Up and coming Irish bands will get an amazing opportunity to play at Electric Picnic this year

And the public will get a chance to win tickets to the festival too.

Emerging Irish bands will get the chance to showcase their talents on the best stage possible as part of a collaboration between RTÉ 2FM and Jack and Jill Foundation, the Irish children’s charity. A new refreshed format, Play the Picnic will showcase up and coming bands at the festival in September alongside more established Irish acts such as Roisin O, Chasing Abbey and Brave Giant. After a nationwide search this month, 30 unsigned acts will have the opportunity to compete and win the musical opportunity of a lifetime to play a coveted live set at one of the best festivals in Ireland and Europe. The new stage will be curated and produced by music promoters Abner Browns and RTÉ XM’s King Kong Radio, along with partners and curators Music Maker and IMRO, all huge advocates and supporters of Irish music. The campaign was launched on Tuesday, June 6 and acts of all musical persuasions are invited to submit a track that they think will bag them a spot on the Play the Picnic stage. Entrants are invited to email a link to their track to playthepicnic@rte.ie (e.g. Soundcloud, WeTransfer, Mixcloud) and are asked to not submit MP3 or other audio format files as they will not be counted as entries. Only one entry per act is allowed and the closing date for entries, is Friday, June 16. Full details, terms and conditions are available on the 2FM website here. After being whittled down to a list of 30 by an expert judging panel, the public will be invited to vote for their favourites by text and by doing so, will be in with a chance of winning tickets to the festival, which is now sold-out. The 10 top acts as voted by the public will then be added to the bill at the Play the Picnic Stage at Electric Picnic. In addition, the overall winner from the 10 finalists will perform at one of Electric Picnic’s larger stages, The Cosby Stage, granting them even more exposure to festival goers. They will also win a masterclass with Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn on how to get festival bookings for your band; a masterclass with 2FM on how to go about approaching radio stations and obtaining airplay; a studio session with some of Ireland’s top sound engineers at 2FM’s state-of-the-art studios; and have their song broadcast to the nation on 2FM. Think your band has what it takes? For more information, click here.