70,000 music and arts fans from Carlow, Kilkenny and beyond set for this weekend’s Electric Picnic in neighbouring Laois

Ireland’s biggest music and arts festival makes a welcome return today.

Up to 70,000 festival goers are making their way to County Laois for the Electric Picnic – 20,000 of them landed on the Stradbally site last evening.

Although wet and windy weather is expected over the weekend, and Met Eireann has issued a weather warning, it won’t deter festival goers with a stellar lineup over the three days including Snow Patrol, Arctic Monkeys and Megan Thee Stallion.

A number of local acts are involved too; among them you’ll find Carlow band Beef Supreme on the Salty Dog stage – vocalist and guitarist Jimmy O’Rourke’s told KCLR “Aw sure it’s magic, you know, when you get cookin the crowd gets cookin, it’s one of the better shows of the year once you’ve got that crowd interaction and that feedback it drives us on to put on a better show”.

Kilkenny man Steve Colfer’s with Dreamgun Film Reads who’ll be in the theatre tent while Carlow’s Tadhg can be found alongside Kilkenny’s RSAG, The Kilo 1977 and others at Fish Town which has been organised by the also locally based Jerry Fish.

He’s been telling KCLR “It’s an immersive, theatrical space so we’ve a heart and anchor bar where people can eat and drink and chill, you know I want FIsh Town, this area, to be a space where you can relax, have fun, there’ll be a lot of immersive theatre, circus walkabout in between what’s happening on the main stage there in the circus tent, I think it’s going to be full on, non-stop”.