Electric Picnic Gets Off to an Epic Start and Bono Arrives by Hellicopter

This year’s Electric Picnic music festival got off to a storming start yesterday with 32,500 people descending on Stradbally Estate in county Laois for great tunes, some sunshine and that specific type of craic that you can only have during festival season.

If you were there yesterday, did you catch a glimpse of Bono? Apparently the bespectacled lead singer from U2 arrived at the estate by helicopter around 6pm in order to catch a set by his friend Gavin Friday.

Gavin apparently dedicated his song ‘Angel’ to Bono and his wife Ali who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. Aw, right?

Anyway, the atmosphere at the festival was good and, more importantly, the sun was shining as big name international acts Sigur Ros, Ed Sheeran and Alabama Shakes took to the stage last night. And tonight is set to be even bigger and better, as acts like The Cure, Orbital and Bell x1 entertain the crowds.

“We’ve been to Oxegen the last three years but we decided to give Electric Picnic a go this year – especially as we didn’t get to go for a big summer holiday,” said one music fan, speaking to the Irish Daily Star.

“We’ve heard it was more chillaxed and quirky and we’ve definitely found that,” another added.

Thousands of people are camping out at the Picnic this weekend.

As well as thousands of music fans, some famous faces are also expected to turn up for the weekend’s proceedings.

Patrick Kielty, who is performing as part of the comedy offerings, is rumoured to be bringing his lady friend Cat Deely along with him. Former star of The O.C. Mischa Barton is also expected to show up, as is actor Aidan Gillen and boxer Kenny Egan.

Plus, keep your eyes peeled for Louis Walsh, who so desperately defended Electric Picnic on the X-Factor last weekend when his fellow judges admitted they had no idea what it was.

According to Met Eireann, the weather is set to stay warm and sunny for the weekend, with temperatures hitting 20C or 21C. Awesome.

Are you heading to Electric Picnic at all this year, or have you decided to give it a miss?