"Irish acts are the new Lidl": what you said on the blog last week

Indiependence is charging for tickets for the first time this year too – wonder how that will do. – unarocks

Apparently Marlay Park is booked for 10 nights this year so a possible 8 more shows to be announced. – cd

If Oxegen and EP can pull through this year in the black, the result of less artists playing big outdoor shows (such as Malahide and Croke Park etc) could be healthier festival line-ups next year.

I would not be surprised to see alot more “stadium” bands playing Oxegen next year, such as Coldplay, who simply cannot fill the big venues without the aid of a festival line-up. – Gary M

70 euros for fatboy slim, a has-been who has being playing the same records for years, I saw him for about €20 in the red box when he was a big draw, it might be time for promoters to rethink how much they bid for acts but we as the consumer will not see the results of this until the end of the year at the earliest as most contracts were negotiated last year before we all copped we were skint. – spacey

The Castlepalooza line-up is 99% Irish. Irish acts are the new Lidl. – Yao Minger

One trend that has promoters at their wits’ end is the countless people who wait until the week of the event to buy their tickets. I’ve no doubt there’ll be a flood of Oxegen and EP ticket sales the week of the event. – JC

Life have came up with a reservation system where you can book tickets but do not have to pay for them until the day of the event, this is surely an idea to try to predict cashflow/ attendance which might keep their bankers happy.

– spacey

The most spectacular fall-off seems to have occurred in the dinosaur rock genre. I honestly never thought the day would come when middle-class folk ran out of money to attend biannual Eagles concerts, but I supposed that’s how it is in today’s recession-tastic Ireland!

– Dave

Maybe, beyond the recession, one of the reasons for poor ticket sales is the fact that there hasn’t been a half-decent release by any band

in the Q/NME bracket (for want of a better pigeonhole), in over a year. Oxegen, for a start, seems to be getting saved

largely by the massive radio play for The Killers’ and Kings of Leon’s worst albums.

– dealga