Festival light

For all those who are too soft for the real festival experience; for all those who would love to go for the bands, but are put off by all the dirt; for all those who are too attached to their creature comforts to spend a weekend rolling around the mud in a field; here comes the festival for you.

The Electric Picnic calls itself a Boutique Music Festival and promises to be a whole lot more comfortable and accessible – than what isn’t said explicitly, but you can connect the dots. The lineup sounds promising, with Groove Armada, Super Furry Animals, Jurassic 5, Grandmaster Flash, Arrested Development, Lee "Scratch" Perry, David Kitt, Erol Alkan, Pump DJs, Soulwax and 2 Many DJs taking to the stage on September 4 between 3 pm and midnight.

Stradbally Hall, County Laois will play host to 15,000 punters, provided they pay out the €50 per ticket - quite a bargain considering the quality acts on offer. The pukka icing on the posh cake is the catering, provided by Nude – no curry and chips then? This truly will be a festival for the faint-hearted.