The latest casualty of the Irish festival season?
Jim Carroll
That would appear to be Dysart, the festival which was supposed to be happening in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny on August 9 and 10.
Per Ken McGuire (and also via Twitter), organisers have been explaining to KCLR FM what the hell is going on as a bunch of acts are cancelled and others are shipped to indoor venues.
According to Ken: “organisers are citing “monsoon” like conditions over recent weeks as a major factor in the effective cancelling of the festival with grounds “destroyed” and one of the stages “sinking”.”
Wonder will the odo a Prince-and-MCD and announce how many tickets were sold for this?
(Thanks to Nialler for signalling this in the first place)
UPDATE 1 There was an interesting piece by co-organiser Enda Leahy a few weeks ago in The Sunday Times about why they were putting on the festival.
UPDATE 2 Per a report in the Kilkenny People yesterday (July 31), attendance numbers were to be limited to 5,000 after concerns about planning and safety were expressed by the local council, fire services and Gardai. However, as of this morning (August 1), there were still tickets on sale for the festival indicating that sales were below 5,000.
UPDATE 3 Per the hard-working Ken, Dysart Festival organisers have now issued a statement upgrading the reason for the cancellation to “an insufficient level of ticket sales to enable a viable inaugural event”. However, they have not, as of Saturday 5pm, updated their website with this information or with any news of the cancellation. Indeed, weekend tickets are still on sale for this. The statement (which seems to have had a very limited circulation) also says “an alternative event will now take place at a location which has yet to be confirmed”.
A huge shame. I’m from down that direction originally, it would’ve been great for the area. Plus it means no Katherine Jenkins!
I’m expecting more updates on this during the day but there’s a sense building of scrambling for venues (in my opinion). Hard to get a hold of considering the Kilkenny Arts Festival kicks off the same weekend.
There’ll be more announcements made from the organisers during the day but for the moment, KCLR seems to be the only place to get the latest details, nothing coming out of the press office for Dysart yet.
Ken – I’ll keep an eye on your website during the day and link to any updates from here.
BTW I’m hearing from some sources that ticket sales were not exactly healthy for this – I assume this was not mentioned on KCLR?
It wasn’t mentioned on KCLR but that’s what I’ve heard myself.
They were looking to limit attendance to 5,000 per day (printed in local media during the week) but there was no mention of any figures on radio.
I’m surpised there hasn’t been more festivals cancelled this summer to be honest
they’re better off to pull it now then lose a bigger packet when it falls on its ass.
Hi. With all the doom & gloom about Irish festivals this year, just letting you know that 3 out of the 4 gigs at the LeCheile festival in Oldcastle, Co. Meath have sold out. That’s The Blizzards, The Flaws and Cowboy X tonight and the Republic of Loose and Damien Dempsey gigs tomorrow night. Only a few tickets left for Cathy Davey on Sunday night.
slightly related, Electric Picnic tickets are back on sale on ticketmaster now.
@ 8 – You sure about that Ciaran? I’m having no joy on ticketmaster.ie
well they were, gone again now, not sure how long they were on sale for, but got 2 myself around 2:45….
Latest casualty of the festival season appears to be the main tent at Mantua which, I was texted by a friend last night on the way home from Tom, blew away.
Latest casualty of the festival season appears to be the main tent at Mantua which, I was texted by a friend last night on the way home from Tom, blew away.
Last year, they had joyriders on tractors – this year, they lost their big tent. That’s one mean streak of bad luck. Hope everyone is ok up there
Official press statement from the Dysart Office blames lack of ticket sales, not the weather for cancellation.
Went to Castlepalooza today for a look, spoke to one the promoters, said it was double the crowd from last year, great set up in fairness, no hassle, all they need is a few biger names and they’d be laughing. I’d say they’ll be back next year.
Has there been any update on Dysart? I can’t seem to find anything online and am not able to get KCLR on the radio…
Aishling – Latest updates as per above. Did you buy a ticket for this? Have you contacted the organisers to get more info or a refund?
I bought a pair of tickets for the Saturday performances a few weeks ago. I haven’t yet contacted the organisers for a refund as this is the first I’ve heard of the cancellation.
Jim… more updates following… http://www.kilkennymusic.com/festivals/dysart-alternative-venue-ticket-details/
Thanks a million for this info Ken. I have a one-day ticket for the Saturday but might just head down for the Sunday now too.
Ken – thanks for that update. So the festival will now be down-sized to a venue in Kilkenny city-centre with a reduced line-up and reduced ticket prices? Very messy altogether. Why didn’t they announce this on Friday?
Ian, did you hear any more about Mantua, I was hoping to go but could not make it. Did tent really blow away? What was overall take on event
Jim,
They had announced it on Friday, only they had to retract it immediately as the owner of the original supposed alternative venue had never agreed anything.
We’re being kept in the loop locally through unofficial channels but with the phone calls and emails we’ve been fielding over the weekend and into today there’s a lot of *seriously* unhappy campers and promoters.
One thing is certain anyway, there’ll be no camping on John Street and likely no parking anywhere near the venue if they’re taking over the car park. MacDonagh shopping centre would be close but it’ll cost ya, and it’ll close early.
Ken – I find it astonishing that they have still NOT updated their website. As Aisling says above, not everyone who bought tickets are from Kilkenny or can hear KCLR-FM. If it wasn’t for Kilkenny Music, there would have been NO UPDATES on this.
It’s totally shoddy behaviour from the organisers. Yes, I know it’s their first time out but that is no excuse. Once you sell tickets for an event like this, you really do owe people a proper, clear and expedient explanation about what is going on, not half-assed excuses. If this happened with MCD or Aikens or POD, people would rightly be up in arms – but I believe that the same principles should apply to all promoters who put on a live show or festival.
Jim – totally agree. The lack of any regular official coverage has been disheartening to say the least. The odd press release with maybes and no definites until today is right bad form in my opinion.
I would have imagined that most of the festival tickets were sold out of county so why national radio weren’t briefed or changes to ads weren’t made (rather than pulling all publicity) is beyond me.
Looks like they’ve pulled more acts as well (including the Kenny Larkin and Stacey Pullen set) but at least they’ve updated their website… five days later (six if you count the rumours on Thursday).
I’m working closely with one of the acts on the bill and having spoken to other promoters, I wouldn’t be surprised to see people (bands and promoters in particular) left with a real bad taste in their mouths over future large festivals in the Kilkenny area or any new festival for that matter.
I haven’t checked in on-air with the station but if you’re interested, you can catch them streaming live online from kclr96fm.com. Waiting from sources to hear the result of discussions with emergency services in Kilkenny today, see what kind of plan is being put into action for Saturday / Sunday.
Ken – I’ve yet to get a press release or statement from them on this. Strange – they have no problem sending out press releases about fantastic settings and the like to try to flog tickets, but are very slow in getting out press releases and information when everything goes wrong.
My brother and I (we got the tickets together as he lives in Kilkenny so it’s very handy), after a chat last night, decided we’re not going to head to any of the festival this weekend and I’m going to get my money back for the tix.
I’m a freelance event manager and am absolutely amazed that changes to the location and line up were only posted this morning. I know Jim mentioned it’s their first time out but on my first time out running a festival (albeit it a smaller affair – Sligo New Music Festival) I grasped the importance of communication. I’m disappointed at their apparent lack of communication skills, especially as Ken mentioned most tickets would have been sold out of county.
A real shame…
Aisling – I mentioned that it was their first time out but I also said that this is no excuse.
And it is not. Once you set out to put on an event and put tickets on sale and take money from members of the public, you have a responsibility and part of this means you communicate any changes to those paying clients.
If this happened with one of the Big 3 promoters, there would be blue murder. But the same standards need to apply to everyone. It’s also proof of what one promoter once said to me – if putting on shows and festivals was so easy, everyone would be doing it.
I feel like everyone IS doing it despite many people’s lack of management skills. I’m planning on running my first festival next year (as opposed to running them for others as I have been doing until now) and am quite nervous about it considering the masses of festivals of all standards available to audiences. I think at this stage it’s almost reached market saturation.
Perhaps within a few years audiences will become bored with the huge variety of festivals and will only attend those of excellent quality, leaving those involved in badly run festivals reconsidering their skills?
Aishling – All of this reminds me that it is time for the annual On The Record festival count!
Certainly, there is some over-supply in the market, but there are niche festivals, like Mantua and Knockanstock say, who have built their audience and who will be around for as long as the organisers want to keep doing the festivals.
There’s also Green Gathering in Co Wexford (on next weekend), Indie Pendence in Mitchelstown and Castle Palooza in Tullamore (both last weekend). There is still lots of room and demand for quality less-than-5k-capacity fests. The problems occur when a festival over-reaches itself and does not have the manpower or experience to cope when things go wrong.
Ooh, I didn’t realise there was an annual festival count. Sounds like a great idea!
I was just chatting with a friend who is playing at the Green Gathering next weekend and might head down with her on Sunday so the weekend may not be a total loss.
I’m all for small manageable festivals. The experience is always more personal and you can deal with audience and enquiries on an as-they-come basis. The staff always seem to have more fun at smaller events despite the work involved.