subject: Declan Forde - A biography [print this page] DECLAN FORDE - A biography DECLAN FORDE - A biography
Declan Forde is Head of Music for the Pod Entertainment group in Dublin with responsibility for live music and club bookings in the Tripod, CrawDaddy, Pod and Button Factory venues, as well booking the line-up for the acclaimed Electric Picnic festival and Pod's various other festivals and live music ventures.
Having previously served as Entertainments Manager at Dublin's Trinity College for two years and delved into areas as diverse as journalism, band management, record company scouting, radio DJing, as well as gigs and clubs promoting; Declan joined dance/club promoter Pod in late 2000 with a brief to establish a foothold for the company in the area of live music.
With a reputation for spotting new talent ahead of the pack, he has booked debut Irish shows for overseas acts such as Arcade Fire, Florence & the Machine, Hot Chip, James Blunt, LCD Soundsystem, Bon Iver, Jurassic 5, Klaxons, The xx, Feist, Diplo, as well as for seminal older acts such as George Clinton, Marlena Shaw, Gang of Four and Chic.
Declan has been instrumental in establishing Electric Picnic as one of the best festivals in the world since its inception in 2004, with Billboard magazine describing it as a magnificent rock'n'roll circus, a textbook example of everything a music festival should be'. He has also been involved in numerous other Irish multi-arts festivals as well as helping establish London's Lovebox festival.
