Electric Picnic 2019 **Discussion Only // No Ticket Sales / Requests **

BullBlackNova

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Puzzled that Christine and Queens drew a small crowd - she's brilliant!

It's the same everywhere - I think promoters gambled on giving her prominent slots everywhere and she's just not quite as popular as they thought. I don't think the gamble failed or anything; it just maybe didn't pay out as big as they'd hoped.

For All Points East in the UK, her solo headline show was eventually being advertised as "Christine & the Queens AND James Blake"; at Primavera she got rave reviews but the crowd was not on a par with other major acts there, and the same here.

She's brilliant but I don't think she has the name recognition and the hits of other acts who play similar slots.

It's a relatively modern phenomenon and it has certainly been amplified this year but there's just a general shortage of main stage acts doing the rounds. Some have played here (and everywhere) very recently and weren't booked, others just weren't touring this year. As such, acts that might have previously headlined a smaller stage were moved on to bigger stages, etc. Sometimes it works brilliantly, other times the crowds just aren't there, even if the act is.

Seathrun66

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Puzzled that Christine and Queens drew a small crowd - she's brilliant!

Start of her set classed with end of Charlie XCX and many of those headed to CATQ after. Nice to see Christine & Charli do a duet too.

Seathrun66

Ricosruffneck wrote: »

Those main stage screens.

Amazing, I travelled all the way to Mad cool festival to see them and then they ended up going back to using smaller screens.

Pleasantly surprised to see them being used in stradbally.

The curved screens were there last year, but surely not as enormous as this? Or my memory playing tricks?

fafy

3rd Picnic, so many highlights, only went to the main stage for The Strokes, and a little of Billy Eilish. Strokes were superb i thought, but seem to be getting mixed reviews. Main stage is in “crazy” zone, so never spend much time there.

A little annoyed at the barriers late opening on Friday & Saturday, to main day area, i missed a few events i wanted to see in Mindfield, because of that, and i still have no idea why the delays in opening happened, security said nothing starts until the barriers are opened but this is total bull**** as they are all timetabled, and have to carry on. when i got to one of the podcasts late, it was mainly full of people with performer wristbands and family campsite- so no issue with them getting in early, but an issue for the rest of us.

Found that most of the security were clueless on more or less everything, bar some exceptions. I totally understand if they don’t know something, then if thats the case, refer me, to someone who might know. Others were sound and very helpful, so a mixed bag.


Full sets:
The Strokes, Michael Kiwanuka, Metronomy all great.
These Charming Men/ The Roadhouse Doors
- all good
Bodega- wow they are a little out there, but really enjoyed them.
Talos-seeing him again in December, nice appetiser, two drum kits, uo to 4 keyboards, but still have guitar & bass, great sound, allthough vocals could be higher

Saw the Talos quick chat in HotPress tent also, very focussed and intelligent guy, and we’l be hearing a lot more from him, he also mentioned he’s working on soundtrack projects.


Popped into a few for partial sets:

Le Boom- i was boomed

Johnny Marr- brilliant, two Smiths tracks, and got the crowd going particularly with the crowd surfing

Minski - real performance art stuff- not for me, zero engagement

Parquet Courts - first time seeing them, quite impressed

King Kong Company- entertaining

Echo & The Bunneymen - band were good, but he wasn’t performance ready, could hardly talk, left after 5 songs.

Just Mustard - liked what i heard

Shura- also good
Liked the 3 stage- didn’t have an issue finding it, its all on the app, but appreciate its a new location

Fonda- Limerick lads did well

Frank & Walters -its the Franks, always having a laugh onstage

Academic- this was totally rammed @ Jerry Fish, seemed good, only caught a little bit.

On the music side - Talos was definitely a highlight, but ended up at SD late last night, and saw Cathy Davey who was really brilliant also.

But probably my biggest surprise, was Jarvis, he was unreal, playing all new stuff which i didn’t know, but probably best performance for me this year

For the non music stuff
- Blindboy- was at two of his podcasts, both rammed, but got in at least- the one with ex “Spitting Image” producer John Lloyd was excellent , very interesting.

Finally- the Sunday Drunch was a great laugh, its good timing for a big feed on day 3, and you get plenty of Bloody Marys, Processo & cider, as well as the fantastic range of food, (and plenty of it)and bit of a singalong at the end, perhaps a bit corny, but ran with it, had to be done.

Thanks to all the posters in here, invaluable tips and information/ announcements, all helped to make the whole experience even better. Will do Pink Moon again, toilets and showers are as good as you’l get, and they were constantly cleaning them, also loved the cafe and massive tent to chill out and take a break from it all.

sweetie

Noticed tons of people with cans and managed to easily get a bottle of rum in using those sports bottles linked in the thread last week (to my detriment as the missus ended up not drinking!)

Saturday; Abbacaxxi,viagra boys, strokes, metronomy, just mustard, sack, Frank n Walters all good fun.
Sunday; yonaka, let's eat grandma, Johnny Marr, mitski, KKC, Kiwanuka/courtney, bodega, streets, Talos
Here's to next year!

Seathrun66

BullBlackNova wrote: »

It's the same everywhere - I think promoters gambled on giving her prominent slots everywhere and she's just not quite as popular as they thought. I don't think the gamble failed or anything; it just maybe didn't pay out as big as they'd hoped.

For All Points East in the UK, her solo headline show was eventually being advertised as "Christine & the Queens AND James Blake"; at Primavera she got rave reviews but the crowd was not on a par with other major acts there, and the same here.

She's brilliant but I don't think she has the name recognition and the hits of other acts who play similar slots.

It's a relatively modern phenomenon and it has certainly been amplified this year but there's just a general shortage of main stage acts doing the rounds. Some have played here (and everywhere) very recently and weren't booked, others just weren't touring this year. As such, acts that might have previously headlined a smaller stage were moved on to bigger stages, etc. Sometimes it works brilliantly, other times the crowds just aren't there, even if the act is.

Not sure I agree with that. Acts like Johnny Marr, The Bunnymen, Gavin James, The Academic, Charli XCX & Roisin Murphy could have drawn large crowds (some for afternoon slots) to the main stage. Though they also lose a lot of noise and atmosphere there.

It's always been hit & miss for the main stage. I've seen Gavin Friday, The Blue Nile & The Michael Nyman Orchestra with tiny audiences there. And small audiences on that platform for some or other acts in the next few Picnics.

drunkmonkey

Lord almighty the bars in Freetown....who drinks Desperado.. cracking dj playing in there Saturday night though...some reggae, funky techno kinda stuff.
Area needs a lot of work though...far from functional.

scruff monkey

Seathrun66 wrote: »

The curved screens were there last year, but surely not as enormous as this? Or my memory playing tricks?

They had curved screens for 2017/2018 but this years were on another level.

Will dig out pics for comparison

everlast75

Still on the comedown but have to say Sam Fender's voice gave me chills. Got a little overwhelmed listening to him (may have been the inordinate amount of drink taken).

Happened at Marr at how soon is now too.

BullBlackNova

Seathrun66 wrote: »

Not sure I agree with that. Acts like Johnny Marr, The Bunnymen, Gavin James, The Academic, Charli XCX & Roisin Murphy could have drawn large crowds (some for afternoon slots) to the main stage. Though they also lose a lot of noise and atmosphere there.

It's always been hit & miss for the main stage. I've seen Gavin Friday, The Blue Nile & The Michael Nyman Orchestra with tiny audiences there. And small audiences on that platform for some or other acts in the next few Picnics.

Yeah, re-reading my post, I probably should have gone with "headline" rather than "main stage" but the gist isn't too far off!

Christine & the Queens probably would have nailed the Electric Arena but that's nothing new - there's always acts that you leave at a festival thinking they should have been on a bigger/smaller/indoor/outdoor setting (delete as applicable!)

Seathrun66

scruff monkey wrote: »

They had curved screens for 2017/2018 but this years were on another level.

Will dig out pics for comparison

So I thought. Dwarfed the artists. A coup for the festival when acts like The Strokes are blown away by the technology on offer.

Seathrun66

BullBlackNova wrote: »

Yeah, re-reading my post, I probably should have gone with "headline" rather than "main stage" but the gist isn't too far off!

Christine & the Queens probably would have nailed the Electric Arena but that's nothing new - there's always acts that you leave at a festival thinking they should have been on a bigger/smaller/indoor/outdoor setting (delete as applicable!)

Yep. A direct swap with Charli XCX would have made more sense.

And btw is there anybody here that DIDN'T go to Johnny Marr? That tent must have been seriously rammed.

scruff monkey

Mr Marr was busy but wouldn't say it was rammed, think there were more at The Streets later on, very much a more "dude/bro" type vibe at that with the crowd there though.
I think the Terminus area did us all a massive favour in acting as a honey trap for those types.

everlast75

Seathrun66 wrote: »

Yep. A direct swap with Charli XCX would have made more sense.

And btw is there anybody here that DIDN'T go to Johnny Marr? That tent must have been seriously rammed.

Did anyone see the bloke that climbed the ladder all the way to the top of the electric arena during the set in what looked to be his bare feet? Thought he was staff until i saw the two guards and security waiting for him when he got down. He was promptly escorted out of there

scruff monkey

Screen comparison


2017/2018 :



2019 :

andreac

The screens were unreal this year and they were so clear too, amazing.

Bruce2008

everlast75 wrote: »

Did anyone see the bloke that climbed the ladder all the way to the top of the electric arena during the set in what looked to be his bare feet? Thought he was staff until i saw the two guards and security waiting for him when he got down. He was promptly escorted out of there

Yeah it looked like he was trying to figure out where the rain was coming in!!! Do you reckon he needed his shoes again or did his feet even touch the ground on the way out?

John.Icy

Christine & the Queens might have got a better crowd if she didn't say hello Dublin after every song :rolleyes:

She outdone Outkast for sheer ignorance of where she was. Charli XCX also thought she was in Dublin, among others.

I know it's a nothing thing but it still drives me mad every year and I'll continue to be pissed off for years to come. The fact CATQ can put up an Instagram post afterwards about their gig in Dublin just compounded it all. How could no one pass it on that she wasn't in Dublin.

I think Mura Masa is the only artist who's done the hello Dublin stuff and then apologised on social media - cited a member of his team telling him that he was in Dublin.

Ireland is small but you just wouldn't get a main stage act at Glastonbury or the likes and saying Hello London.

The Davestator

John.Icy wrote: »

Christine & the Queens might have got a better crowd if she didn't say hello Dublin after every song :rolleyes:

She outdone Outkast for sheer ignorance of where she was. Charli XCX also thought she was in Dublin, among others.

I know it's a nothing thing but it still drives me mad every year and I'll continue to be pissed off for years to come. The fact CATQ can put up an Instagram post afterwards about their gig in Dublin just compounded it all. How could no one pass it on that she wasn't in Dublin.

I think Mura Masa is the only artist who's done the hello Dublin stuff and then apologised on social media - cited a member of his team telling him that he was in Dublin.

Ireland is small but you just wouldn't get a main stage act at Glastonbury or the likes and saying Hello London.

Its pretty low on my list of annoying things to be honest!

riddles

John.Icy wrote: »

Christine & the Queens might have got a better crowd if she didn't say hello Dublin after every song :rolleyes:

She outdone Outkast for sheer ignorance of where she was. Charli XCX also thought she was in Dublin, among others.

I know it's a nothing thing but it still drives me mad every year and I'll continue to be pissed off for years to come. The fact CATQ can put up an Instagram post afterwards about their gig in Dublin just compounded it all. How could no one pass it on that she wasn't in Dublin.

I think Mura Masa is the only artist who's done the hello Dublin stuff and then apologised on social media - cited a member of his team telling him that he was in Dublin.

Ireland is small but you just wouldn't get a main stage act at Glastonbury or the likes and saying Hello London.

You’d imagine upon landing in Dublin and traveling to Laois they must think as Ireland is relatively small, Dublin must be massive if 70km’s later they are still in it!

saffron22

Bruce2008 wrote: »

Yeah it looked like he was trying to figure out where the rain was coming in!!! Do you reckon he needed his shoes again or did his feet even touch the ground on the way out?

Any chance he was covered in loads of facial piercings and had loads of things hanging from his belt. Might have been maddog

darzog

I’m in complete agreement with stillill and Seathrun re the 3 Made by Music stage. It’s a beauty, but it is hampered by its location between two thoroughfares. The one from the arena to Freetown via Trenchtown and the one from Salty Dog to Freetown. Absolutely zero chance of anyone passing by, hearing something interesting and sticking around. At least it meant that the crowd at all acts I saw there were there for the music and so were respectful and appreciative...if sparse.

It now feels like two completely separate festivals running concurrently. You have the line of glittery young ants that run full pelt, hand in hand, from Hendrix to Main Stage, to Casa Bacardi, then on to Terminus and back again, and then you have the beautiful madness of Salty Dog, Jerry Fish, Trailer Park and the quality tent acts. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest though. They have zero interest in what grabs me and I have no interest in their world so we all just let each other crack on with it.

I echo others thumbs up re. decent loos all weekend, hand sanitiser dispensers always full, decent food options, lots of litter folk (being kept busy sadly), bit more of a relaxed attitude to the odd can being brought in. All good.

Might be controversial around these parts but the extension of the arena worked for me. I spent a lot more time at Salty Dog this year than at any EP I’ve been at, purely because I didn’t have to bother queuing to get back in to the Arena so hung around there a lot more. There was a pre-festival fear that lack of cans would kill the vibe at SD. All I saw was a lot of very merry people there, having the time of their lives. The end of limited free flow has effectively killed Trenchtown though. Tiny crowds all weekend. They will have to rethink that whole area...

Re. the music. Brilliantly eclectic range of acts seen over the weekend. Highlights: serpentwithfeet, Panik Attaks, Bootleg Beach Boys, Amy Montgomery, Porcelain Hill, White Reaper, Heavy Lungs, Lilac, Wolff, Johnny Marr and The Streets (nuts mc nut nuts)... Also ducked into the Cabaret Tent for the Dirty Circus and said to the guy next to me...”when my wife asks me what I’ve been up to for the last hour or so, how do I begin to tell her, I’ve just seen a woman take of her clothes and do the tassels thing to Fade to Black by Metallica.” Bizarre, but that’s our Picnic.

Brilliant meeting up with some of the boardsies at TCM. Met stillill, seathrun, scruff monkey and BaldFigo. All as sound a bunch of lads you could ever hope to meet. Saw stillill over the course of the weekend again whilst behaving myself impeccably and not so impeccably! Every interaction with random EPers was a positive one. Weather was spot on...and I for one cannot wait to do it all again. Same time next year folks.

traco

Just back - stayed in Pink Moon. Tent quality was down on last year. Checked in early Thursday and we ere part of a groups so couldn't get moved as tents booked beside each other. Had to get them to clean them and install missing compartments and tension on the lines. Rest of camp site was fine as before. Seemed to be a lot of wasps this year for some reason????

Early entry was mayhem, did one run in and should have brought in everything we needed but didn't so had to go back out. Queues at 7:30pm were nuts so went for a pint and a burger in the village. Chatting to the lad in the bar he said tehy get very little business which is a bit disappointing given the inconvenience they must deal with. Would have hoped they would have got a twist from the event but guess not.

Headed back to find worse queues, took about 2hrs to get back in even though we were already banded. I'd say 30/40% of the people going back in that night had already got their bands so they really need a second route in to facilitate that. It was mayhem in the queue, poor lights and no security. Lots of pushing and shoving and them people opening the barriers to bypass a down and return leg. Surprised it didn't get out of hand.
They really should sort that for next year, surely they make enough on the early entry ticket to man two access points / security??

Music - excellent, found several new bands to check out over the coming weeks. Tend to stay away from the main stages and look for stuff I don't really know.
Enjoyed Gerry Cinnamon and fair play to him for calling out the tossers throwing the pints around!
The Scratch were the band of the weekend for me - savage energy and don't give a fiddlers but can play those instruments and put on a show.

Enjoyed the new 3 stage and Spike Island, good venues but agree as mentioned that signage needs to be better. Several of our group couldn't find them and they asked staff who didn't either.

Salty Dog my favorite stage and don't think the change affected it much. Much less cans under foot which was nice. Cheapest pint at €5 in the arena. Only downside is the massive crowds moving through between the main part of the arena and Freetown / Terminus that was evident when some of the big acts finished on main stage.

So overall a great weekend.

Bruce2008

saffron22 wrote: »

Any chance he was covered in loads of facial piercings and had loads of things hanging from his belt. Might have been maddog

What shoe size is he? I don't think any Prince Charming will be lookin for this Cinderella!

Rfrip

Home, shattered. Will come back on later for proper review but I’ve to wallow in my own self pity for the rest of the day

Savage wkend for me. Don’t think ep can be beaten tbh.

Peter File

Rfrip wrote: »

Home, shattered. Will come back on later for proper review but I’ve to wallow in my own self pity for the rest of the day

Savage wkend for me. Don’t think ep can be beaten tbh.

We hope its not rf rip!!

whelzer

The "Dublin" thing was kind of annoying.

I only did Friday and Saturday - can't believe I did not meet any of you at TCM.

Seen loads and got way too wasted Friday night - brain dump of the two days...

Highlights were probably Three Made for Music stage - loved it, seen SerpentWithFeet, Just Mustard, Rob de Boer, The Scratch and Somebodys Child.

Also enjoyed CATQ - thought they were great, caught some of Bille. Gerry Cinnamon didn't do anything for me. Caught some of TPM and The Claque, stayed for most of Amelie Lens but was overwhelmed so had to move...met some pals at Heineken thing for Tensnake, recovered somewhat and crawled to bed...just remembered I wondered through Trenchtown and bopped (bounced) around for a while!

Seen Ojo at Salty Dog, very nice sound, and I will definitely seek them out. Hadn't seen a "handpan" for a good few years.
The SD bar was ****e so I went in for drink at Trailer park at caught a song or two from the bootleg beach boys. Caught some of Lyra (I know), some of Charli XCX (getting worse). Seen most of Mango X Mathman (mostly cos I had a couple of cans with them at B&S and they are sound fellas. Caught a little bit of Brittey Howard beforehand - wow! Stayed for about 30 seconds of Yves Tumour - scary...Sons of Kemet - simply unreal, who knew a tuba could be used like that. Straight into Four Tet afterwards - was anybody here there? presume there should have been a light show? Finished up with most of Kelly Ann Byrne and a slice of Sim Simma at Trenchtown. Fairly sure I stumbled into the thing next to HazelWood on the way back to PM.

Food was great, bars were overall ****e - whats with the selling cans but not giving you the can? Complete lack of consistency as well, Murphy's cans at three music stage, on draught at the bar near comedy tent, and nowhere else. If I never see Heineken again it will be too soon!. Didn't witness any crowd issues, seen zero trouble and very little messy behavior(unless I had a mirror on Friday night!)

So I've been to B&S, ATN and 2/3 EP in 2019.

Will do up a separate comparison post, maybe we can have a civilized best festival thread...maybe not!

Seathrun66

scruff monkey wrote: »

Mr Marr was busy but wouldn't say it was rammed, think there were more at The Streets later on, very much a more "dude/bro" type vibe at that with the crowd there though.
I think the Terminus area did us all a massive favour in acting as a honey trap for those types.

I remember seeing The Streets at the Astoria in London when Original Pirate Material came out. His audience was comprised of all those belligerent drunk guys that Skinner was satirising and who failed to realise that. Got unprovokedly threatened twice and a few fights broke out. Not a mellow evening.

Seathrun66

John.Icy wrote: »

Christine & the Queens might have got a better crowd if she didn't say hello Dublin after every song :rolleyes:

She outdone Outkast for sheer ignorance of where she was. Charli XCX also thought she was in Dublin, among others.

I know it's a nothing thing but it still drives me mad every year and I'll continue to be pissed off for years to come. The fact CATQ can put up an Instagram post afterwards about their gig in Dublin just compounded it all. How could no one pass it on that she wasn't in Dublin.

I think Mura Masa is the only artist who's done the hello Dublin stuff and then apologised on social media - cited a member of his team telling him that he was in Dublin.

Ireland is small but you just wouldn't get a main stage act at Glastonbury or the likes and saying Hello London.

I remember Al Green at Glasto 1999 shouting out 'Hello Bristol' several times. Didn't go down well but he was so spectacularly good that we forgave him.

They've probably had US artists shout out London there but can't recall any.

Even when on a lengthy tour you can work out where you are. But hey, if the act are on form it's a lot less bothersome.

Granite Head

Seathrun66 wrote: »

And still, eerie radio silence from Bodhrandude?

Saw him in the The Haunt (B&S) last night @ 2.30pm holding court in the corner.

Popped into the The Haunt a few times over the weekend always good music & visuals and because its small it was nice and warm.