Liam Gallagher has hinted he was supposed to headline this year’s Electric Picnic.
Earlier this week, organisers were left devastated after Laois County Council refused to grant them a licence to hold this year’s festival in Stradbally.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, Liam tweeted: “Gutted to hear electric picnic has been cancelled was looking forward to seeing my Irish brothers n sisters and my cousin Guinness.”
Gutted to hear electric picnic has been cancelled was looking forward to seeing my Irish ☘️ brothers n sisters and my cousin Guinness
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) August 5, 2021
With so much uncertainty around the festival returning, Electric Picnic never released the line-up for this year’s festival.
However, Liam’s tweet has led fans to believe he was set to headline the popular event.
On Wednesday, Laois County Council refused to grant a licence for this year’s Electric Picnic, after considering “the most up-to-date public health advice” from the HSE.
Organisers were hoping the festival could go ahead this September for vaccinated people only, with increased safety measures in place.
Reacting to the news in a statement, the team behind Electric Picnic said: “Together with all the fans of Electric Picnic we are extremely disappointed that Laois County Council have refused a licence for this year’s festival scheduled to take place 24th – 26th September 2021.”
“This is despite our proposal that everyone attending the event, including ticket holders, staff and artists, would have to be fully vaccinated and registered in advance for Department of Health contact tracing.”
“To see Scotland, a country with a similar population and virtually identical vaccine rollout and uptake as our own, only announce on Tuesday that they were easing restrictions and allowing events such as TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow go ahead in September makes this decision even more difficult to accept,” they continued.
“This is a huge blow and set back to our entire sector, which was mandated to close on the 12th March 2020 (over 500 days ago) and such a decision now means the further loss of employment for over 3,000 people, who had clung to the hope that Electric Picnic would bring an end to their period of hardship.”
They added: “We now call upon all members of government to interrupt their summer recess and immediately issue reopening guidelines, as we have being calling for, with a reopening date for the sector of the 16th August on a phased basis, building to the implementation of no restrictions from 1st September 2021 onwards.”
“We wish to thank all the fans for their patience and the community of Stradbally and the people of Laois for their huge ongoing support during this difficult time.”
“We will now review our options and be in contact directly with all ticket holders over the next week.”
