MCD promoter boss Denis Desmond spoke to the Daily Mirror this week and said that they remain “optimistic” that Electric Picnic will go ahead this year despite the Coronavirus restrictions affecting most festivals this summer so far.
The festival, due to take place on September 4th to 6th in Stradbally, County Laois and set to feature The Chemical Brothers, Lewis Capaldi, Foals, Rage Against The Machine, Annie Mac, Bicep Ian Brown and more is at the end of the summer festival calendar when the chances of restrictions and social distancing may be lifted, though it’s hardly likely to feel the exact level of normality as previous years.
Desmond told the Daily Mirror:
“It is five months away. I would be optimistic that Electric Picnic will happen but of course we are in un-chartered waters here. I’ve no doubt that there will be a relaxation of the restrictions in place but it will probably be some time before we can have 20,000 people in a stadium or in a field.”
Desmond also said the Gaiety would not re-open til September, hopes that the Olympia will re-open in July and intends to keep all MCD on while the restrictions are in place.
Many of the larger planned arena shows for promoters including MCD for this summer are already pushed to 2021, like Dua Lipa, Nick Cave, Bon Iver, Simple Minds, David Gray and Harry Styles.
Other festivals?
In the meantime, festivals including Body&Soul, Forbidden Fruit, Life Festival and Kaleidoscope, Saltwater, Sea Sessions and Sunstroke in May/ June, Longitude and Love Sensation in July and August events like Indiependence, Yurt City, All Together Now, Fuinneamh and Another Love Story are still going ahead currently (i.e. they have not yet been cancelled or postponed), as we await to see what the outcome of our attempts to flatten the curve of the virus will be.
Irish Festivals that have been cancelled or postponed to later in the year or 2021 include It Takes A Village (2021), AVA Festival (2021), LEAF (Sept), Eastbound (Oct), Musictown (Sept), Carlow Arts Festival (2021), Hotbox (2021), K-Fest (2021) and Vantastival (September).
Still, without a vaccine, things will hardly return to normality if they do go ahead in some capacity. It could mean reduced attendance, social distancing put in place in some areas, though it’s hard to see how that could work in practical terms.
