Dave Parle is a booker and general all round get-things-done-guy for POD concerts, organisers of Electric Picnic. The Heineken team asked him a few questions about the festival.
This is the 9th year of Electric Picnic? How many of these have you worked on?
My first experience of Electric Picnic was in 2006 when I went as part of Antics DJs. We spent three days DJing between acts in the Crawdaddy tent. It almost became an endurance test...running back and forth to see all the acts we couldn't miss, we ended up with one of the team fast asleep on the side of the stage at Graham Coxon in full view of the audience. I have become more and more involved with the core team running the event since then, which has been a pleasure.
What do you think makes The Electric Picnic special?
I would say 2 things:
1. Variety - You could spread everything that's going on at the Picnic across a week and you'd still never stop. Just trying to catch all the acts alone is a challenge but the festival is much more than that and always packs endless surprises for those who enjoy a bit of adventure.
2. The People - I've enjoyed the Picnic as a festival goer as much as a member of staff, so I can safely say walking around and bumping to old friends or meeting new people is something I've always thoroughly enjoyed. I don't think I've ever seen any hassle either.
How many months of preparation go into creating something as big as Electric Picnic?
It never really stops, we would have our eye on next year before this has even finished. The hours certainly get a lot longer in the couple of months leading up to the festival though!
What is your favourite Electric Picnic memory?
Probably the Beastie Boys in the Electric Arena in 2007. I loved their album The Mix-Up so I was chuffed to catch them performing an instrumental set on top of their normal live show. With MCA's death this year, I'm even more grateful just to have seen them live.
What's the best thing about your job?
Getting to see amazing performances and meet really interesting and inspirational people.
Finally who are your top 5 must-sees at this year's festival?
I'm really looking forward to The Cure, who are definitely going to put in a special performance for this. It's a show Robert Smith has genuinely been looking forward to for some time; he's a huge fan of Explosions In the Sky, Crystal Castles and the line-up in general.
I've never seen The XX live as I was away for their last Irish show; it's going to be interesting to hear their new material.
Squarepusher's live show is going to blow people's minds!
David Kitt plays The Big Romance will be really special, it's an exceptional album.
Finally, I would say the Trinity Orchestra performing Dark Side of the Moon; they have outdone themselves this year with this production and I can't recommend enough that people check them out on the Main Stage on Saturday.
