Fatboy Slim’s secret Electric Picnic set cancelled due to overcrowding issues
A secret set from Fatboy Slim was cancelled at the Electric Picnic festival in Ireland due to overcrowding issues.
Fatboy Slim, also known as Norman Cook, performed on the Main Stage at Electric Picnic on August 30th after headliner Sam Fender, DJing from 11:30pm to 1:00am. However, he was also due to keep the party going in the much smaller Salty Dog venue at the festival until the secret no longer became secret, and the set became a huge security concern.
Electric Picnic organiser Melvin Benn told The Journal of the cancellation: “Unfortunately, it was supposed to be a secret. I don’t know why I keep believing that I could keep a secret in Ireland.”
Benn continued: “It would have been amazing, he was going to play a different set for 90 minutes. He was hugely disappointed and in all honesty, I think I’ve let him down, but I’ve let all the fans down as well.”
While it was an unfortunate decision to make, Benn is assured that it was the right one for safety reasons, sharing, “But we have to keep safe, and ultimately the decision was taken on safety grounds and that was the right decision, as disappointing as it was for me and for him.”
Over the course of the weekend, Electric Picnic also welcomed Hozier, Chappell Roan, Kings of Leon, Becky Hill, Inhaler, Kneecap and many more to Stradbally.
Although Kneecap weren’t part of the initial line-up announcement, they were added in June to the festival and drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend.
Speaking to News Talk FM last week, Benn said of the booking, “Adding Kneecap is really important for us. It is a really important statement and musically, they’re fantastic, but in terms of what is happening in the world it is really important they are here adding their voice.”
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