Electric Picnic aftermath (reviews)

Kali · 04-09-2006 09:26AM #1

Chuck 'em here... I've included below a thread deleted by the database restore yesterday.

Kali · 04-09-2006 09:29AM

eth0_ wrote:

Electric Picnic - never again!

I had a brilliant time at EP last year and was really looking forward to it this year but it's turned into a festival similar to....that other one.

From Friday night the toilets were in a disgusting state, no toilet paper, nowhere to wash your hands. Only in the early hours of this morning (Sunday) were they emptied. I can't believe the EP organisers, who have made 5.5 mil from our tickets, can't get somethign as simple as this right.

There's not enough toilets or showers, there's barely enough space for tents - and if you're in the yellow campsite you have tents all around you playing music til 5am - the security are unecessarily rude: what's the point of the barriers in order to get into the main area where the electric arena etc are? I got caught in a crush there twice, totally not needed.

And unfortunately the scumbag and D4 wannabe element have infiltrated EP.

The great atmosphere we had last year is gone. I don't think i'll be coming back here - or to another Irish festival - again.

.

Fanny Cradock · 04-09-2006 11:13AM

I didn't get to go this year, but I'm sorry to hear that, according to eth0_, the festival is being infultrated by knackers and D4 heads alike. However, I always thought that this was more of a D4 festival. I managed to go to the vrey 1st running of the event 3 years ago, and I have to say it was horribly organised, but had a good time nonetheless. I would assume that any new festival has only a matter of time before the wriong crowd come along and ruin the mood. Hopefully the EP has a few years yet before this happens

speedy21 · 04-09-2006 11:14AM

I think the main problems for me this year were

1/ not enough food stalls - constant queue throughout the day - mornings were even worse!
2/ not enough camping space - no organization or pathways to tent areas
3/ not enough showers/portaloos - no toiletroll found in them ever!
4/ bar closing far too early
5/ sound at some gigs was terrible - bloc part, belle and sebastian are two that spring to mind! The sound at the cinema was awful too - too loud?
6/ not enough flood lights at night time - couldnt find drinking water anywhere?
7/ cancelled acts not replaced or even announced
8/ comedy tent too small

That all said - there were tons of positive things too - way more positive than negative - and I wasnt overly annoyed about the above - but in reflection - they stand out against previous years!
I was at other festivals in Ireland this year (wont mention any names) and I dont think EP can boast about being the best run festival anymore. Its still a blast though!

almv · 04-09-2006 11:56AM

I thought it was quite well organised tbh. Highlights on Sunday were Hot Chip and Pet Shop Boys were absolutely fantastic!!

eth0_ · 04-09-2006 12:04PM

almv wrote:

I thought it was quite well organised tbh. Highlights on Sunday were Hot Chip and Pet Shop Boys were absolutely fantastic!!

The main thing that pissed me off was the toilets. I honestly could not expect the EP organisers could expect a human being to degrade themselves by using them. There was **** and vomit overflowing from most of them by Saturday evening. Most of them didn't even have a FLUSH, so they were basically just a big bucket. They weren't emptied until Sunday morning. Absolutely disgusting.

Most of the security people seemed resentful of even being there. It took us two hours to find a camping spot because they told us that red and the quiet areas were full up, we went up to the quiet area the next day and there was loads of spaces. We ended up camped in yellow, where it was impossible to sleep at all because there was music tents either side. I mean....what the f*ck.

The best part of EP was the body and soul arena, for me.

EP isn't a "D4" fest. It's been pretty middle class and without knackers, but there was a lot of "OK ROYSH FIACHRA, LET'S GET FOCKING POLLUTED!" around.

thegills · 04-09-2006 01:51PM

Would agree with most of the above. Toilets were cleaned Sunday morning and you had about 10 minutes to do your stuff; after that they were back to their normal filthy self.
I found it very hard to navigate around, especially between the tents and car park; took an hour this morning trying to locate the car. The Scottish lads kept pointing me in the wrong direction.
Shutting the bar at 10.30 was a total disgrace. Why they did close was beyond me.
35,000 tickets my a*se. There was double that there.
A couple of bands didn't show but there people could have been working off unofficial lineup lists.

nlgbbbblth · 04-09-2006 01:53PM

highlights
- Mogwai - blistering good.
- PJ Harvey - unaccompanied (was this planned?) but awesome.
- Gary Numan - intense.
- Halfset - played the body and soul area. lovely to sit down and relax.
- Super Furry Animals - part 1.
- Gang Of Four - great shapers.
- New Order - perfect set.
- Pieminster stall - went for minty lamb and McPorky. Unbelievably delicious.
- Traditional Hog Roast - mmmm.
- Wellies. Would have been hell without them.

lowlights
- getting dropped off an entrance which was 'artists only' which meant lugging a crippling rucksack for an extra 20 minutes.
- the f*cking weather. rain + humidity sucks.
- forgetting to bring earplugs which meant I didn't get enough sleep.
- the pr*cks who nicked two of my tent pegs.
- the stupid bitch who fell on my tent Saturday night just as I had drifted off to sleep.
- portaloos. must do better.
- Belle and Sebastian were lifeless.
- Yo La Tengo - only caught first four songs. Did they get better?

The numbers attending are up considerably which meant an overall lack of care in respect of a number of areas. Didn't encounter any aggression directly but wouldn't people who were there in 2004 and 2005 agree that 'bigger means compromise'?

Due to unforseen circumstances I had to bail out and go home yesterday morning so missed the Pet Shop Boys. From what I saw on RTE they looked good.

Should Drew Barrymore play Jenny Huston in a biopic?

Stephenm · 04-09-2006 02:26PM

There were not enough toilets at the Electric Picnic this year. Portaloos are not a big expense compared to the budget of a large festival. You can rent 50 portaloos for a week for less than €5,000 (including delivery and servicing). There were long queues for all the toilets every time I looked. For such an expensive festival it is disgraceful that they didn't have this most basic need catered for.

Men were urinating everywhere. Nothing wrong with one or two (or even one or two hundred) but when you have 40,000 people for 3/4 days it becomes a health hazard. Especially when you have thousands of men urinating beside where caterers are preparing food.

If it was my site I would be disgusted at the organisers allowing this situation to happen.

There were many fantastic things at the Electric Picnic but to get something so fundamental so wrong at a expensive festival is inexcusable.

I didn't see any free drinking water available on the site. This is another fundimental of a festival.

€175 + booking fee for a festival that doesn't include letting you know when and where things will be happening. Sure, charge what you like for a nice fancy program but the basic information should be available clearly displayed for no extra charge.
The €10 program would make a nice souveneer but after paying €175+ you should not have to pay extra just to find out when your fav band is playing. Some people had printed out the program from internet but not everyone has this option.

Miguel_Sanchez · 04-09-2006 02:35PM

nlgbbbblth wrote:

- Yo La Tengo - only caught first four songs. Did they get better?

Yes. Good God they did. Finished up brilliantly with a storming version of Sugarcube.

With regards to everyone's complaints about the toilets - every toilet I went to had toilet paper in it and flushed. There were manky ones but I just avoided them - in the mornings I used the toilets in the Body and Soul area and they were fine. You just have to pick your time right. But there wasn't enough of them alright and people ended up pissing everywhere throughout the festival.

There's no way there was 70,000 people were there despite what somebody up the thread thinks. Didn't think it was overrun with a bad crowd at all. One or two assholes about but overall a good humoured crowd and lots of friendly people chatting randomly in passing. The bar closing early was a pain in the ass but I broughts can with me so it didn't worry me too much.

The campsites should have been organised better but I was lucky we got a great out of the way spot in the Yellow campsite at 12 on Friday.

I had a great time overall though - will definitely be attending next year as long as the lineup stays pretty good.

ghostdancer · 04-09-2006 02:40PM

it was a great weekend, but last year was far better. organisation was very shoddy this year, mainly in the campsites, not enough toilets, no urinals (in red campsite anyway), taps were the other side of the red campsite from the only portaloos there. queues were ridiculous for most things.

seems like they just kept last year's plans, opened up another few fields, and then put in the same amount of facilities and people working, despite the fact that there was 3 times the amount of people to deal with.

from what i've heard of EP in 2004, it seems like Pod/Aiken have serious lack of understanding in coping with the needs of crowds, last year must have been a once off...

overall thoguh it was a great festival, everything bar the facilities of the (red) campsite was perfect, and even then they were still far above the facilities of other unmentionable festivals.

MoominPapa · 04-09-2006 02:46PM

Lowlights:
Whose idea was it to use the Crankies as security
Bars closing at 10:15 on Friday night
Queues for food, 45 mins for Pie Pie on Saturday lunch
The not so quite Quite camp
30000 punters? who are you tryin to kid, it was at least 40000 if not more
and of course the toilets and, as far as I'm concerned, the complete lack of washing facilities

Highlights:
Sparks
Good food resonable prices
DJ Dineen Big Tree
The general amiable buzz of the punters

Rockerette · 04-09-2006 03:00PM

Re: the toilets, i only encoutnered 2 that made me near sick..

best ones for me were between the Electric Arena, and the Crawdaddy stage.. generally the separate male/female ones made a big difference to me..
cos men are dirty..!
so those ones were fine

it was my first camping festival, and i really enjoyed it. i have nothin to compare it to.. but still

Jamey · 04-09-2006 03:13PM

Toilets were a disgrace, it was the biggest low in a festival of highs. I must say, I thought the comedy tent was class. Spent hours there on Saturday and Sunday, pissing myself laughing!

Rockerette · 04-09-2006 03:19PM

Jamey wrote:

Toilets were a disgrace, it was the biggest low in a festival of highs. I must say, I thought the comedy tent was class. Spent hours there on Saturday and Sunday, pissing myself laughing!

Neil Delamere = Rockerette very happy

Gunn4r · 04-09-2006 03:45PM

The Indo reported

"the lack of toilet and water facilities. Constant queues formed at the portaloos from early and through the night."

"Taps of drinking water could not be found anywhere, with everyone forced to queue - again - to buy bottled water. "

"Fire lanes in the campsite were also blocked with tents because of lack of designated camping ground. " ( ! )

endac1 · 04-09-2006 04:09PM

I saw the indo article alright. That seems about right, especially the drinking water bit. I couldn't find any at all in the main arena.
Saying that, I had a fantastic weekend and have to say that i thought the security guys were great, all seemed to be in good form and I wouldn't have too many bad words to say about them.
The general atmosphere was great i thought and I couldn't see any of the 'knacker' element that was mentioned. you just couldn't get that type of atmosphere at some other festivals in ireland.
I thought there should have been urinals in the campsites intead of having to q at the portaloos.

Overall, I'd definitely come back next year!

Omnipresence · 04-09-2006 04:10PM

Yup the indo summarises correctly.....

All in all I'd say it was a "good festival but was not great value for money"

Positives were

1) seeing some great acts... especially unexpected ones like Grandmaster m. m. I mean there was hardly anyone there at the start... and I was worried that this dude was gonna come out and see this and play for the sake of it.. but my god he got the few that were in there going and very quickly pulled in anyone sitting outside and passing to the point where the whole tent was packed at the end with everyone going nuts... cheezy but great stuff and most importantly great atmosphere...

2) Fair play to the bodytonic tent - for going and going and going and going... they never let up in there... andy weatherhall and coldcut highlights for me

3) The other stuff.... lots of nice stuff going on around the edges... particular favourite was the hookah/chai tea bar... had amazing atmosphere in there with fantastic music/staff... all up for it...

But too many negatives ..

1) Value for money. Between myself and my girlfriend, with the tickets, drink, food, travel etc etc all comes to a serious amount of cash...
I would recommend going to one of the festivals in europe where weather is more dependable and would cost less even with flights etc....

2) Afore mentioned toilet issues... I didn't think there was worse things to see than p*** and s*** inside a portaloo but my god I saw many... don't ask...

3) Overcrowding... I think with all the gazeebos (spelling?) and over sized tents ... 1 person sleeping in a 3 man tent .. serious miscalculations were done on camp site size.... even the overflow area filled quick but opened too late as at this stage the other sites were jammed...

4) Why was yellow campsite closed on friday until lunch... and even if it was why were people left queuing behind people who were waiting for yellow even though others just wanted to get to red/blue... in the rain...

4) Nothing enforced.... I mean a bit of control would have sorted out a lot of problems...
a) quiet camping - no one telling people to stop even at 6 next morning. b) male/female toilets - read unisex
And then with nothing being enforced.. what was happening was 2 massive bottlenecks checking for wristbands, once coming from camping .. and AGAIN going into the main area... what a stupid system.

5) People who don't appreciate music.. went to see anthony and the johnsons (fantastic) at main stage... but was ruined by people all around just standing there talking to each other and seemingly not having any interest in listenting to who was playing... but hey they can go back and tell everyone "yeah I saw anthony... etc.."

lots of other stuff but this is getting too long a rant

Mo-Mo · 04-09-2006 04:12PM

Had an absolute ball at the EP. Things and people did get a bit messy by Sunday night however.

We were camped in the Yellow site and while some people told me that they were practically camped in a rave in parts of the yellow site, where we were was quite quiet actually.

The toilets however are going to become the issue of the weekend. They were a disgrace and I would advise the organisers to make a general apology for their inability to provide basic hygiene standards so as to instill confidence in people ahead of next year.

That said the food was great and good value. Beer in the Body and Soul area as well as the general atmosphere was brilliant. Basically a big big big thumbs up from me.

But toilets and security (what w***ers) were the only real complaints I have.

muletide · 04-09-2006 04:15PM

Highlights: Bloc Party
Dancing in the Bacardi tent for about 5 hours
Meeting thousands of sound people.
The Rapture
No Ken ackers

Lowlights: I suppose the toilets could be better
The second q to get from the campsite into the main arena

Overall what a weekend

Awayindahils · 04-09-2006 04:16PM

The toilets were a disgrace alright, at one stage my friends and I were considering counting them too see just how many they were, thankfully we came to our senses and went back to the big tree. There should most definetly have been more, and the lack of drinking water was entirely inexcusedable, had there been better weather there could have been serious problems.

aside from that I had an absolte blast.

Highs
The Big Tree DUKE SPECIAL, Jerry Fish out in the crowd, Lisa Hannigan though Damien Rice looked like a complete tool sitting on stage beside her.
The Comedy Tent, was there for hours on Saturday lying at the front. And boards.ie was used in the Eyebrowy cartoons!!!
I loved the Body and Soul area, especially when wandering round with a woeful hangover on Sunday.
Lost Vagueness.

I could go on and on and on. I had a brill time.

comet · 04-09-2006 04:50PM

Had a great weekend, no real complaints. Ok the toilets weren't great but what do you expect when you bring 30,000 or so into a few field and they're all eating and drinking like pigs. It happens at all festivals, I'm sure its something they'll improve on, I think in general though there was a shortage of toilets. I'm thankful that I can piss standing up, I felt sorry for the girls having to queue for so long.

John · 04-09-2006 04:59PM

Stephenm wrote:

€175 + booking fee for a festival that doesn't include letting you know when and where things will be happening. Sure, charge what you like for a nice fancy program but the basic information should be available clearly displayed for no extra charge.

They put up the timetables for free on their website to download and print off a couple of days beforehand.

I didn't think the toilets were that bad. I used them three or four times and only found one nasty one. Although I do agree there should have been more of them and more urinals. Drinking water was sparse but I found a few taps around the place. They weren't marked but they were there.

The highs for me were Gang of Four, The Rapture, New Order, Rufus Wainright, Mad Professor, Gary Numan, delicious wine, Antony, Devendra, my mickey mouse poncho, a decent tent,
PJ Harvey and the general niceness of everyone I met.

Lows include Mogwai's terribly disappointing set, The Blue Nile and poor transport down from Dublin (Bus Eireann and trains both booked out, ended up getting the Cork Aircoach to Portlaoise and a taxi from there).

I really enjoyed the festival. Didn't think there were too many people there, all of us were saying how empty the place felt (well, not during PJ Harvey but in general it wasn't a big crowd). Never queued for long for food apart from once on Sunday morning (average queue size being five people I'd say). The campsite (red) still had plenty of spaces when I got there around 4pm. I had no problems with security or the wristband check areas (I thought it was nice to see them actually checking stuff, I'd be more upset if I saw security doing nothing).

smuid · 04-09-2006 05:35PM

I thought the crowd was a great mix, saw no trouble whatsoever.

The drinking water tasted like TCP, pretty much undrinkable.

Portaloos are manky, everywhere, always.

We found security to be grand considering.

The problem with these "boutique" festivals is people are forgetting its still a festival, with all the dirty toilets, muddy paths and all night noise that comes with a festival. I think if you get rid of these and any other vaguely unpleasant aspects of a festival you start to miss the point...

Rockerette · 04-09-2006 05:53PM

smuid wrote:

The problem with these "boutique" festivals is people are forgetting its still a festival, with all the dirty toilets, muddy paths and all night noise that comes with a festival. I think if you get rid of these and any other vaguely unpleasant aspects of a festival you start to miss the point...

exactly.
this thread seems to be full of damn negativity..

IT WAS STILL GREAT!

I could've lived in the Big Tree Stage, my favourite place by far over the entire w/end. Magical.
From Damo, to Duke Special, to the Dublin Gospel Choir, to Vyvienne Long, to Neosupervital, to Jape, and everything else.. i loved it!

eth0_ · 04-09-2006 06:28PM

The toilets still give me nightmares. I almost feel like making a complaint to the relevent authorities about them...they were definitely a health hazard.

I was so looking forward to EP this year after it being so well organised last year but it would seem POD and Aiken have turned into moneygrabbers who don't care about their customers. They made €5.5 MILLION EURO from ticket sales alone, never mind the money made from stallholders and their own bar and merchandise, and they could only provide two sets of sinks and toilets that don't fscking FLUSH and were emptied once the entire weekend.

The yellow camping was a disgrace. I mean, you expect some noise all night at a festival, but not 2/3 tents playing bass heavy dance music until 5am.

Not a chance they'll get my money next year.

eth0_ · 04-09-2006 06:32PM

smuid wrote:

The drinking water tasted like TCP, pretty much undrinkable.

That's because they recycled it and treated it with what smelt like chlorine. At least that's what was happening at the wash area beside the (disgusting!) showers in the Red camping area. Really, you shouldn't have drunk it and i'm amazed they were letting people use it as drinking water.

smuid wrote:

Portaloos are manky, everywhere, always.

No they're not. EP last year had clean toilets, I was amazed how clean they were. They should be emptied several times a day. Aiken and Pod just have dollar signs in their eyes now, they don't care if people have to camp beside toilets that are a health hazard.

ghostdancer · 04-09-2006 06:34PM

eth0_ wrote:

and they could only provide two sets of sinks and toilets that don't fscking FLUSH and were emptied once the entire weekend.

all the toilets i was in flushed properly, and were cleaned at least every day. red campsite.

oh, and saying that they only provided 2 sets of sinks and toilets is completely wrong too.

perhaps you shouldn't state completely inaccurate lies about festivals on here just because you semed to have had a crap time, wouldn't want Boards getting sued, now would we?

Redegg · 04-09-2006 06:47PM

Highlights:

Yeah yeah yeahs!!!!!!!!
Graham Coxen
Gang of 4
rapture
bloc party
broken social scene
dulsori drum project.
mogwai
pj harvey(although it was way tooo crowded at the left)
Duke Special
Giveamanakick

Lost Vagueness - Loved this place. Could have spent the weekend in here!

Lowlights:
DJ shadow - big let down
Jim Noir
Big toast - 10,000 free drinks?, hmmmm.

*Tripper* · 04-09-2006 07:09PM

Along with emptying them I reckon they should just power wash the toilets at festivals every few hours its not like its this huge task!

Toast · 04-09-2006 07:09PM

Well while everyone else had their heads in the toilets I saw whats still a great festival. Yes there was more people. Yes toilets were bad and it rained and there were queues and some people were assholes etc.. but in the end of the day there was one of the most varied and packed festivals to be enjoyed. Im amazed that as many things worked as did considering the sheer scale of things to do.

The biggest issue I had is that there needed to be a non music day (preferably Thursday) to be able to check out everything. Im annoyed I didnt get hookahs or chai this year or had a chance to chill in Body and soul or to check out Tir na gcaisce or the Blue Room or the Beach or the Pussy Parlor, or about thirty other things.

What I did get to do was eat some great food, drink some great drink and see a lot of great bands. Thats pretty damn good going in terms of festivals.

Electric Picnic aftermath (reviews)

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