IT COULD be a very different Electric Picnic this year, now that music promoter MCD has a relationship with the event – albeit indirectly.
Since its inception in 2004, the music festival held at Stradbally, Co Laois each August/September has been run by Pod Concerts and Aiken Promotions. With capacity capped at around 40,000 and an impressive line-up of acts aimed at the more discerning, chronologically-advanced music fan, it has set a new standard for Irish festivals. Those who called it this country’s Glastonbury were not far wide of the mark.
But in 2008, things changed and the festival was rebranded as the “Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival”. EP’s chief rival, Oxegen, held each July and run by MCD, had hoovered up most of the year’s big musical draws (thanks in no small part to MCD’s partnership with the deep-pocketed Live Nation group). Starved of the best musical talent, Electric Picnic was forced to broaden its remit to provide a more general experience (theatre, performance art, talks etc). Such is the competitive world of live music.
This week’s announcement that Pod will now run Electric Picnic with a new partner, Festival Republic, rather than Aiken, removes that element of competition. Festival Republic, a UK promoter, is co-owned by Live Nation and MCD (through its parent company Gaiety Investments). Festival Republic runs the Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading Festivals as well as a number of key UK music venues.
The initial reaction from the indier-than-thou brigade may be that Pod has “sold out” to MCD and that Live Nation/MCD is continuing to jackboot its way through the Irish entertainment industry. It’s true that MCD owns or runs almost everything musical in Ireland, but ultimately this deal could turn out to be a good one for the punter.
To date, Electric Picnic has been able to book only those acts that had no existing deal with MCD. By contrast, this year Oxegen and Electric Picnic could run in synergy – the kidz could be catered for by Oxegen in July, and the EP-goers could get their age-appropriate line-up in September.
From a purely logistical point of view, the involvement of Melvin Benn, one of the main men at Festival Republic, can only be a good thing. Benn did sterling work with the Mean Fiddler group before being asked by Michael Eavis to put some order on the Glastonbury Festival.
Pre-Benn, Glastonbury was a bit of a mess. The freeloading crusties were ruining it for everyone, and while his decision to erect a “wall” around the festival site proved deeply unpopular with the “I remember when” hippy types, at least it meant that the showering and sanitation facilities weren’t buckling under the pressure.
Melvin Benn and Pod’s John Reynolds have worked together before. Benn’s stewardship skills and Reynolds’ new freedom to book the best acts around should ensure that EP can improve its line-up. And perhaps it’s not the Glastonbury vibe they should be after; maybe the spirit of the excellent Latitude Festival (produced by Benn) should be the new goal.
There will be negative reaction to this deal. Not just from the usual fools on the message boards, but from some of the people who have made Electric Picnic what it is. The Lost Vagueness “festival within a festival” show pulled out of Glastonbury last year after a 10-year presence, over claims that Live Nation was over-commercialising the festival and ruining the Glastonbury experience. It seems unlikely they will appear at this year’s Electric Picnic.
Festival Republic and Pod are keeping quiet about the line-up until the official Picnic launch in April. But it can be assumed that “MCD acts” will be performing and that there will be some crossover with the line-up of this year’s Latitude Festival.
Which means that this year’s main acts at EP will include Fleetwood Mac, Fleet Foxes, Lady Sovereign and (unless they’re diverted to Punchestown) Green Day. You can hold me to that.
