendors but the cost is prohibitive (citing 7.5k to set up in main arena and another 2.5k to plug into electricity etc.) Not sure if he was talking out of his hoop (sounded legit) but would explain the high food costs etc.

Top tip for 2023. Sliced Breannans bread, cheese and onion crisps along with butter , coleslaw and ham (in with your cool box booze ) and plastic cuttelry - sambos sorted up until Sunday for me.

I'll definitely by buying a ticket for EP 2023. Been to all of them bar one (the year blur played). Yes it has changed but still migthy craic and well worth the cost of admission

I got quite a bit of that as well ! Happy to help people out. But, as a general rule, assume 95% of the staff, have no clue as to where things are, or what time arenas open, or what routes are open. I met a senior security person, one of the ones with a headset, and she told me i couldn’t get into Late Night Arena at 11.30 on Sunday, i said i had a ticketed event there at 12, she said no, i went back to next entrance and got in no problem, and got to Minefield.

I was wondering, I could see the black smoke while waiting to exit the green car park! Was really hoping it wasn’t tent burning! Unfortunate timing for the fire service.

On a side note, several crashes (minor rear ending) on the M7 today, absolutely sick for them!

When I’m driving Monday, I make sure to cut the pints mid Sunday and will always remove wrist bands in the car park, as well as getting everything into the car boot, so it’s not blatantly obvious I’ve just come from a festival!

Anyone know what price tickets well be on Saturday

The queues for booze were pretty bad and trying to navigate back with four beers was challenging.

6€ a can in the Salty dog was pretty steep. The Orchard Thieves stuff isn’t a great

Having missed this year I'm really torn as to whether to get tickets for next year or not.

Something that really struck me this weekend was how big of an event electric picnic has become. Every radio station was talking about it, it was on the front pages of the papers, being discussed on the news etc. It has become the social event of the year in Ireland and there is no getting away from that. At one point it maybe could have gone down the route to becoming the Irish equivalent of Glastonbury but it seems it has chosen another path.

The main question now is do the pros outway the cons? My most recent experience in 2019 and the reviews here from this weekend would suggest yes, although many have alluded to the problems the festival has. It's probably on a downward slope, but how quickly will it topple? There could be many more years of enjoyment there or it could happen very quickly (different thing altogether but Longitude transformed from a good day festival to essentially an underage festival in about two years).

I left on a real high in 2019, if that was my last time there I could have no complaints and it would always have that special place in my mind. Would love to go back again but I'd hate for those memories to be tarnished.

P.S - assuming it will be taking place on the weekend of 1st - 3rd September next year?

Yeah a lot of those teenagers are locals, including my two nephews I hasten to add. They both spent the entire weekend out there, walking in for free posing as the children of family ticket holders. It was their first year doing it but my older nieces and nephews did it as well when they were that age. I'd rather they weren't there but it's not my decision and I can't blame them for having the best weekend of their young lives.

As a quick aside, it's remarkable how many locals get it in for free. Whether it's the 5 foot 10 inch teenagers passing for under 12s or people being given an armband on a Sunday morning. Or people like myself who are handed a day ticket over a pint, by a friend of a friend, for free, simply because I said I was thinking of going.

Eh? No it wouldn't. In fact, that's the age limit for All Together Now.

As requested, this one is from Harvest on Friday. From left to right, Thundercats, Mucker46, DeskTidy, Seathrun66, Darzog with the beard, Stillill42, Rubick, Kepler21.