The line-up for Electric Picnic 2020 is set to be announced in the coming weeks, but it seems that big changes are afoot for the festival this year.
According to a report in Laois Today, a number of Laois County Councillors recently met with Melvin Benn of Festival Republic, who own and operate Ireland's biggest music festival.
One of the topics for discussion was crowd safety after alleged reports of crushing at last year's event. Benn had applied to Laois County Council to increase capacity from 60,000 to 70,000 last September.
However, given the concerns related to crowd safety, that capacity increase also entails making the overall festival site 30% larger.
The Main Stage area - which was highlighted as a particularly problematic area in terms of crowd 'pinching' or crushing - will also be increased by 25,000 sq. metres.
Other festival areas will be reconfigured. The Mindfield area is now being merged with Body & Soul to make the 'Mind & Body' area. This follows on from Body & Soul announcing that they were leaving Electric Picnic after 16 years.
Finally, a 'fully kitted-out theatre' will be added to the festival.
To date, Rage Against the Machine have been the only name announced for EP2020. The full line-up is expected on March 11th and tickets are completely sold out.
