Green and Red of Mayo<\/p>\n
The Saw Doctors\u2019 Sunday-afternoon set was pure chaos, with a very energetic crowd and a surprise appearance<\/a> from this year\u2019s All-Ireland-winning footballers \u2013 who, naturally, emerged to their unofficial anthem, the band\u2019s song Green and Red of Mayo. There were flags, bucket hats and jerseys galore \u2013 plus pure delight all round.<\/p>\n After pulling off one of the most ludicrous entrances in the history of Electric Picnic \u2013 the 21-year-old New York pop star pulled up backstage in a Mercedes, tried to shoot a glass of stout with a crossbow and then yelled at the camera as he romped out into the spotlight \u2013 Sombr provided a genuinely surprising moment<\/a> with his cover of Zombie, accompanied by Noel and Mike Hogan of The Cranberries. <\/p>\n Lola Young\u2019s surprise set<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s Main Stage line-up had initially included a midafternoon hole. Then the ultra-observant noticed that Lola Young had posted an Instagram story on Friday that showed her arriving at Dublin Airport. Would the Messy star pop up at Electric Picnic, they wondered. She would indeed, in that unfilled Saturday slot, and as she performed on the Main Stage<\/a> you could see CMAT checking out her set from the wings.<\/p>\n Pees and queues<\/p>\n What a revelation to have clean, well-serviced, flushable toilets in the arena this weekend. Peequals<\/a> were a great idea, too, at least in principle \u2013 they\u2019re designed to make peeing easier and quicker for women, so cutting down on festival queues. We\u2019re reserving judgment until we\u2019ve used them a few more times. <\/p>\n Neat freaks<\/p>\n The main arena felt so much cleaner this year, too. Has everyone become a neat freak, or were we right in thinking that the festival had more people going around and cleaning throughout the day?<\/p>\n Lovely Local shows <\/p>\n The Lovely Local, Guinness\u2019s two-storey \u201ctribute to the Irish pub\u201d, had a very cool vibe all round, but a performance there by The Scratch on Saturday was an extra treat. It was enough to make the crowd outside dance in the rain.<\/p>\n LOWSSpace-hogging campers<\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s great for you and your early-access friends that you can arrive on Thursday and pitch your tents in a big, space-hogging circle around a gazebo. It\u2019s not so great for us eejits who can\u2019t get down until the next day, and find there\u2019s barely any room left. Sure you could hardly get a Rizla paper between our tent and the one next to us.<\/p>\n Armand Van Helden\u2019s mobbed set<\/p>\n Lack of space became a much more serious concern when the Smirnoff Stage got so crowded as Armand Van Helden prepared to come out on Friday night that, in the crush, people began to fall over. The organisers cancelled the American DJ\u2019s set as soon as they saw the crowd collapse \u2013 Van Helden was clearly booked for a stage he was too big for<\/a>, according to Melvin Benn of Festival Republic, which runs Electric Picnic. \u201cThe crowd just shoved everyone and we all fell like dominoes,\u201d said one woman in her 20s. \u201cI did start crying after. When you can only see people\u2019s shoulders ahead of you for a mile, it\u2019s a bit scary.\u201d<\/p>\n Uncertain stewards<\/p>\n Whether it was to do with parking or needing to find your way around Electric Picnic\u2019s vast site, we found that some of the stewards weren\u2019t always the best at giving directions. Sometimes, two of them would give different answers to the same question. <\/p>\n Lack of one huge name<\/p>\n We loved so many of this year\u2019s acts, including a chatless but on-top-form Van Morrison<\/a> and a thrilling Geese<\/a> (who played another uncomfortably full stage), but Electric Picnic has had stronger headliners in years past. Just think of Chappell Roan, who fans jammed the main arena for<\/a> in 2025, or Billie Eilish, who gave equally memorable performances in 2023<\/a> and 2019<\/a>. Three of this year\u2019s main acts, Lewis Capaldi, Gorillaz and, yes, CMAT, had all played big Irish gigs in recent months.<\/p>\n From the Flogas bar and Bank of Ireland Ferris wheel to the illuminated \u201cPresented by 3\u2033 sign above the Main Stage, it felt as if the branding had been stepped up a notch at this year\u2019s festival.<\/p>\n The weather<\/p>\n We saved it until the very end of our list, as you can\u2019t make too big a deal about rain in Ireland. But we are going to make a bit of deal about it, as some of the weekend\u2019s downpours were biblical. There we were, after July\u2019s heatwaves, thinking we might need to get used to hot weather. Then, at summer\u2019s end, the rain returned to remind us where we live.<\/p>\n SHARE YOUR STORIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HIGHSCMAT performs Jolene The Dunboyne Diana paid tribute to the late Dolly Parton with a cover of Jolene…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12421,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-610033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-electric-picnic","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Electric](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/UECIBXAEDRDQ5LPGINI6JTLLEY.JPG\")
Electric Picnic 2026: Mayo’s All-Ireland winners on stage with The Saw Doctors on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Sombr performs Zombie<\/p>\n![\"Electric](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TEYGMASTF5E2VCHYZPRDP656YA.JPG\")
Electric Picnic 2026: Geese on stage at Rankins Wood on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Eyesore logos <\/p>\n