Melvin Benn: “To have two artists of their stature on the Friday night says a lot about Electric Picnic and how it’s become one of the big world festivals"

It’s five o’clock on a Thursday afternoon and Melvin Benn is doing what he does a lot of at this time of the year – praying to the weather gods.

“An hour ago it was the heaviest rain I’ve seen in a long, long time and now it’s beautifully sunny, so fingers crossed,” Melvin says from backstage at Wilderness, the 20,000-capacity boutique festival that takes place in Oxfordshire and was subsequently bathed in beatific rays.

The crowd will be four times that size this month when the Festival Republic MD heads to Stradbally for Electric Picnic, which boasts one of its strongest headlining lineups yet.

Taking care of Friday night honours is Hozier who’s come an awfully long way since winning a talent competition at St. Gerard’s School in Bray where his future manager, Caroline Downey, was among the judges.

Hozier at Electric Picnic 2019. Copyright Andre Aravena.

“I didn’t know that; what an incredible story!” Melvin resumes. “Whilst Caroline was obviously ahead of us, we’d have been aware of Hozier from very early on in his career. We’ve watched him grow and become this superstar who really knows how to connect with his audience. We felt it was a must for Hozier to headline and fortunately he said, ‘Yes’.

“His status in the United States, which is enormous, really clinched Chappell Roan’s decision to be part of the Friday night lineup as well. She’s an act we’d been monitoring for around eighteen months before we made the offer. My elder nieces, who were huge Taylor Swift fans, had been telling me that Chappell was the next act they’d begun to follow. Musically they’re not that close, but what Taylor and her do share is an authenticity and the ability to make a statement, which people really buy into.

“To have two artists of their stature on the Friday night says a lot about Electric Picnic and how it’s become one of the big world festivals. It’s an 80,000-capacity all-camping show, which when you consider the size of Ireland is proportionally much bigger than Glastonbury or Coachella.”

Yep, Glasto would need in excess of a million punters to match the Picnic. Bumping into him at Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s London Palladium album launch in March, Sam Fender was cock-a-hoop about topping the Saturday night Picnic bill.

“Again, that’s fantastic to hear because, with agents and managers, we don’t always get to talk directly to artists,” Melvin beams. “Once you get a taste of the appreciation that Electric Picnic fans give you – as Sam did in 2019 and 2022 – you just want to come back for more.”

Following in Messrs. Hozier-Byrne and Fender’s headlining steps on Sunday will be Kings Of Leon who’ve been known to drop a Thin Lizzy cover into their sets..

“For me, they’re the epitome of what a festival band should be. Great presence and great songs that everybody knows. They’ve played for us I don’t know how many times and never disappointed.”

Had Melvin always intended to invite Kneecap back to the Picnic or was it an act of “We won’t let them be cancelled!” solidarity?

“A bit of both to be fair,” he reveals. “They wanted to play, we wanted them to play. Those conversations were happening for a fairly long time. We’d always planned to announce them after Glastonbury and that’s what we did. It is, of course, a total expression of solidarity with Kneecap and their position on Palestine. Whereas our peoples are the same in many ways, the difference in political culture between Ireland and the UK is striking. There’s just an openness here.

“I saw Kneecap at Glastonbury and then again with Fontaines D.C. in Finsbury Park and they were absolutely on fire. As they were in 2018 when they headlined the Hazelwood Stage at the Picnic. Somebody sent me a video of that recently and I thought, ‘Yeah, they’ve paid their dues.’”

KNEECAP at Electric Picnic. Photo: Jason Doherty

Have the chaps ceremoniously presented Melvin with one of their balaclavas?

“No, but they did give me one of the Bohemians charity football shirts with Oasis on front. Fair play by the way to Noel and Liam – it’s a beautiful gesture.”

There’s always a band at the Picnic for whom all the planets seem to have aligned. This year, I reckon it’s Amble who’ll be celebrating the No.1 success of their Reverie album.

“A hundred per cent,” Melvin agrees. “Having seen them pack out the Electric Arena in 2024, it was one of our priorities to get them back. They played the Latitude festival last weekend. I didn’t think people in the UK knew about Amble, but I was wrong because they blew the roof off the tent! The same thing happened at Latitude with Kingfishr. They put on an amazing show on the second stage and then did an entirely acoustic set on the much smaller Waterfront stage. It was absolutely heaving!”

The folky Picnic treats don’t end there.

“We’re giving the Cobblestone Bar a night in Spike Island, which will be great,” Melvin reveals. “Then in Croí, I decided it would be a good idea to have a stage dedicated to the harp. So, we’ve eighty harpists playing over the course of the weekend. There’ll be other instruments as well, but we’re honouring the harp – which is a symbol of Ireland – with its own tent. I think it’ll be hugely popular.”

Turning into a mini-festival of its own with DJs, drag, dancers, kink and queer energy from 11pm-4am every night is Mother After Dark.

“Again, it’s absolutely a statement of solidarity,” Melvin acknowledges. “I love the openness and welcoming nature of the LGBTQI+ community within Ireland. Lisa and Cormac who run Mother are delightful and constantly wanting to make the party bigger and better. They’re such an essential part of the Picnic.”

Team Hot Press is also looking forward to Dara Ó Briain making his Picnic debut in the Comedy Tent and Cerys Matthews publicly interviewing the musical genius that is William Orbit in MindField.

“Yes, he is a genius and Cerys is an incredible broadcaster and interviewer,” Melvin agrees. “William Orbit has produced music that’s timeless and the equivalent of the great composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. I’m shocked that Dara’s never been before and delighted because, again, he’s such a creative force. If I had 10% of his brain, I’d be delighted!”

Dara Ó Briain

Benn is justifiably proud of the Picnic’s green credentials, which are being further boosted this year.

“Our Eco Camp will be about three times bigger than the previous one,” he concludes. “More and more people want to be living and leaving without trace, so I’ve created a beautiful space in a glade within a wooded area. We’ll be building on the success last year of the Re-turn scheme. It’s a great nationwide initiative and I thought it was fantastic that they wanted to come to the Picnic. We’ve only got one planet and they’re doing their bit – and raising a substantial amount of money for charity.

“We’ve been measuring our carbon footprint for almost twenty years. We’ve a renewable source of energy now for the main stage – every generator’s on bio-fuel – and will continue to try and do the right thing.”

Electric Picnic returns to Stradbally Hall in Co. Laois from August 29–31.

Read the full Electric Picnic Special in the current issue of Hot Press: