In Pictures: First look around Electric Picnic 2025 ahead of Friday start

Electric Picnic coverage is brought to you in association with Ramsbottom’s Portlaoise

The Electric Picnic is less than three days away and we have been in to have a peak at the site for this year.

On Tuesday, members of the media, both national and local, were granted special behind the scenes access.

Paul Dargan and Alan Hartnett were on duty for LaoisToday and they assembled at SuperValu car park at 9am.

After the various safety checks were done, the pair joined a group of 40 others where they were split into buggys to be whisked around the site.

The first stop brought them to Craoi where the brand new piano stage was unveiled.

Classically trained pianist Niall Kinsella christened the piano with a performance and much to the delight of all, Noel Hogan of The Cranberries made a surprise appearance accompanying Niall on guitar as they performed Zombie together.

After that excitement, we meandered through the mayhem of Freetown and found, within this vibrant district, the brand-new additions of Metro and Northside Rises.

We also found some familiar faces: DJ Mark McCabe who will mark 25 years of Maniac 2000 in Picnic style this weekend and Doireann Ní Ghlacáin of bilingual podcast How to Gael who shared the details of the podcast’s Árd Fheis!

Mark was especially delighted to hear that Paul and the Timahoe Male Choir will be performing his song on the Main Stage on Sunday – Maniac 2000.

The hits kept coming as we headed for Mindfield, where LaoisToday will perform on Friday at 1.30pm.

Here, tenor Gavan Ring and baritone Gyula Nagy treated us to ‘Au Fond du Temple Saint’ from Les Pêcheurs de Perles by Georges Bizet, the Pearl Fishers’ Duet. They were accompanied by Mairéad Hurley on piano.

We then spun the wheel with Davina Devine at the Boots tent before heading off towards the Main Stage.

First, we were treated to a performance by Irish alternative rapper and singer KhakiKid.

After that, it was time to meet festival Director Melvin Benn who gave his thoughts – revealing there will be no capacity increase next year.

After all of that, we got a taste of the incredible flavours on offer at Electric Picnic this weekend, with a spot of lunch at Kinara before it was time to head home.

Check out some great pictures from Paul Dargan from the day below:

Electric Picnic coverage is brought to you in association with Ramsbottom’s Portlaoise

SEE ALSO – Electric Picnic to remain at 80,000 next year but festival organiser not ruling out increasing numbers beyond that