70,000 People Expected To Descend On Electric Picnic This Weekend

Friday, 1 September 2023 06:34

All roads lead to Stradbally today.

All roads lead to Stradbally, as Electric Picnic gets underway this weekend.

70,000 people are due to attend the sold out festival.

The Killers, Fred Again, and Billie Eilish are among the headline acts, along with Mulingar's Niall Horan and Offaly's Chasing Abbey.

Westmeath's The Academic were one of the final artists to be announced and are no strangers to the festival:

As well as music at EP there is health and wellness at the CROÍ site, laugh at the Comedy Arena, the Theatre of Food and much more.

The forecast is promising, with Rhodes' Cathal Nolan from Ireland's Weather Channel saying conditions are set to improve as the weekend goes on:

Gardaí are encouraging people to follow traffic diversions and check regularly for updates.

Disposable vapes have been added to the list of banned items, along with air horns, hoverboards and sound systems.

The safer nightlife programme is being embraced the Electric Picnic.

Revellers are being encouraged to surrender drugs anonymously to drug bins provided on site.

The programme aims to reduce the risks associated with drug use at concerts and festivals.

Minister for Public Health and the National Drug Strategy Hildegarde Naughton says volunteers will be onsite to give advice:

All campsites are now open and action on the main stage today kicks off at six o'clock, with Billie Eilish and Niall Horan headlining tonight.

These fans were in early this morning, and the Mullingar star is high on at least one person's list of acts to see:

Meanwhile, EP organisers have confirmed the date change from next year is to accommodate specific artists.

The three day festival is underway in Stradbally in Laois, but from next year it moves to mid-August.

Organiser Melvin Benn wouldn't confirm the artists, but says there were some acts who couldn't make it in September next year:

Not everyone is happy over the date change for EP next year.

Laois farmers say there needs to be more discussion about moving the festival two weeks earlier.

The IFA branch in the county says because it's in the middle of the harvest season, it means there will be a lot of farm machinery on the roads.

It adds it's not realistic to move that amount of grain with 70,000 people piling into Stradbally next August.

John Fitzpatrick is head of the IFA in Laois - he says there needs to be some compromise:

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