Electric Picnic promoter Melvin Benn has defended crowd safety measures at the Irish festival after a crowd collapse, flooding and capacity problems marred the sold-out weekend event at Stradbally Hall in County Laois. The DJ Armand Van Helden's set on the Smirnoff stage was cancelled on Friday evening after a crush developed as fans arrived while others tried to leave simultaneously, with witnesses describing scenes of "total mayhem" and people falling on top of one another; a second capacity issue on Saturday saw stewards and gardaí limit access to Duke Dumont's packed set in the Electric Arena.

Around 80,000 people attended the three-day festival, headlined by Lewis Capaldi, Gorillaz and Fontaines D.C. Benn, who also runs Reading & Leeds and Latitude through Festival Republic, insisted the weekend "could not have gone better" and called suggestions that changes were needed "bonkers", though he confirmed medics and security had responded to the Friday crush. Van Helden said the cancellation was necessary to protect attendees' wellbeing, while heavy rain also caused the Coca-Cola tent to be evacuated on Friday after water leaked through the structure, leaving campsites and routes across the site waterlogged.