Electric Picnic Day One: Noah Kahan's appeal sticks as fans show a ...

Over the years, there was always the familiar sight at EP of the fella that was trying to bring every bag he had from the car or bus park to the campsite in one go.

Contents of rucksacks would spill out, someone would lose a welly, and there would be a requirement for regular breaks during the long trek.

That now seems to be a thing of the past and trolleymania is running wild, as Friday morning saw hundreds of carts being pulled along with ease.

Of course, you still got the odd off-balanced straggler struggling along with bags or rucksacks (including one man that had taken out a chair and a can for a little boost), but they were being outpaced easily by the four-wheeled phenomenons.

You’d have to imagine it will be a similar situation on Monday morning.

Early birds catch the best camping spots 

We were reliably informed that there were 25,000 early entry tickets bought - a third of the event's capacity.

Looking across the campsite on Friday morning would point to that being accurate.

There were the smug groups that had managed to secure the spots needed for themselves and their friends on Thursday evening. Then the people who landed to the site early on Friday scrambled for space.

Finally, you had the poor souls who weren’t getting there until Friday evening - light the candles for them.

The capacity has jumped by 5,000 or so each year since covid.

Will we see a continuation of that in 2025?

The main stage on Friday at Electric Picnic. Picture: Kieran Ryan-Benson

From the second he arrived at his headline slot in a green-themed outfit, you could tell Noah Kahan was here to entertain.

Launching into Dial Drunk, he wowed from the start - before admitting that he didn't think he deserved to headline and that he wanted to leave the crowd "depressed and anxious" - taking his inspiration from "Irish singer-songwriters, who are sad as fuck".

He was in terrific form, mainly based off his time on the amusements in the main arena earlier on Friday.

But even he seemed surprised by just how much of a reaction he received.

He paid tribute to the Irish crowd that lifted him during his last gig here, two days after he missed out on a Grammy.

You're very welcome, Mr Kahan. Come back any time you want.

Fangclub are as sharp as ever 

The Dublin rock trio known as Fangclub came back with a bang earlier this year with their single Attention.

That was followed up in June by an EP, All Good – and it was like the group had never missed a step in the five years since their hit album Vulture Culture.

It had also been five years since they graced Ireland’s biggest festival, but they looked right at home on the main stage in Fish Town on Friday evening.

Steven King, Kevin Keane and Dara Coleman had the crowd bouncing to their punchy, earwormy offerings, including All I Have, Out of My Head, Follow and All Fall Down.

Paulina Okray and Abby Renshaw enjoying Electric Picnic.  Picture: Kieran Ryan-Benson..

Layout changes go down well 

The various departures and replacements of sponsors meant a slight reshuffle in how the Stradbally Hall estate looked.

Perhaps the most impressive and important of the new arrivals was the Smirnoff Stage replacing Casa Bacardi, with organisers going full whack to make it accessible for all.

They did this with an ISL interpreter on site, Braille, colour-coded cocktail menus, free noise-reducing earbuds, lower bar tops and a lift for anyone who wanted to access an upper-tier viewing area.

It is now the standard bearer for festival setups in terms of accessibility.

The extension of Trenchtown’s land is also welcome, as the festival’s most relaxed area has been slightly cramped in recent years.

A great big bag of cans (for charity) 

As part of EP’s sustainability initiatives, the Deposit Return Scheme was introduced to various parts of the festival site.

There were four reverse vending machines in the main arena which would spit out vouchers, but things were even more visible in the campsites – particularly within groups.

Often, the Monday morning clean up will see crushed cans and bottles discarded, but based off what we saw on Friday evening, things are going to be a bit different in 2024.

One group had stacked (to perfection) a small pyramid of empty cans, ready for donation.

Any donations outside of the main arena will be going to the benefit of six national children’s charities.

Fans were given free recycling bags at points on their journey in to the camps to help out.

Nice work!