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7 essential tips from Electric Picnic veterans

Get the expert advice from people in the know.

IT’S NEARLY THE end of festival season (and the summer, sob!), but there’s still Electric Picnic to look forward to.

If you’re heading to the festival there are always ways to make more out of your experience. To help you out, we’ve rounded up some of the best tips and tricks from veteran Electric Picnic goers.

Go forth and enjoy yourself.

1. Pocket tissues, people

Tissues kaktuslampan kaktuslampan

The first tip we have, from multiple veterans, is to bring little packets of tissues, rather than lugging toilet rolls around with you. As one of our veterans said:

I do not understand why people bring unwieldy rolls of toilet paper when you can just bring a couple of packets.

Chances are you’ll be wearing something with pockets so stick a pack in there and away you go.

2. Rest easy – or easier, anyway

snooze It you Giphy Giphy

To ensure that you get at least a little sleep over the course of the weekend, you’d be advised to bring an inflatable mattress. According to our Electric Picnic expert:

First time I brought one to a festival was a total game changer.

Even a yoga mat underneath your sleeping bag will help. Rest well – you’ve loads to do.

3. Treat yo’self to a hair wash

PastedImage-58866 Shutterstock Shutterstock

If you’re feeling flash (or just manky) you can head to the hair salon, Pink Pamper Hair and Beauty, beside the Jimi Hendrix campsite, and treat yo’self to a wash and a blowdry. They offer all sorts of services to chill you out, and you can even get your make-up done while you’re there. Fancy.

4. Bring a scarf and douse it in perfume

Giphy Giphy

Considering there are 55,000 people camping in a muddy field for three days straight, with the best will in the world, there are going to be some less than pleasant smelling places, at times. So bring a scarf, douse it in perfume and you’ll have sweet smells all around you.

5. Don’t over plan

PastedImage-50097 Shutterstock Shutterstock

Don’t overdo band scheduling – have a handful of must-see acts each day and just go with the flow the rest of the time.

Failing to plan is planning to fail and all that, but our experts say it’s better to plan the main acts you want to see and go with the flow the rest of the time. You’ll discover bands you didn’t know existed, bump into people you haven’t seen in ages, find things you’ll never have expected (see below) and just generally have a more chill time.

6. Check out Body & Soul for the up and coming acts

Electric Picnic Electric Picnic

Body & Soul is ‘a festival within a festival’ and the place to go if you’re looking for acts that haven’t made it big yet.

Take some time to research who’s playing the smaller stages, the Body & Soul area are good at getting people on the way up.

So, you too can say, disparagingly, ‘I saw them before they were famous’ someday, too.

7. Do find the quirky parts of the festival

Anachronica Electric Picnic Electric Picnic

Electric Picnic is about much more than the music. There are all sorts of cool and unusual things to do from the Theatre of Food to the poetry slams, theatre stage, Irish language fun fair, Anachronica, the abandoned city in the woods, and the 40-tonne French trawler where ‘raspy minstrels are hoodwinked into performing’. Who knows who or what you’ll come across there.

Are you heading to Electric Picnic this year? What valuable tips do you have? Let us know in the comments below.

If you’re heading to Electric Picnic and you’re a Three customer, you’re in luck. 3 Live at Electric Picnic means you get much more – from screenprinting a souvenir t-shirt, to secret gigs, silent discos and screenings. And you can pick up a power pack to charge your phone for just €10 so you’re never out of juice. Head over to 3 Live at Electric Picnic to find out more. 

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    Mute Rei
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    Apr 29th 2019, 4:59 PM

    Ah, jokes about a young man who died from unknown causes. I’m so proud of our society…

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    Mute Tony Donoghue
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    Apr 29th 2019, 5:22 PM

    @Rei: Well said, is it because he was a model or not Irish that there is such a lack of sympathy.

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    Mute Sarah Broderick
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    Apr 29th 2019, 6:36 PM

    Journal.ie please turn off the comments – obviously some readers cannot be respectful.

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    Mute Criostóir McCormack
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    Apr 29th 2019, 2:55 PM

    All he needed was a good bowl of stew inside him.

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    Mute Ian Breathnach
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    Apr 29th 2019, 8:53 PM

    @Criostóir McCormack: Seriously, you must have been dragged up.

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    Mute Angie
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    Apr 29th 2019, 7:03 PM

    RIP you hard working lad .Praying for your family too

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Apr 29th 2019, 11:41 PM

    They do starve themselves to death, it is an unhealthy profession in my view.

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    Mute Tracey Darby
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    Apr 29th 2019, 4:12 PM

    Really you are not very funny at all stupid really

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    Mute Adolf Galland
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    Apr 30th 2019, 2:04 AM

    AIDS or coke poor lad. I know I was a model meself.

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    Mute anthony o cathain
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    Apr 30th 2019, 1:43 PM

    V sad

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