Electric Picnic 2024 **No Ticket Sales / Requests** - Waiting in line, terrible time, over familiar

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077293#Comment_122077293

Much of that is true but there are still an enormous bunch of people across all demographics who are there for the music. There are a lot like us who are not posting on boards. My niece and her pals go for the music as do the offspring of my friends. If just there for a couple of tracks then Billie Eilish, Arctic Monkeys, Dermot Kennedy, etc will lose their audience.

Statements that it’s not all about the music apply to both EP & Glasto and I’ve used them myself. I’ve not come across any European festival that offers as much beyond the music stages as those two and the vibe the different areas create cannot easily be replicated. Most festivals don’t even try as it’s far too difficult. Much of that is being eroded with the loss of B&S and Other Voices and further negative changes alongside a worsening lineup will kill EP in my opinion. Despite the current criticisms I’d hate for that to happen.

dav09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077257#Comment_122077257

I was comparing the caliber of top tier acts with Primevera, Pukklepop, Sziget, R&L, others, etc in previous years with the caliber of acts at EP which it falls miles flat of this year. I don't want the Irish Primevera I can visit that again elsewhere, I just want a maybe half decent lineup!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077451#Comment_122077451

It's the very same with me, it is what you make of it but that is only to a certain degree, can't justify trying and caring to go anymore when the lineup is a poor as it is.

Mucker46

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077451#Comment_122077451

Fully agree. After 22 nearly didn't buy early but gave them a post covid pass. 23 really enjoyed the musi but 24 so far looks very poor so won't be buying early for 25 will wait and see the line up (if I like it there will probably be loads selling sayingvits crap)

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077257#Comment_122077257

"primavera is a destination music festivals for music fans around europe to flock to and even that model is falling in last year or two." - Yes, probably because they've moved away from their core music booking policy of 15+ years and started booking flavour of the month pop and rap acts, expanded the festival in a more mainstream direction, and alienated some of their longtime repeat customers. That seems to have left them vulnerable to a fickle new audience - the casual listener masses. Apparently the weekend ticket sales are so slow this year that they've reduced them and have made more single day tickets available, as there's a large demand from Lana Del Rey fans for her day.

Wooderson

Theres a % of people with the disposable income/lack of cultural curiosity combo to spend weekend in campsite drinking warm cans, sure. Not denying this, been the case since the start of the Picnic. But is it more than 30%? Majority of people who go to music festivals have at least a passing interest in the music. To suggest otherwise is wacky craic.

The Davestator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077775#Comment_122077775

I think the best way to gauge this is to simply witness the hoards descending towards the main stage from the Hendrix campsite just before Billie / Megan thee stallion / 1975 etc.

Mollyb60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077414#Comment_122077414

€300 to drink cans in a field with your mates is a hella expensive weekend. I like the buzz but it's a music festival. I'm not spending €300 on a ticket when I'd struggle to find more than 3 bands there I'd like to see. I can drink out my back garden with my mates if I just wanted a nice buzz and a few cans.

Wooderson

EP socials posting about Wilderness Festival on the EP account just there. Grim aul craic.

rubick

Been trying to convince myself that the Love Regenerator tracks that Calvin Harris released in the early 2020s are good. But they're only good in comparison to his other mainstream output. And he likely wouldn't even play them. All those Fantazia era samples wasted.

And now my algorithm is f*cked.

darzog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077293#Comment_122077293

I experienced an amusing encounter with a member of the ‘one song’ brigade in real time.

At last year’s ATN, during Iggy’s set, a young wan came belting towards me out of nowhere and he asked me if Iggy had already done ‘Lust for Life’. I replied that he had, and this lad was really hacked off, and started moaning that he couldn’t believe that he had missed it. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt as LFL could have been significant to him for any number of reasons.

I said to him that Iggy had a ton of songs that were more than worthy of sticking around for. This wee lad started whining to me that “someone like me” couldn’t possibly understand what that song meant to “his generation”. That, dear reader, was the exact moment that my sympathy abruptly ran out and he was summarily dismissed with a couple of verbal toe-hokes up the auld jam roll.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077868#Comment_122077868

Obviously not their Facebook page then, has Wilderness a similar line up?

rubick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077901#Comment_122077901

Look mate, you wouldn't understand unless you'd seen Trainspotting in the cinema.

scruff monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077904#Comment_122077904

No, it's decent, Michael Kiwanuka headlining for a start

CONSI

Going to a festival in Poland, Foo fighters, Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, Sam Smith and a bunch of euro acts I've never heard of..cheaper than EP for 4 days

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077904#Comment_122077904

Negative. Not even same weekend. Another indication of shoddy craic in FR towers.

darzog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077908#Comment_122077908

he would have struggled to be allowed in to see Trainspotting 2 ffs! Buckin’ unterhosen older than him in my top drawer

Kepler21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077451#Comment_122077451

I've held off on expressing my thoughts until now. I go on my own, and I've been privileged to meet up with some of you and that has enhanced my experience a lot, but it really is about the music for me. I saw bits of 41 bands last year, including 7 on the Main stage. Some of them I only stayed for a couple of songs. 17 on the other main stages (including 3 All for Music), 7 on Croi, 5 Salty Dog, 3 Survivor, 2 Trailer park.

Billie Eilish, Wet Leg, Nia Archives, Saw Doctors, De Danaan probably the highlights.

Kylie would be my only must-see and I would like to see Raye. I would probably drop in to Noah, and give Calvin a short while as I've never seen him. Gerry and Kodaline I've seen enough of. Nothing really excites me though.

The undercard feels very weak, especially as that is where a lot of my time is typically spent.

Faithless, Kasabian, NAS, Teddy Swims, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the Teskey Brothers, The Waterboys, Jalen Ngonda, Thee Sacred Souls seem like the main acts I will dig into, but I'm not that excited about any of them (yet).

Overall I have enough to be getting to know, but less that I really want to invest in.

its also my main music experience in the year, which means that all these stand-alone gigs and other festivals instead of playing at EP impacts me and just contributes to the feeling that there is less of the music that interests me at EP and more of it elsewhere.

There is a decent amount still to come that will hopefully provide some excitement and interest, but I will be looking at the overall value.

Penfailed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077451#Comment_122077451

2022 was my first year. I'm not sure how that happened, as I've been going to festivals since '93! For me, the lineup in '22 was just okay but, because it was my first time there, I spent an awful lot of my time exploring the site, whenever there were gaps in my music schedule. I couldn't get over the scale of the place. I had an enjoyable time.

Last year was completely different. As I'd been previously and knew the lie of the land, I was much more focused on the music. The line up even had clashes FFS! More than a couple!

This year, having not had a chance to research the bands/artists I've not heard of yet, I've only five that I have the remotest interest in seeing...and two of those, I've seen before - Kasabian and The Scratch. The others are The Waterboys, Newdad and Kneecap...none of which I'd be too bothered if I missed. There's just nothing there. I just can't get my head around it. Where's all the (electric) guitar music?! There's so many good bands on these shores that I've listed in an earlier post, and none of them feature. Fúck sake like!

Ferris_Bueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122077083#Comment_122077083

Bingo with that last line. "If that's the case can they not just give us a good lineup that people who actually enjoy music can like then instead of this rubbish?".

That is the part I can't get my head around. So many people just come for the event now anyway and unfortunately @Wooderson I'd estimate it is well over 30% at this stage. But why have they changed the entire landscape of the festival to cater to these people? They would surely have come anyway based on the reputation of the festival if they had of just continued with their normal ethos pre-covid.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078483#Comment_122078483

An excellent question mate. Think it speaks vols to younger gen that their interests are such that they can afford a ticket to a music fest and not participate in that to the full. Bit sad from my perspective.

May bow out of this thread now as I'm sure I'm exhausting people with negativity.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078483#Comment_122078483

the festival has doubled capacity in the last decade and added 30% capacity over last two years. It needs to cater to people who want to sing along to a bunch of songs from biggest artists around/nostalgia acts whose music is played in your local bar or what they hear on TikTok.
the normal ethos circa 2017/2018 don’t make sense in 2024 and the festival can’t survive trying to cater to and older and older demographic who due to life will be returning in lesser numbers year on year. You need fresh blood and more of them every year and need a line up that caters to them.
I think someone mentioned Nick cave a few posts Back, he doesn’t make sense for EP to book in 2024. His fee is better used to help book a Gerry cinnamon or similar.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078483#Comment_122078483

the festival has doubled capacity in the last decade and added 30% capacity over last two years. It needs to cater to people who want to sing along to a bunch of songs from biggest artists around/nostalgia acts whose music is played in your local bar or what they hear on TikTok.
the normal ethos circa 2017/2018 don’t make sense in 2024 and the festival can’t survive trying to cater to and older and older demographic who due to life will be returning in lesser numbers year on year. You need fresh blood and more of them every year and need a line up that caters to them.
I think someone mentioned Nick cave a few posts Back, he doesn’t make sense for EP to book in 2024. His fee is better used to help book a Gerry cinnamon or similar.

Fanirish

one final key point is that European agents are well versed to EP now and know if it suits their artist now. So when people wonder why X artist isn’t EP it can be very easily be that their agent reckons that EP is not suitable for their act and that other festivals or headline shows are the better option for them.

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078861#Comment_122078861

You really have to stop trotting out this nonsense buddy. Everyone gets what they're doing. Your assertion that this is the only way they can run a profitable festival is manifestly bullshit. The idea that they have to strip all quality or diversity from the lineup to keep people buying tickets is horseshit. That passage about catering to an 'older and older demographic who due to life will be returning in lesser numbers year on year' is one of the the most patronising and nonsensical lines I've read on here. And that's quite the statement. You'd swear we were looking for Val Doonican. The argument has always been for quality, in all genres, not for nostalgia.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078891#Comment_122078891

As I mentioned in post above the types of acts who you want to play might very well be avoiding EP as their manager/agent might not deem it the right option for the band.
and what you consider a quality line up may be a dreadful line up in the eyes of the average mid 20 year old EP goer. Calvin Harris May be a quality booking to a younger person than you.

when people lament why x international artists are not booked for EP you be surprised that a lot of the time it just a matter it doesn’t suit the band.
EP bookers have to work with artists around europe on a given weekend and who ultimately want to play the festival.

Fatfrog

Lads I’ll go see SEB as she’s “abit a whisst” and ‘murder on the dance floor’ is iconic at this stage, I’m sure it’ll be great craic, but does she actually have any other songs? 😂😂 and I’ll probably go see Kylie too assuming no clashes… like wtf has happened to me😭

*fml if you were to go back in time to boards EP2014 with this comment!!

scruff monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122079035#Comment_122079035

she’s got at least two others of her own I vaguely remember plus that groovejet track

Fatfrog

Delayed reaction !! Where are Kasabian going to play?
It’s an almighty fall from closing the pyramid stage Sunday night at Glastonbury 2014 to being in a tent at 75k EP or third fiddle on the MainStage!

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122079079#Comment_122079079

Soft spot for "A pessimist is never disappointed". Gorgeous, actually. Think she finishes with it.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078709#Comment_122078709

Negativity is no hassle, particularly with this announcement, so stay and contribute.many great posts recently.

And I’m not in full agreement regarding the superficiality of many of the young attendees of EP. The ones I know who attend know their music and there are always plenty of youngsters at These Charming Men singing along to every last word. Pixies, Sprints, Thumper and Viagra Boys aren’t playing to a tent of auld fellas. Most of the kids at EP are going for music as much as a laugh and good luck to them. And those kids enjoy a wide range of music from vacuous pop to new post-punk and beyond. The problem isn’t them but what they’re being provided with and as long as it’s lapped up with tickets sold it ain’t going to change.