10 Unmissable Non-Music EP Events

GREENCRAFTS
Greencrafts, throughout the weekend
A brand new crafts village lands at Electric Picnic this year, offering workshops and demonstrations in all things hand-made. Whether you fancy watching masters at work or completely immersing yourself in a new skill, you’ll find something to play around with in this environmentally-friendly craft haven. Starting at a couple of quid, workshops invite punters to get stuck in with some of Ireland’s finest natural materials (stone, wood, clay, willow, rush reed and textiles), plus renewable or re-cycled materials including metal, glass and rubber, and make anything from silver rings and copper pendants, to wooden spoons and baskets to hair decos and broaches.

THE PAMPER PALACE
Jimi Hendrix and boutique campsites, throughout the weekend

We know a few particularly well-groomed Picnicers for whom professionally done hair and make-up is merely basic maintenance, but for the rest of us, the Pamper Palace is an excuse to really treat ourselves. Offering blow-dries, extensions,false eyelashes, make-up and body art, this campsite beauty emporium caters to everyone, from the girl who can’t survive a day without her hair straighteners to the guy who feels naked without a Paul Stanley-style star painted over his right eye.

DYLAN MORAN
The Comedy Tent, time and day TBC

The word surly wasn’t invented for Dylan Moran, but really, it might as well have been; the cynical, curmudgeonly comic genius who brought us Black Books and starred in such cult favourites as Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run has been a trusted source of sidesplitting sardonicism for over 20 years now, but he’ll be bringing a whole new list of gripes to Stradbally when he drops by for his Picnic debut. Having spent the first half of 2013 taking his Yeah, Yeah tour around North America, he’ll be sharing his take on smartphone apps, middle age, action movies, and, if we’re lucky, the fine folk at Electric Picnic.

ARTS TRAIL
Everywhere, throughout the weekend

We can’t imagine the Kaleidoscopic Electric Picnic site without the weird and wonderful art installations that grace its fields, so to make sure you take full advantage of its aesthetic splendour, a stroll along the specially-designed Arts Trail is a must. As always, the identity of the artists has been kept hush hush, but serial Picnicers will know to expect the unexpected. They’ll also know that, if it looks like there’s a piano hanging from that tree, it probably means there’s a piano hanging from a tree. For the full experience, get yourself a copy of the festival programme, which includes the all-important Arts Trail map.

GOLLY GOSH BOUTIQUE
The Trailer Park, throughout the weekend

A vintage vacation park paying homage to the great American mobile home, the Trailer Park was one of 2012’s most valuable additions to the Picnic, built around a stunning theatrical enclosure of joined-up, stacked campers, vintage caravans, mobile homes and retro trailers. Before you check out the Trailer Park’s two music stages (the Caravan Stage and The Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow), make sure to drop by Terri Murphy and David Jones’ Golly Gosh Boutique for a white trash makeover featuring clip in mullets, trucker hats, handle-bar moustaches, false lashes, quiffs and beauty spots! Uncle Earl’s Photo Shack will be on standby to capture the moment.

THE ZEN GARDENS
Body And Soul, throughout the weekend

One hundred magical nooks and crannies await your discovery at the Body And Soul area of the Picnic, but if what you’re really after is inner peace and relaxation, the Zen Gardens should be your first port of call. A staple realm of the quirky, surprise-filled Body And Soul universe, this holistic haven comprises Boundless Bathing Hot Tubs, Shamanic Healing, Indian Head Massage, Workshops, Warm Chai, Laughter Yoga and more. Take care not to unwind too much, though – there are bands to see, after all!

STRADBALLY MARKET
The Food Theatre, throughout the weekend

Famed for bringing mouthwatering Irish produce to Stradbally every Saturday for as long as the locals can remember, the village’s buzzing Country Market will pack up its lot and shift everything two kilometres down the road to Electric Picnic this year, where a wide range of home made jams, juices, breads, cakes and cookies will be made available to the EP massive. Local producers and sellers will also be giving talks and demonstrations on how they prepare and cook some of their favourite dishes. Can’t live another moment without knowing how to press apples, collect honey or bake bread? This is the spot for you.

SOUL KIDS
The Soul Kids area, throughout the weekend

Proving that it’s never too early to start one’s love affair with festivals, Electric Picnic’s Soul Kids area caters to the littlest of music lovers, hosting a wealth of free activities, workshops and performances to keep them entertained. The wee tykes have been treated to everything from puppet shows to willow weaving to balloon modelling over the years, so we’re guessing that Picnic-goers aged 12 and under can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2013. Best of all, while your little one is enthralled in their yoga class or similar, you can relax in a tailor-made chill-out space for parents (yup, like the opposite of a shopping centre crèche!)

FOSSETT’S CIRCUS
The Big Top, throughout the weekend

Around 1870, a young Corkman named George Lowe decided to do what many young men had done before him – run away and join the circus. A hundred and something years later, Lowe’s legacy (known to you and I as Fossett’s Circus) is plotting its seventh year at Electric Picnic, coinciding with the Dublin-based show’s 125th anniversary. Boasting a fully-fledged carnival with big wheel and amusements galore, the Fossett’s gang of painted performers will bring their goofy theatrics to festivalgoers at regular shows over the weekend.

REGINALD D. HUNTER
The Comedy Tent, time and day TBC

Georgia-born comic Reginald D. Hunter has been living on this side of the pond for over 15 years now, so he’s had plenty of time to master the subtleties of both British and American humour. Although a fiery conversationalist, Hunter’s style is calm, cool and collected; in sharp contrast to many of his fellow Statesiders, he’s more likely to drop a wicked one-liner or meander through a relaxed comedy freestyle than launch into a goofy, madcap rant. Expect gut-busting anecdotes, gloriously deadpan delivery and lots of bold words when he performs in his third home of Ireland, or as he likes to call it, “white people’s Africa”.