AS YOU ALL know by now, Electric Picnic released this year’s lineup about a week ago. Anybody who bought a ticket to the sold out festival can now look forward to seeing Billie Eilish, The 1975, Hozier and plenty of other big names at the end of August.
It’s very obvious that Electric Picnic have moved away from the family vibe that the festival had in its earlier years, and to provide a new three day camping festival for families, the organisers have set up a new festival called Kaleidoscope.
When is it?
Friday 28th – Sunday 30th of June, which is handy if you fancy getting out of Dublin, away from all the packed bars and nightclub during Pride weekend, but also disappointing, if you want to attend both Pride and this festival with your kids.
Where is it?
Russborough Estate in Blessington, Co. Wicklow. Which means that it’s not too far if you wanna drive the family back into Dublin for Pride, but like other festivals that take place during Pride, we imagine they’ll have some sort of event to mark the occasion at the festival itself.
What is Russborough Estate?
This land on which this big gaff was built.
The estate has a 2km wildlife trail on it, as well as a 2000 metre beech hedge maze (yeah, just as well this is a family event – imagine getting stuck in a hedge maze under various influences at a festival. Terrifying.), a big playground, a fairy trail, and The National Bird of Prey Centre. All of this will be incorporated into the festival, according to the first flier that has been released.
It was also the setting of the 2011 film Haywire, starring Michael Fassbender, Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas, if you care about that sort of trivia. It was also featured in the 2018 film Black47, which is probably a fresher memory in your mind than some 8-year-old American action thriller.
Can I see the flier, please?
Yeah, sure.
What kind of music will there be at it?
It’s not entirely clear yet, but if you read the poster above, there’ll be six different stages so that can accommodate a decent variety of acts, if you intend on going for the music. There’s no word of when the line up is going to be announced, but apparently it’s “very soon”.
Okay, what’s the story with tickets then?
Again, it’s not clear when tickets are going to be on sale or how much they’ll cost, but there’s going to be a loyalty scheme which will offer discounts to people who have been to Electric Picnic in the past.
So, what types of kids are we allowed to bring?
Well, most festivals have an under 12s policy, but apparently Kaleidoscope is welcoming “babies in arms to teens as well as the grown-ups.”
Is that everything, then?
Yes, for now. We’ll have to wait and see what the lineup is like. ‘Til then.
