Preview - The Electric Picnic Stradbally Hall, Laois, Ireland
Friday 31 August to Sunday 2 September, 2007
by Yvonne Gordon
Ireland’s boutique music festival, The Electric Picnic, returns to Stradbally Hall for a fourth year from 31st August to 2nd September, 2007. Set in the grounds of a magnificent stately home just over an hour’s drive from Dublin city, the festival retains an intimate atmosphere as tickets are limited to 32,500.
Over its four years, the Picnic has grown from being a one-day music event to a fantastic three-day festival including everything from music to arts, games and poetry reading, and this year, organisers promise lots more treats at the site’s various stages, tents, cafes and parlours.
This year's musical highlights include The Beastie Boys doing their first Irish show in over a decade; the recently reformed Iggy And The Stooges, doing their only UK/Ireland performance this year and a rare live outing by Bjork. Ex-Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker will also take to the stage, and festival-goers will be treated to a hark back to 1980s punk-pop with The Jesus And Mary Chain. There’ll be cutting edge dance-rock from LCD Soundsystem; tunes from the newly resurgent Primal Scream; the first ever Irish show by the Damon Albarn-led The Good, The Bad and The Queen; Modest Mouse, the dramatic Polyphonic Spree and the eminently adaptable Craig Armstrong. Soul II Soul will be arriving with a 12-piece band and string section and the Dublin Gospel Choir will be on-hand to redeem festival-goers’ souls on Sunday morning.
Also on the line-up so far are: Sonic Youth, Aim, The Go Team!, Ratatat, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Ladytron, Jamie Lidell, Damien Dempsey, The Magic Numbers, The Undertones, Fujiya & Miyagi, Horace Andy, Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, Marlena Shaw, A Trak, Josh Wink, Electrelane, Bonde do Role, Deerfhoof, Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid, Derek May, Hextatic, Derick Carter, The Glimmers, The Elecktrons, DJ Marky.
Away from the music there's a dizzying array of delights in the planning. The Body and Soul Village is back, promising to be bigger and better this year. Sheltered among the trees, they'll have everything from organic food and drink and a range of holistic treatments. A new feature of the Body and Soul area this year is the Village Green, an arts and crafts area where some Irish craftworkers will weave their talents to create a collective art piece especially for this year’s festival.
There’ll be a dynamic, playful and colourful kid’s field housing fun games, creative workshops, movies, arts and crafts, puppet making and circus skills. And for competitive grown-ups, there’ll be a tug of war, twister, giant skittles and rounders.
The Village Green has to have a Village Hall of course, and here, organisers have planned a right rustic knees-up, with line dancing, a daily céilí, gypsy bands, trad sessions, apple bobbing, salsa classes, dancing competitions and total mayhem. There’ll also be a farmers market selling fresh produce from local Laois farmers each morning.
Lost Vagueness will be back at The Electric Picnic for a third year, with their infamous Chapel of Love and Loathing which will have daytime wedding ceremonies and night time cabarets. The quirky Lost Vagueness experience will also include The Casino and The Changing Room, the fabulous Ballroom and the Laundrettas Laundromat Of Love where you can get everything from an army of stylists to pimp your look, to the Laundrettas wordly advice.
Other highlights will include the Leviathan Think Tank - a political debate tent hosted by economist, broadcaster and writer David McWilliams; the International Comedy Club hosted by Des Bishop, the Southern Comfort Crawdaddy Tent, Bacardi B Bar, Bodytonic Arena and Foggy Notions Stage, all making a welcome return from last year.
You’ll need to book early if you’re interested in staying at the luxurious Boutique Campsite, which has a 24-hour on-site reception and an extra special Après Fest chill-out zone. There's also Beach Huts, a fab Bohemian Bivouac, the popular Podpads, Tipis and the double-decker dormitories called the Bus Beds.
This year Electric Picnic is making greater strides towards becoming as environmentally friendly as possible. Discussions with Cultivate Ireland and Global Cool are on-going and the aim is to reduce the use of non-renewable energy and offset the energy that is used. There’ll be large on site recycling stations and a pro-active 'Leave No Trace' campaign throughout the site, which includes a biodegradable packaging policy with the traders and and an environmentally friendly traffic management plan, all good news for the environmentally conscious.
Tickets for the three-day festival cost €220, including booking fee and Vat, and have been on sale since 3rd April. Keep an eye on www.electricpicnic.ie for developments over the summer including exciting additions to the line-up.
by Yvonne Gordon, 5th April 2007
Yvonne Gordon is a MelodyTrip writer, view her postings from Electric Picnic 2006 at http://www.melodytrip.com/MTNews/Default.aspx?NewsID=2881