The 2024 Electric Picnic is just over four months away and although we haven’t had an announcement, organisers say that fans afraid the festival won’t go ahead can fear no more.
LaoisToday can confirm that organisers, despite not having an actual date, have said that an announcement on the line-up will come ‘soon’.
This year’s festival will take place on August 16-18, two weeks earlier than usual, though an announcement on the line up is more than a month behind what it would be previously.
Though last year’s line up announcement was in December, it was between March 2 and 23 in each of the previous seven years.
Speaking to us, an Electric Picnic spokesperson said: “I don’t have the specific date but (an announcement) will be soon.”
Frustration has grown online in recent weeks among the Electric Picnic community – with some fans fearing that festival might not happen at all.
But organisers have said that it will and reminded us all of what happened last year.
Last year’s main acts announcement was in December when Niall Horan, Billie Eilish, The Killers and Lewis Capaldi were unveiled while a second announcement, with over 40 acts followed, on April 21. Details of the Tour de Picnic followed on April 27.
Planning permission to achieve a licence for the event was submitted to Laois County Council in February with a decision due on April 15.
Those who purchased tickets on the instalment plan had the final price taken from their accounts recently.
So some of the work to make the festival happen behind the scenes appear to be ongoing, however, despite Electric Picnic being on earlier than ever, we have never had to wait as long for an announcement on who will be playing.
An analysis of the last nine years shows the dates that the first line-up announcement was made each time.
- 2023 – December 5
- 2022 – March 9
- 2020 – March 11
- 2019 – March 13
- 2018 – March 15
- 2017 – March 23
- 2016 – March 2
- 2015 – March 4
But who is going to perform? Well, speaking on the final day of Electric Picnic in 2023, organiser Melvin Benn said they had moved the 2024 event to August to accommodate a ‘specific artist’.
He said: “The specific artist that we wanted for the Picnic and their availability is that weekend and we were like, ‘let’s see what it’s like, let’s explore it’.”
It had been rumoured at the time that this artist was Coldplay who are performing in Croke Park on the traditional weekend of EP.
However, they are playing in Munich in Germany on August 15, 17 and 18.
So, speculation over who will actually perform at Electric Picnic continues to mount but a look to the past may give us a better indication.
Over the last few years, some acts that performed at the Reading and Leeds Festival in the UK have also gone on to perform at Electric Picnic.
Both music events are organised and run by Festival Republic.
In 2023, Billie Eilish, The Killers, Steve Lacy, Mimi Webb and Nia Archives played in Reading and Leeds before moving over to perform at Electric Picnic.
While in 2022, the Arctic Monkeys, Glass Animals, Megan Thee Stallion, Little Simz, Fontaines D.C and Wolf Alice appeared at both venues.
Traditionally, Electric Picnic comes after Reading and Leeds on the festival calendar.
But with Electric Picnic on from August 16-18 this year, it is a week before Reading and Leeds – August 23-25.
However, if we follow the trend from before, we may get an idea of what the Electric Picnic 2024 lineup may look like .
Some of the headline acts for Leeds and Reading this year include: Liam Gallagher, Blink-182, Gerry Cinnamon, Lana Del Rey, Fred Again…, 21 Savage and RAYE.
These were all announced last December – as has been the norm with that festival for the last number of years.
There are many more artists who are performing in Ireland around Electric Picnic.
And perhaps some of these names could be part if the lineup.
Niall Horan is currently on tour but finishes in America on August 2 and is not due to perform again until August 23 and 24.
ACDC, contrary to our April Fools story, are performing in Croke Park on Saturday, August 16. Could they be the closing act for EP on the Sunday?
Girl in Red is performing at the 3 Arena on August 27. She was at Electric Picnic back in 2022.
Noah Kahan is in Belfast on the weekend of EP. Could he and his hit song ‘Stick Season’ make an appearance in the lineup?
The Pixies attended The Picnic back in 2022. They have shows in Galway, Belfast and Dublin from August 27 to 29.
TV Girl are performing at Reading and Leeds and then in the 3 Arena on August 15.
And could Picture This make a return? Their new album Parked Car Conversations releases later in the month and the Main Stage would be a perfect fit for them.
Electric Picnic’s last post on their website and social media was on February 16 when they announced that the main stage would be powered by renewable energy.
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