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

That was the best one for a while, no question. Never thought I'd see the day where I'd be dancing to jungle music at Electric Picnic at 2.30am on a Sunday, and yet here we are.

Full review to follow, I'm a little stiff.

Probably that f*cking jungle music.

Lads I'm going to throw in a few paragraphs about EOTR. No wish to diss EP or take away from the reviews of what sounds like a fantastic weekend, just to provide a bit of context for anyone thinking about looking for an alternative.

70,000 people felt like too much last year for me. The 15,000 this weekend was spot on, always busy but never crazy. Age profile much higher which I know won't be for everyone but did me the power of good.

Stradbally is a gorgeous site but Larmer tree gardens goes a step further. Lovely main arena, partially bordered by woods and then on into the woods for loads of goodies. If there's a more beautiful stage than the Garden stage at any festival anywhere I'd like to see it. Surrounded by trees, perfectly preserved lawn in the middle, sit around there in the sun in the morning, magical atmosphere at night, all sorts of cool lighting in the trees. Bedlam there for the Mary Wallopers, you could hear a pin drop for Arooj Aftab Saturday night.

Womble a bit further into the woods for the Talking Heads stage, another incredible setting, tiny stage, steeply banked rows of benches and hay bails. Interviews in the morning, I caught Miki Berenyi from Lush talking about her new book, then a perfect spot for those gigs that are so hard to stage at EP, small, quiet things that need a bit of hush. Saw Nina Nastasia, H.Hawkline and a brilliant guy called Sam Burton there. Total respect for the artists, absolute silence, lovely warm reception.

Massive variety of acts, loads I didn't know beforehand but loved ranging from the small stuff like Sam, Scott Lavene, Cinder Well to experimental guitar stuff like Horse Lords and Moin to brilliant straight out indie from Personal Trainer, 60s garage rock from the Courettes, beautiful sets from Angel Olsen, Arooj, MF Tomlinson and from some of our own, Murder Capital, the Mary Wallopers and John Francis Flynn all playing great sets to big crowds. And of course Wilco. Absolutely majestic.And Geese! Brilliant!

Everyone there seems to like music, wants to talk about it. Only 6 stages, so every act played to a big appreciative crowd. Every performer seemed to love it. Loads signed merch straight after the gig, everyone up for the chats and a pile of them seemed to be there for the weekend, wandering round watching other acts. We must have talked to 7 or 8 musicians ourselves. Everyone so down to earth, no ego. I had a million lovely little interactions. The crowd were sound, very laid back.

No queues for the bar all weekend, lots of them dotted around. Standard taps of craft lager and session IPA and a number of bars where you had a big selection from other breweries. Now that said, I didn't do my homework and didn't find a pint that I loved. The session ale was nice but nothing special. Anyway, a pile of choice, gin garden, cider bus, cocktails etc.

The magic of the woods alive and well there. The boat stage right in there, a sort of Salty Dof equivalent (though of course nothing can replicate the Salty Dog). Also a tiny piano stage, room for about 40 people, no schedule, artists would just turn up out of a blue sky. Angel Olsen did a beautiful set there apparently. Loads of installations, lights in the woods, games, a little library in there, you know, all the cool stuff that you want there even if you'll never use it.

Not a scumbag to be seen. Everyone in top form, nobody falling around, off their faces, pissing on fences.

We had a prepitched tent in Tangerine fields, 4 of us in a 6 man, 100 quid each for the 4 nights. Lovely showers, charging points, cafe etc. Really quiet, 6 or 7 minutes walk to main arena.

Look, sorry for the stream of consciousness. I loved it. Everyone there loved music, went to gigs to listen to music. It was extremely pricey as we didn't have drink with us, no time, no cooler etc. 6.50 a pint, a tenner for g and t, 13 for some meals etc. And no doubt I missed the outside the arena stuff in Stradbally and OF COURSE the Boardsies interactions. But I'm glad I did it. The stuff Melvin is getting wrong? It's not impossible to get it right.

I seen the email - wonder if some of the more established posters will start an EP24 thread shortly so that we can keep that content there for others to find more easily.

Well I had a great week, mobility issues aside and getting freaked by the arena numbers, it just seems far too big a crowd now, I yearn for these 35,000 capacity days that didn't pull so much of a commercial aspect to the line up.

Friday: Got in late enough and just missed Nia Archives by about 10 minutes, hung around the general area there and caught The Viagra Boys who were wicked and noisy, the singer slagged the festival beers on offer on site saying he walked 10 minutes to Stradbally to get a pint of Guinness calling the beers on offer muck, although Murphy's is decent enough. Also caught about half the Young Fathers set who were very impressive and I'm proud to say are from Scotland. Wandered over to Croi stage and caught Hazey Hayes semi acoustic trad set which was great and then up to the Haunt for a seat until 2 AM.

Saturday: Came in a bit earlier today, had intentions to visit Freetown and maybe Hazelwood but ended up loving the vibe at the Salty Dog area, met a load of lads from Ennis in County Clare who plied me with sour whisky which was delicious and I entertained them with my small goatskin tambourine singing some songs and lilting a few tunes, they were up for the Wolftones the following day but I urged them to go and see De Danann too. Really enjoyed Bronagh Gallagher's set, she's definitely got a Janis Joplin vibe about her performance. Met another mate from crew there and we headed off for a good spot at the side barrier to mixing desk at the Idles gig who were phenomenal, probably best gig of the weekend for me. I haven't really seen much as headliners go or main stage stuff, but a festival is how you make it and the stuff I did catch was amazing. Again it was down to mobility issues, I can only walk a certain distance at the moment and I think I seriously have to change my lifestyle choice of kicking tobacco but god, its so addictive.

Sunday: Got in a bit earlier today and was at a nice spot for Remembering De Danann and meeting Rubick, Desk Tidy, Kepler, Seath, Reded and Penfailed. De Danann was flanked each side by two of my favourite bodhan players in the world, Johnny 'Ringo' McDonagh and Colm Murphy and a nice selection of musicians and Eleanor Shanley on vocals. The band went through a nice selection of tunes and songs representing the many different stages of the group a great gig. I said I'd meet my mate at Electric Arena for the Wolftones, when I finally reached this is what I saw.

So no way in hell I was going in there and it didn't change for the Saw Doctors later really. So I cut my losses and headed up to the solas that was the Haunt out of the mad crowd for the Paddy Keenan gig. Yes, you heard right, the legendary Bothy Band piper was playing a gig in one of the smaller venues of the Picnic, so two Irish legends playing meek sets. Keenan was amazing and the backing guitarist, whilst filming a bit of the music some idiot came into the haunt practising his karate kicks, I don't know why he chose me but he nearly hit my phone, anyway he tried it again and knocked the phone out of my hand and I shot him a look of daggers saying 'That was a wise move' and he disappeared rather quickly. My only other complaint was idiots streaming to the main stage trying to walk through you, 'EHHH! Hello I'm not a phucking ghost, I'm a real person going the other way.' I ventured to Croi and caught a bit of the Hot House Flowers who were ok but had a huge crowd gathered around the arena, up to the volunteer hub for pit stops and caught a small bit of the Killers set from very far back. But because I couldn't venture very far without having to do pulmonary breathing exercises I decided to quit for the night, in retrospect I should have pushed myself and went to the Amyl and the Sniffers gig but just headed back to crew camp. This was probably my most least attended Picnic as far as acts go but I had a great time and some lovely meet ups with good folk,

Am stunned at the prices in the new Pink Moon for 2024, the cheapest offering now seems to be 410 for a basic tipi (i.e. just the bare tent), which in itself is only a 20 quid rise from this year but there is no 2 person basic tent option (which was 305 this year). Also, it isn't 100% clear but seems you have to pay an extra 100 for access to the PM bar etc which used to be free?

That will be fr hitting them in the pocket

I got the same. 😟

I don't have the exact ratio of steps to kms, but checking the Garmin I did 104,319 steps across the three days (up from 83,009 in EP 2022). I think apx 1200 steps is a km, so 80km or so, i.e. the distance from Dublin to Stradbally.

Now, wheres my free ticket tour de picnic?

Young Fathers.

Well I’m glad that’s over! The fomo was something else. Friday was actually horrendous, even had a little cry! Have loved reading all the reviews and so lovely and heartwarming to see many of you meeting up. On looking at pics and reading reviews I still think I have made the right decision to retire from EP. Not sure what to do next year but will be between body and soul and ATN.

How did ye find Royal Otis? Really enjoyed them over in Dorset, on early in the sun, really charmed the crowd and that jangly pop guitar thing they have going on was perfect. If they'd just drop that 'You're so **** gorgeous' number.

For me it's about the music so largely run around