Electric Picnic organisers share statement clarifying claims on 2021 event

Electric Picnic organisers have made a statement clarifying reports that they are planning to go ahead with the music festival this September.

The event was cancelled in 2020 due the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of music fans were disappointed after missing out on seeing headliners Snow Patrol, Rage Against the Machine, and The Chemical Brothers perform.

In an Irish Times article published this morning, Festival Republic said they hoped the event would take place in Stradbally, Co Laois in 2021 unless the Government advises them to cancel once again.

However, in a series of tweets this afternoon (March 8) on the official Electric Picnic twitter account, organisers have distanced themselves from quotes in the report, which they say may appear to have been made on the behalf of Festival Republic director Melvin Benn.

"An article has appeared in the Irish Times this morning that makes statements on Melvin Benn's behalf and appears as one of the event organisers is speaking on behalf of the Electric Picnic," they said.

"The person being interviewed is not one of the organisers and his points are his points and we have asked for the article to be taken down.

"The Electric Picnic team remain hopeful that the vaccination roll out will be complete in sufficient time to allow the festival to go ahead obviously but remain in Government hands for that."

1/ An article has appeared in the Irish Times this morning that makes statements on Melvin Benn’s behalf and appears as one of the event organisers is speaking on behalf of the Electric Picnic.

— Electric Picnic (@EPfestival) March 8, 2021

The Irish Times reporter, Ronan McGreevy also sought to clarify that quotes from Brian McDermott (of Fuel The Future) were not intended to speak on Benn's behalf:

"The article did not suggest he was speaking on behalf of Melvin Benn. He was speaking as someone who organises events around the festival not the festival itself," McGreevy tweeted.

Melvin Benn is scheduled to take part in Fuel The Future, a webinar about the future of the live music industry. He is also expected to discuss plans for this year’s Electric Picnic at the webinar.

95% of ticket-holders for last year's EP have held on to their tickets for this year’s edition of the 70,000-capacity festival.

Mr Benn announced earlier this year that the Reading and Leeds festivals in the UK will be staged as normal in late August, on account of the swift vaccine rollout.

Currently, this year's Longitude festival - planned for the weekend of July 2nd - has also not yet been cancelled.