The Electric Picnic line-up announcement in the Pod last Wednesday night got gig-goers very excited, with Basement Jaxx, Orbital, Madness and MGMT some of the headliners. Although my colleague Una Mullally had herself barred from the event (see facing page), John Reynolds was happy to talk to this Tribune hack.

Reynolds (41) admitted 2009 has been tough so far, as the recession has hit the audience for live music. "It was a hell of a learning curve because I think the speed with which the downturn happened took people unawares, me included." The promoter says the roots of his Pod company's difficulties can be traced to his involvement with the Midlands Music Festival in 2007 and 2008, on which, he says, he "lost a lot of money".

"When I got the Electric Picnic up and running, the next thing I wanted to do was get another festival going and I thought a country and folk festival would work. I really thought it would do well in the market. I took a chance, but the first year we had poor attendances and lost money. The second year wasn't any better and we got rained out. You take the risk or the reward I suppose. That's the deal. What happened in 2009 is that some of those decisions I made in relation to that country music festival ultimately caught up with me. I got it wrong and I lost a lot of money each year."

Matters weren't helped by the forced relocation of the Some Days Never End festival from the flooded Lugalla Estate in Co Wicklow and the move of a series of outdoor gigs planned to take place at the Irish Museum of Modern Art to indoor venues.

Only Leonard Cohen's concerts at Kilmainham and a sell-out Electric Picnic were big successes for Pod in 2008.

Yet Reynolds insists he didn't cut one job, and that this year's Electric Picnic was never in doubt. He also says that the buying out by Festival Republic of Aiken Promotions' interest in this year's event will make no difference.

"Festival Republic has invested a substantial amount of money in Electric Picnic and they didn't want to change it. The reason for that is they know Electric Picnic is an event which people like and value.

"There's no change. The only advice I've had from them so far is that it might be better to have a wooden fence around the Body & Soul area rather than a steel one."

Included in the line up performing in Stradbally over 4-6 September are the Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes, Klaxons, Jape, Chic and ABC, and Reynolds says he had a choice of many more.

"I read somewhere on a forum that Festival Republic getting involved means we can afford bigger acts. Well we don't want bigger acts even if we had a bigger budget. There are certain bands I have been offered but I just don't want.

"Put it like this. If everybody could help us get David Bowie for Electric Picnic, fantastic. I will take him or Prince but the chances of that happening are pretty remote."