Tough questions and heated debate at MineField Arena
Síofra Grant
Twenty years ago, Electric Picnic introduced the MindField Arena to give attendees the chance to witness the talents of spoken word artists, storytellers and experimental musicians from all over the world.
What started as a single stage quickly became a staple of Electric Picnic, a chance for people to sit down and relax for a while listening to poetry and folk tales.
Marty Mulligan has been involved with MindField since day one, as was one of the first performers, and over the two decades he has been involved in organising it.
The MindField Arena is the largest at Electric Picnic. It’s made up of several tents. The Theatrical Tent, The Leviathan Political Debate Tent and Marty’s Tent.
“My tent is The Word and it’s also known as the Mullingar Tent, because it’s always got so many Mullingar acts,” said Marty.
“There was also the Irish Language Tent set up by Manchán Magan.
“I first met him 20 years ago, we were both doing a show on the stage and we ended up getting our own stages as a result of it.”
Manchán, a Westmeath man by assimilation, sadly passed away last year. He was an author, broadcaster, documentary maker, and an story teller who championed both the Irish language and mythology.
“We’re going to do something to commemorate Manchán as well. I’m doing a tribute to him on a story telling about the magic of Irish mythology. It will be myself and another guy, Bobbo the Bard.”
It’s not just poetry and story telling place at MindField but music as well. The arena features up and coming and experimental artists.
Many of the musical acts are from Mullingar or have connections to the town, something that Marty prioritises when organising the stage. His son is part of the process and will be featured twice throughout the weekend.
“Adore are a post punk band from Dublin and Ben (Marty’s son) is in that band and he’s playing on Friday night.”
Other Mullingar acts or with connections to Mullingar are Nathan Johnson, and Sei Green, who have two Mullingar members.
The Saturday line-up includes Good Strangers, and Beat Club, also featuring Ben, an improv band who come up with their pieces as they go along.
Some One’s Son perform on the Sunday, and Nathan Johnston will also make an appearance.
Dec Byrne will also perform over the weekend, a musician many locals will be eager to see.
“Featuring Mullingar acts is important to me,” said Marty. “It gives bands a break, they don’t always get a look in at these sorts of festivals, it’s hard to get on the bill with them. I’ll always push for the Mullingar acts because that’s where I’m from. I know the acts and I know that they’re quality.”
Inklings writing group, and Bressie alongside the Polaris Quartet are also on the line-up.
Marty recalled a moment with festival organisers when he was told he puts too much focus on Mullingar: “It kind of annoyed me so I brought along the Mullingar Town Band the next year,” he said.
Other acts include two former members of The Verve along with their 10-piece band, who will accompany several spoken word artists from Dublin.
In all, MindField will feature 120 acts and events throughout the weekend, 38 of which are in the ‘Mullingar Tent’.
The art of the spoken word was part of Marty’s life long before Electric Picnic.
“I left school when I was young but then I entered a competition in Galway, an international poetry competition, and I won it. I only entered for the craic, I didn’t mean to win it, I swear to God!
“And then people were giving out saying what I did wasn’t poetry, I never said it was. I entered it again next year and I won it again and so I knew I had something there.
“The difference with my poetry is that I can memorise my stuff, while everyone else is reading from a page. And that’s the old Irish style of spoken word.
“For a long time my work was quite political, some of it would be funny as well, but that’s how I got into it by accident.”
Electric Picnic 2026 is at Stradbally on August 28-30.