Electric Picnic: First look inside the festival site

The Electric Picnic music and arts festival will see more than 50,000 people descend on Stradbally, Co Laois from Friday until Sunday.

Aerial theatre, accommodation costing up to €1,400 and acts including Kendrick Lamar, the Prodigy and Massive Attack will be on show at this weekend's festival.

The weather for the three-day festival looks mixed, with Met Éireann forecasting that Friday will begin dry before outbreaks of rain develop. Saturday and Sunday should see temperatures hit the high teens to low 20s with the odd shower.

This year's line-up also includes N.E.R.D, Dua Lipa, and George Ezra. Tickets for the festival have sold out.

Electric Picnic: Exclusive first look at Electric Arena, Mindfield, Salty Dog

---

Electric Picnic stage times: the exclusive first look

---

Electric Picnic 2018: Everything you need to know – traffic, weather, alcohol rules and more

---

Electric Picnic exclusive: Stage times for Cosby Tent and more

---

The La Fura dels Baus theatre group from Barcelona are among the new additions to the line-up. It has been working with 24 volunteers from the Stradbally area over the past week and its performance includes the troupe being raised 40ft above the estate on a metal pyramid.

Agata Tantianya, choreographer with La Fura dels Baus said "we always do it with participants from the place that we're doing the show". "This is the first time we've been to Electric Picnic, " she said. "The whole show is in the air so everyone across the festival will be able to see it. You'll see a lot of people doing crazy things, it's going to be amazing."

Festival goers can look forward to an extra stage at the Caribbean inspired Trenchtown as well as the late-night dance area Tranmission, which features an Alien mothership that projects lights displays.

The Little Picnic, an area specifically catering for young families, is also running this year.

Swimming will be permitted in Stradbally Lake, and a Theatre of Food will offer talks, cookery demonstrations and live interviews with chefs.

More than 100 food stalls will be present, and an artisan food market will offer good local produce, or you can pop into the Theatre of Food to catch some of Ireland’s best chefs in action.

There will be free drinking-water points across all of the campsites and the main arena, beside the toilet blocks.

The Electric Picnic could get bigger in the future, according to the festival's managing director. Melvin Benn, of Festival Republic, said he would like to further grow the festival.

Mr Benn said there’s “clearly a demand” for the festival. “I would like to add more things into the Picnic and actually to do that I need to grow the space a little bit more. If I grow the space a little bit more it maybe that there’s a bit more room for a few more people,” he told The Irish Times during a site visit on Tuesday.

Find out more about the festival in our Everything You Need to Know guide.