Praise for Laois male choirs from Director of Electric Picnic

THE DIRECTOR of the Electric Picnic Melvin Benn was glowing in his praise for Laois acts and performers, specifically two, that will be performing over the coming weekend.

The media was given the annual preview of the festival site earlier today.

Earlier today Mr Benn was asked was the festival staying in Stradbally to which he replied: “Where else would I want to be. People talk about Stradbally as if’s the centre of the world for this weekend. It’s right that they do, because Stradbally is the centre of the world for this weekend.” 

Asked what he thought about the Timahoe and Stradbally Male Choirs performing over the festival period, Mr Benn said: “The Timahoe Choir is a wonderful story. Its people getting together to make sure that men are not lonely and that’s a really important message. I think men can often be lonelier than women sometimes. They played on the Hazelwood stage last year and we had to close it because it was so full. I had never seen it so full. This year they’re playing the Main Stage, via New York. After the back of what happened and how well they performed on the Hazelwood Stage, Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York invited them over to play in New York.” 

He went on to say: “Obviously, the very wise people in Stradbally have now got a choir, perhaps in the hope that they’ll get invited to New York. There’s 92 of them (in Stradbally Choir). I didn’t think that there were even 92 blinking people in Stradbally. They have  done a recce (of the stage). I don’t know how they’re all going to get on the Hazelwood Stage. But they’ve assured me that they will manage to do it.”