We've been Slane again and Witnnessed some great music ... but in lamentable conditions, partly thanks to Irish weather. When and where will a suitable venue ever emerge?
Even in Ireland, when you think summer you think outdoor festival. Milling around in mud up to your knees, sampling over-priced urine-coloured lager in plastic cups, being crushed by rain-sodden teenagers and harassed by hostile security staff - yes indeed, the pleasures of the old rock-fest are hard to beat. Aren't they?
Reports from this year's Witnness festival might suggest otherwise. While not in any way saying that Witnness suffers from some of the aforementioned problems, news filtered back of the long bumper-to-bumper tailbacks on the road into Witnness. Like similar rock festivals, the tickets were expensive, and the beer, well, one wonders how much it costs to brew the stuff.
Of course, Witnness is just representative of this type of event.
Anyone that's been to Slane any year will know the score. When REM played a number of years ago, it even proved difficult to get to the gig, as Dublin Bus decided to suddenly halt its well-publicised service from O'Connell Street out to Slane, leaving scores of fans stranded in town. U2 last year wasn't much better, but this time with the problem in the opposite direction. Not only was I scared to death as the crowd swayed to the left and right when the gig was over, all trying to exit through the same gate, but once out of the concert ground it took hours upon hours for the buses to get on the road to Dublin. You wouldn't mind so much if such concerts came cheap, but the truth is ticket prices are very expensive, making a huge killing for the promoters involved.
In contrast, attending large scale outdoor events in other countries and other climes can be a pleasure. When the sun shines in Glastonbury, all the world smiles. The same goes for the Stade de France, where you can't help but be impressed by how smoothly everything runs. Parking and transport have been considered - and solved. The only downside is that the acts tend to be the likes of Johnny Halliday and Celine Dion.
With the weather against us, maybe the very idea of large scale outdoor gigs should simply be forgotten in Ireland.
The controversial concerts held in Smithfield last summer proved that you can't hold a gig for private profit in a public space, particularly when the local residents are alienated and against it. The driving rain at many Irish concerts proves another thing: this country badly needs a big indoor venue.
Sure, we've got The Point, but that's only got a capacity of about 6,000. The RDS doesn't quite fit the bill either. What we need has to be in or around the 80,000 mark, big enough to accommodate the kind of numbers that cram into slippery fields in Co Meath, to hear acts like U2 and Bryan Adams. Do I hear chants of "Bertie Bowl! Bertie Bowl!" from the freezing terraces? What, in any case, are the specifications of the much famed and fabled Stadium Ireland? Included in the original plans for the Sports Campus Ireland complex at Abbotstown, a 500-acre site just 8 kms from Dublin's city centre, were both a 15,000-seater indoor arena (three times the size of The Point) and an 80,000-seat stadium, the cornerstone of the Sports Campus project, aka the "Bertie Bowl". While it is doubtful that the project will now go ahead - with reality and economic priorities getting in the way - the plans showed flawed thinking from the start.
As Frank McDonald has argued in this newspaper, the whole approach to access for Stadium Ireland was inadequate. The idea that 45 per cent of those travelling to the proposed stadium would travel by car, via the already congested M50 motorway, was just plain madness. But at least there was some provision for parking made in the plans - 14,400 spaces in all - unlike some other recent developments in the country.
Lansdowne Road can be forgiven its inadequacies because of its age. Sure there is no proper parking, sure it only accommodates 40,000 or so people, yes its roof cannot be closed against the weather and yes, it can and should be redeveloped as a major sports stadium for Ireland. But what of recently developed grounds throughout the country? Take Galway's Pearse Stadium, for example; despite recent redevelopment there is still no provision for the hordes of cars that will descend on the residential area in which Pearse Stadium is located, clogging up driveways and parking on lawns.
So what's the solution? Outdoor venues such as Marlay Park and Phoenix Park have similar drawbacks to Slane and Fairyhouse Racecourse; the new Helix venue at Dublin City University is fine for classical concerts, but what about large-scale rock events? With the more pressing needs of our health service and transport infrastructure, justifying expenditure on a monument to a Taoiseach just isn't on.
Anyone confused by the contesting agendas of the Bertie Bowl, the now abandoned Eircom Park and the suggestion that Lansdowne Road be massively redeveloped can be forgiven. With the kind of directionless leadership we've had on the matter, it is not surprising confusion abounds. What other government could have already effectively bankrolled (with our money) the solution, and not be willing to steamroll certain reasonable demands through? What we've had so far is a triumph of currency over common sense.
Croke Park, which is soon to be completed, is manifestly the answer. With an entire 79,500 seats to be included in the final complex, we have our national stadium in waiting. Sure, put the emphasis on our national sports, but allow the other sports Irish people play and love in as well. As for the rock gigs, well the GAA have already run highly profitable concerts in the ground - with almost 80,000 seats coming on stream, Croaker will be just about the size of the Stade de France; what more could a country of our size want?
It is both reasonable and fair to open up Croke Park. And if they put a roof on it, we could all be drinking overpriced, urine-coloured lager in comfort, to the sounds of Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Fat Boy Slim, or whatever you're having yourself.
