After various adventures over the last two years in Derry, Dingle and London, Banter is delighted to join Other Voices as they head into the woods at Stradbally Hall on their first ever visit to Co Laois and the Electric Picnic. By comparison, this is the third Picnic in a row for Banter, though we’re swapping our usual digs with Naoise Nunn and Mindfield for Other Voices’ bijou tent in the woods.
On Saturday afternoon (4pm, Other Voices tent), Melvin Benn (Festival Republic) and Philip King (Other Voices) will join me to talk about the yin and yang of the modern festival. We’ll look at the long-term history of these musical feasts, how festivals have changed over the past decade or so, the new eclecticism which reigns at the better events, the differences in festival culture between countries and the future for these events.
A talk about festivals at a festival within a festival – prepare for the most meta hour of your weekend. There will also be a very special musical guest too who we can’t tell you about quite yet but, trust us, it will be worth it.