Hozier and Florence top Electric Picnic bill
Hozier and Florence top Electric Picnic bill Hozier has been announced as one of the headline acts of this year’s Electric Picnic festival. He will be joined by US indie rockers The Strokes and chart toppers Florence and The Machine and The 1975 at this year’s festival, which will take place in Stradbally, Co Laois, from August 30 to September 1.
Tickets for the festival sold out on December 3, 2018, just 15 minutes after they went on sale. It was the first time that the festival had sold out before a single act had been announced. That is despite the festival capacity being increased to 57,000 this year, too.
For Hozier, it comes less than a fortnight after the release of his second album, Wasteland, Baby! As well as hitting the top of the Irish charts, it went straight in at number one on the US Billboard Charts. Tweeting after the announcement was made, Hozier said he was “thrilled” to be playing Electric Picnic this year, adding that it is “one of my favourite festivals to play”.
He has previously played at Electric Picnic in 2014 and made a brief appearance last year on stage with soul legend Mavis Staples. Hozier is also due to perform at Musgrave Park in Cork on June 25. Florence and The Machine, returns having closed the festival in 2015, while The 1975 played the main stage at Stradbally in 2016.
Joining the headline acts at this year’s festival are Billie Eilish, Christine and The Queens, James Blake, Dermot Kennedy, Four Tet, Jess Glynne, The Streets, Jarvis Cocker, Years & Years, Roisin Murphy, Metronomy, Michael Kiwanuka, Echo & The Bunnymen, Courtney Barnett, Mitski, Miles Kane, as well as many more.
As well as announcing the 2019 line-up, organiser Melvin Benn confirmed details of a new area called Freetown. It will be constructed in an area that used to house part of the festival’s campsite and will include Terminus, an 8,000-capacity ‘mega-stage’ for electronic and dance music.
As well as these, long-term Electric Picnic favourites such as Salty Dog, Trailer Park Body & Soul, Trenchtown, and the Hazel Wood will all return. Mr Benn, chief executive of Festival Republic, described it as “the most extraordinary line-up” the festival has ever had. “There will always be one or two people who will have a beef with it for whatever reason,” he said. “I would say, just get over it and have a great weekend anyway.”
