When it launched in 2004, Electric Picnic was a one-day affair. Co-founders, the late John Reynolds and Robbie Butler, hoped to shift 15,000 tickets, but on the day around 10,000 punters showed up. There was no official camping.
.. although people camped in the field designated for parking.
The following year, it grew to a two-day event and to three days in 2006. By then, it had redefined what an Irish festival was all about. For almost a decade attendances hovered around 30,000, but this weekend 75,000 picknickers will enjoy the festival.
The arts and music carnival — with its offbeat attractions, from a 24-hour cinema to mock weddings in an inflatable church — has had some memorable moments: Arcade Fire’s frontman Win Butler seeing “grown men crying” at their gig in 2005; David Best’s spectacular Temple of Truth going up in flames in 2008; and a moment that never was — Rage Against the Machine in 2021, when the festival was cancelled last-minute for the second year running because of the covid pandemic. Here, some event veterans and regulars recall some of their favourite memories through the decades. Stevie G, DJ and broadcaster The first Electric Picnic in 2004 was a very different thing.
It was the brainchild of John Reynolds. His business partner Robbie Butler booked me for a VIP lounge that year; it wasn’t a proper gig. As a new festival, it was a hard sell even though the acts were good.
They got on to me — because I was working in Red FM — and said.