Over the past year, RTÉ 2FM broadcaster Tracy Clifford has been scouring the country to find up-and-coming talent for Electric Picnic 2023.
Working with Three's City Stages Collective, Clifford has toured her way through Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny and Galway to listen to a variety of musicians, with the hope of offering a select few the chance to play Ireland's biggest music festival.
"I've been over it for the best part of a year," Clifford told RTÉ Lifestyle. "People applied online and were chosen to perform on a given day, and I mean it was rain, hail, sleet, snow.
"We went from Galway in the beautiful sunshine to the freezing cold where I had to run into Penneys and get myself a pair of fluffy socks to stand and watch the acts. That was part of my job as a brand ambassador, I was there to go around the country to judge and support and choose all the acts, but there were so many."
Alongside industry professionals Cian Boylan (Camden Recording Studios), Gill Dooley (CEO, AIM Ireland), and Lorcan Byrne (MCD Productions), the broadcaster had the difficult job of choosing just eight acts to fill the line-up.
"It was all different sort of acts; you had rappers, drill artists, singer-songwriters, duos, people with electric guitars - everything. They were seasoned buskers so they were brilliant."
"What I have to say about them coming to Electric Picnic and performing on this stage is that they've got really great experience. They're playing on busy streets in all weather, they're not just people who put stuff up on YouTube, they're hardy in that way."
"They've done the hard graft."
With so much talent across so many genres, Clifford says she had to focus on the performances that connected with her the most to find her winners.
"I'm always looking for something different but I'm always looking for something that can connect with people. I love stories in song-writing whether it's drill or rap or a man with a guitar or a girl with a guitar. I love stories and anything that connects you.
"Obviously talent has to shine through, musicality has to shine through, and brilliant lyrics, but I always feel if I can connect with what someone is saying through song, through music, or through rap, that's always something that I look for.
"Sometimes I won't know the subject matter or what something is about but I'm always interested in something new and being taught about something new. It's just about finding something that interests me, I guess."
In the end, the winners were: Arthur Valentine, Bukky, Kestine, Korey Power, Leah Moran, Liliana Pinheiro, Salamay and 2Time Charlie.
When it came time to make those phone calls, did she feel like a fairy godmother?
"I felt like Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Sharon Osborne rolled into one," she laughs. "Do you know what? I have to say, I was so nervous about making those phone calls but, my God, I get a little bit emotional looking back now.
"Sometimes, because you're in this industry so long, you forget how much this means to people. Electric Picnic is the biggest festival in Ireland, right now it's probably the longest running one, and it's kind of iconic. To play a stage, not just a little stage, but the Three stage, and do something special with buskers, is such an exciting moment."
To find out more about the initiative, visit 3.ie/CityStages.
