But relationships do feel (slightly) restructured. People are more friendly to strangers than normal. They just are…

And you DO create your own situation in a festival - your own camping zone, your own itinerary, your own social situation, your own schedule.

The experience is not remotely soporific. Though of course, the theory might be!…

For the record, I’ve never been to Electric Picnic, and dislike festivals in general, so I’m speaking on an entirely theoretical level here.

The EP is middle-class, no doubt. In the same way that the Glastonbury Festival is. I think festival-going reached a high point of Sunday supplement approval last year though. The torrential rain at Glasto and Kate Moss moving on to other things appear to have dragged the various trendspotting twits onto pastures new, certainly the tickets for Glastonbury failed to sell out instantly this year

I’ve been to every EP apart from the first one. The second one was one of the great festival experiences of my life. Yes, The Arcade Fire gig was that good. Kraftwerk in a big tent was sublime. And the atomsphere was cracking. I remember hearing a “Mexican Cheer” passing across the campsite on the first day, a distant roar that got louder and louder as people spontaneously jumped up and cheered. It was amazing. The Irish Times would approve of that. But surely any right-thinking person also would.

“To explore the forces which enable the EP to continually be so successful despite its inherent failings as a Music festival”

The Electric Picnic is done with a bit of class. It has a lot of small ocal bands playing in various small venues, it is in a beautiful place with ancient groves of trees as opposed to a racetrack, it has atmosphere.

It’s also a kind of (admittedly corporate and profiteering) TAZ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_Autonomous_Zone)

That’s quite a success rate. Despite that, having MBV this year is quite a coup, but one not quite violent enough.

“Also, I don’t think many people attend Electric Picnic with any illusions of “doing good” or planning to “‘voice’ their moral concerns”. ”

Not the primary motivation for going, no, but integral to its overall appeal; all the little details cultivate the “pleasant atmosphere and friendly attitude of the people attending it” and subtly soothe the consciences of the business students, finance workers, journalists etc.

To be clear, the main point here is not to make an ad hominem attack on the festival itself or its attendees - which is ultimately pointless -, but to explore the forces which enable the EP to continually be so successful despite its inherent failings as a Music festival (which luke attributes to the practices of MCD - and this is probably true on an administrative level -, but the whole point is that it doesn’t seem to matter to EP’s popularity. And anyway, as rottenhat points out, MCD is having similar trouble coming up with decent acts, a symptom of the more widespread creativity crunch in music at the moment, a separate – but certainly not unrelated – issue).

In other words, what’s missing from the equation:

class-cleansed private playground decorated in yuppie pretence and stuffed with a vast array of uniformly uninspiring Irish Times-approved distractions = “a beautiful environment in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with multiple entertainment options to hand”.

Non-pompous answers more than welcome.

On Oxegen - I have never been to it, but did go to one day of its predecessor Wittness. There was an atmosphere there like something from a painting by Hieronymous Bosch, and I am glad I was not camping there. I have never been EP, and may never do, but I don’t really see what is wrong with something where you pay money to hear lots of live music in convivial surroundings.

But…there is something slightly wrong-headed about a post that cites an “obligatory unexciting line-up” for the festival. The second year of EP had an excellent line-up, and the more recent weakness is more a result of rival promoter’s MCD determination to preserve its near-monopoly on the Irish market by snuffing EP out of existence than any deliberation by the EP promoters.

Also, I don’t think many people attend Electric Picnic with any illusions of “doing good” or
planning to “‘voice’ their moral concerns”. They just want to have a good time, and one thing that has constantly struck me about EP is the pleasant atmosphere and friendly attitude of the people attending it.

“The ‘experience’, however, can only only be experienced by buying into a particular ontology, one which involves all of the conceits mentioned.”

This is pompous nonsense. Hanging around in a beautiful environment in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with multiple entertainment options to hand does not require buying into a “particular ontology”.

Which EPs have you attended?

With EP though, sure, most people these days can afford to scrap together 250 quid for a ticket, but the decision to do so is based on the appeal of the ‘experience’. The ‘experience’, however, can only only be experienced by buying into a particular ontology, one which involves all of the conceits mentioned…