The Picnic, which has a capacity of 32,500, takes place over three days, from Friday 29 August to Sunday 31 August. Among the artists set to descend this year on the Laois stately home, where the festival takes place, are The Sex Pistols, Franz Ferdinand, Christy Moore, Sigur Ross, Sinead O'Connor, My Bloody Valentine, Goldfrapp, George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars, Nick Cave's Grinderman, Lisa Hannigan, Wilco and Elbow along with dozens more, in what is the festival's strongest line-up to date.

The Electric Picnic is also noted for its huge array of additional attractions, including a comedy tent; no less than eight spoken word stages and, in 2008, for the first time, a crafts field – not to mention the Hot Press Chat Room, where fans get the opportunity to see some of the legends of music being quizzed by a team of Hot Press writers.

The prime movers behind the Electric Picnic, POD concerts, today issued a statement dismissing as totally false and unfounded the suggestion – made in certain media today – that there were doubts about this year's event (see separate story on hotpress.com, later today).