On The Record

• Electric Picnic line-up to be announced on Wednesday

  March 21, 2008 @ 4:15 am | by Jim Carroll

  The first confirmed acts and ticket details for this year’s Electric Picnic festival will be announced next Wednesday, March 26th
  
  This year’s three-day event will be held from August 29th to 31st in Stradbally, Co Laois.

  Two of the acts due to be announced are My Bloody Valentine and seminal Krautrock pioneers Faust, who also play the Spiegeltent in Cork on June 20th.

  In addition to the list of confirmed acts, particular interest will be paid to the price the Picnic’s promoters will charge for a weekend on Thomas Cosby’s land - in light of increasing price sensitivity from customers about tickets for shows here.

  Earlybird tickets for the festival, priced at €199, sold out when they went on sale late last year.

  By way of comparison, there are still tickets on sale for Ireland’s other big outdoor festival, Oxegen.

  All Oxegen’s camping tickets sold out after four days on sale, but weekend and one-day non-camping tickets are still available at time of going to press.

  While the bulk of Oxegen-goers will camp out, there have always been festivalgoers who avoid the campsites to stay in local guesthouses or travel daily to the Co Kildare venue.

  Some industry observers have expressed surprise that all tickets have not been snapped up, pointing out that Oxegen has always sold out quickly in the past. One Irish betting chain even opened a book on how long it would take the first batch of tickets for the festival to sell out this year.

  Unlike previous years, a huge number of Oxegen acts were confirmed and publicised in advance. REM, Rage Against the Machine, Kings of Leon, The Verve, Kaiser Chiefs, Stereophonics and Counting Crows had been announced on an almost daily basis in the weeks leading up to tickets going on sale.

  While summer 2007 featured more than 70 outdoor shows and festivals, many wonder if the 2008 season will feature fewer shows - and fewer punters.
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40 Comments
1.
March 21, 2008
1:50 pm
Leechrum is gone anyways.
Is Midlands gone too?
Comment by cranky
2.
March 21, 2008
2:46 pm
Cranky - yes. Midlands is gone. I didnt know that Leechrum had gone, though.
Comment by Jim Carroll
3.
March 21, 2008
2:57 pm
Great that the lineup is finally going to be released-and hopefully they will get rid of that fit-inducing website they have at the moment! Big enough difference in early-bird price of 199 and the regular price which according to Ticketmaster last week is going to be 240. (cant confirm that since they they have changed the page)
Comment by Tim
4.
March 21, 2008
3:01 pm
There is also Castle Palooza at beginning of August and looks like tickets still available.
Comment by Tim
5.
March 21, 2008
3:05 pm
Great that the lineup is finally going to be released
We’ve become very impatient - line-up wasn’t announced last year until mid-April as far as I can remember!
Comment by Jim Carroll
6.
March 21, 2008
3:26 pm
Yeah, i checked Ticketmaster the other day and they had a €240 price up.
Comment by Paul
7.
March 21, 2008
3:49 pm
Good work detectives
Comment by Jim Carroll
8.
March 21, 2008
4:01 pm
€240? Fuck. Wonder when will we reach the €300 mark?
Any truth in the rumour the Sex Pistols are playing?
Comment by Quint
9.
March 21, 2008
5:18 pm
Two hundred and forty euro???? Ah, Jesus…
Comment by Neill
10.
March 21, 2008
6:10 pm
“We’ve become very impatient”
This is true, but that website really is horrible…
I’m also strongly considering coming home for a week at EP time since it also coincides with US holiday weekend - good time for a vacation! A lot’s riding on this here line-up!!
Comment by Matt
11.
March 22, 2008
2:04 am
240 is fucking crazy. Last year was pretty perfect.. there’s hardly gonna be 40 quids worth of improvements. I wonder what excuse they have for themselves.
It won’t be easy handing that much moolah over. Maybe I won’t.
Comment by Bobby
12.
March 22, 2008
7:06 pm
Yeah think it was in April last year- have been a bit impatient though since I bought one of the early birds!
Double checked Ticketmaster and tickets on sale from 28th March…curious they have them from 96-240 but yet say there are no day tickets.
EP site has changed slightly and now says 6pm on the Wed.
Comment by Tim
13.
March 23, 2008
1:21 am
garden party is off too
Comment by petee
14.
March 24, 2008
12:38 pm
Ah lads the EP is a great gig, maybe it’s worth the money. One festival the CERTAINLY is worth the money is Knockanstockan - the best little festival in the whole world, weekend camping was only twenty euro last year!!
Comment by Eoin Ryan
15.
March 24, 2008
1:04 pm
Yeah, Garden Party is a goner. As is any chance of seeing Portishead at the Picnic…
Comment by Hot Lunch
16.
March 25, 2008
11:41 am
€240 quid + credit crunch = no electric picnic for me. Instead I’m gonna cherry pick a few nice cheap gigs in whelans in May and June and hope to fuck I get to see MBV under some other circumstances.
Comment by gardenhead
17.
March 25, 2008
12:08 pm
I hope that’s not true about the travesty that is the reformed Sex Pistols playing. That would just be embarrassing.
I’m still extremely aghast at the prospect of paying €240. Why does it keep going up in price, year after year?
Comment by Neill
18.
March 25, 2008
12:43 pm
All plans for an Irish staging of Latitude have been scrapped.
Comment by Hot Lunch
19.
March 25, 2008
2:16 pm
at 240 squids i just couldn’t be bothered - that and the fact that i hate camping
it’d have to be nice hotel and a hot cuppa

Comment by Leigh O'Gorman
20.
March 25, 2008
3:12 pm
Jim, any truth (that you’ve heard) to the rumour of Queen (w/Paul Rodgers) playing the Friday night?
Comment by Ivor
21.
March 25, 2008
3:21 pm
240 quid, the declining quality of the fest since ‘04, and a fairly poor lineup from what i’ve seen, I’m pretty happy I’ll be abroad for it.
Comment by Ciaran
22.
March 25, 2008
3:27 pm
On The Record readers complain about ticket prices - hold the front page!
Comment by Jim Carroll
23.
March 25, 2008
3:36 pm
i also like the way EP/POD/Aiken have said that the the capacity of the festival will be the same, despite the fact that it’s actually increased, again.
Comment by Ciaran
24.
March 25, 2008
3:41 pm
Actually, on ciaran’s point at no 23, does anyone have an online link to the planning permission application made by POD/Aiken to Laois County Council for this year’s EP?
I spent a very frustrating hour on the Laois co co site last week looking for that
And while we’re at it, why is MCD’s Oxegen application not on the Kildare Co Co site?
Any local reporters care to fill me in on this? I thought ALL planning permission applications had to be listed on the respective sites.
Comment by Jim Carroll
25.
March 25, 2008
3:41 pm
They’re adding 100 flaming Pieminister tents with a combined staff of over 2,000 this year thanks to Jim’s incessant raving about them last year. They’re the new Spar, or Centra, or something, only with Pies.
Comment by Hot Lunch
26.
March 25, 2008
3:43 pm
Mmmmmm pies…….
Comment by Jim Carroll
27.
March 25, 2008
3:45 pm
Could be the application was lodged by a different company name? Also, they don’t necessarily have to give the event name either on the application.
I would imagine full-scale applications won’t be lodged for a while yet, as both promoters have a decent relationship with the respective local authorities/Gardai etc
Comment by Hot Lunch
28.
March 25, 2008
3:51 pm
Have used every possible variation of name and applicant and every possible variation of address but no dice. I was just checking some capacity figures and was very curious about why these applications are not available online.
Comment by Jim Carroll
29.
March 25, 2008
3:56 pm
Strange that. There should have at least been some pre-planning which would have to be kept on file.
Comment by Hot Lunch
30.
March 25, 2008
4:46 pm
Jim, what section are you trying in for the Council information? One doesn’t have to apply for Planning Permission per se for these events as it’s a Outdoor Events Licence that is required.
The section dealing with them can vary from Council to Council – I know in Kerry, for example, it’s the Roads Department that coordinate. Department of the Environment might be able to help as it’s their regulations that the Council’s are implementing.
Comment by Ivor
31.
March 25, 2008
4:53 pm
Ivor - I think how this is handled varies from county to county. Again, though, I’m not sure and was just wondering where, even if it’s an Outdoor Events Licence, this info and this application would be on a county co’s site?
Comment by Jim Carroll
32.
March 25, 2008
5:12 pm
Ivor - I think how this is handled varies from county to county.
That’s what I said, but the application may be handled by different departments depending on the local authority. The first step in the application is a newspaper ad say to say an application is going to be made, then the application itself is made to the local authority who forward the application to the relevant bodies – Gardai; HSE etc. Applications must be made 16 weeks in advance of the event. It should be on council website but they are not obliged to put it on there.
Comment by Ivor
33.
March 26, 2008
9:24 am
the capacity is currently the same and the application hasnt been made yet….. Back to the more important line up.
Comment by daithi
34.
March 26, 2008
11:00 am
Okay my “in the know” mate has given me a little sneaky preview of the line-up and, assuming it’s accurate, I think I will spring the €240 for a ticket after all. It’s very good!
Comment by Neill
35.
March 26, 2008
12:49 pm
Sex Pistols, Sigur Ros, Franz Ferdinand, George Clinton & The P-Funk Allstars, My Bloody Valentine, Goldfrapp, Christy Moore, Wilco, The Gossip, Underworld, Tinariwen, CSS, Tindersticks, New Young Pony Club, Josh Ritter, Lisa Hannigan, Cathy Davey, That Petrol Emotion, The Breeders, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Sinead O’ Connor, The Roots, Kila, Micah P Hinson, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Amiina, Hayseed Dixie, Juana Molina, Turin Brakes, Faust, Midnight Juggernauts, Tartit, Hadouken!, Mark Geary, Teitur, Blitzen Trapper, Absentee, Balanescu Quartet, Lou Rhodes The Yard Dogs, Tobias Froberg, Boss Volenti, Dawn Landes, Constantines, Yacht, Lionheart Brothers, Large Mound, Emma the Great, Foals, Kormac & the BSQ Band, Jape, Noisettes, Dublin Gospel Choir…plus many more to be announced.
Comment by Matt Vinyl
36.
March 26, 2008
12:51 pm
The Sex Pistols are confirmed!!!
Comment by Kon
37.
March 26, 2008
1:00 pm
Matt - I was joking about Christy Moore on that other post. What is he doing on that list?
Comment by Jim Carroll
38.
March 26, 2008
1:46 pm
Wilco?! Are you serious? My heart can’t take it thats a joke. Why are they not on Nialler9’s list?! Why can’t I wait until 6pm to find out for definite? This is stressful.
Comment by MixTape
39.
March 26, 2008
2:30 pm
The list arrived out of the ether. I have no idea whether it bears any resemblance to what will be announced later.
Apparently Christy will be doing a dubstep set.
Comment by Matt Vinyl
40.
March 26, 2008
10:08 pm
I’m closing comments on this post as a new-er post has begun about the line-up
Comment by Jim Carroll

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