The Wolfe Tones make record breaking Electric Picnic appearance

Electric Picnic organisers say The Wolfe Tones attracted the largest Electric Arena tent attendance in the festival’s 19 year history.   

An aerial image reveals the tent wasn’t big enough to cater for the crowds who flocked to see The Wolfe Tones perform on the final day of the festival. Fans weren’t left disappointed however, as the performance was broadcast on screens outside the tent. 

The crowd gives an indication of the popularity of the band who are known for playing Irish rebel songs. 

The Wolfe Tones were in the headlines late last year when the Irish women’s football team were fined for singing the lyrics of one of their songs,  Celtic Symphony, which features the lyrics ‘Oh aah, up the Ra’, a reference to the Irish Republican Army(IRA). 

The song reached number one in the Irish charts in 2022 following the controversy surrounding the Irish women's soccer team who sang it in their dressing room to public disapproval, later issuing an apology.

Ahead of the Electric Picnic, Festival Republic Managing Director Melvin Benn explained that he was a fan of The Wolfe Tones. 

The UK promoter had predicted "a massive crowd at the Picnic to see The Wolfe Tones, who are always brilliant live".

"Astute observers will have noticed also that The Wolfe Tones are on the bill. Somebody asked me recently, 'Do you know what to expect from them?' Again I have to say I do, and that there won’t be any surprises for me – unless of course they were to decide to play ‘God Save The King’! – because during the 1970s and 1980s, I was very attuned to, and active in, Irish politics. My social circle in the UK during that period was almost exclusively Irish, so the fact is that I actually know a lot about The Wolfe Tones!” 

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/electric-picnic/1280042/ooh-aah-electric-picnic-promotor-a-huge-fan-of-the-wolfe-tones.html

"When Charles and Diana got married in 1981, I actually travelled to the west of Wales, so that I could listen to Irish radio – which came through clear as a bell there – and avoid the non-stop BBC coverage of the wedding. In contrast, it was about the sixth item of the RTÉ news – which was great," the UK festival promoter wrote in Hotpress magazine.