Metropolis on fire

Metropolis festival was a welcome addition to the Irish festival scene, when it launched in 2015.  The winter festival is the only one of its kind in the Irish market and has a nice blend of music, including EDM, Indie and plenty else along the way.

The festival announced the latest additions to its line up this week, with Friendly Fires, Booka Brass, David Keenan and Master of Ceremonies David O’Doherty joining the bill.   They join Roisin Murphy, Mac Demarco, Villagers, Young Fathers, Blood Orange and Black Madonna among others at the RDS indoor arena in Dublin.

The festival takes place over the Bank Holiday weekend (Ireland), October 27 and 28.  Tickets are available here

Festival ownership – a small club

The Association of Independent Festivals has recently published some interesting figures on festival ownership in the UK. The report indicates that festival ownership is concentrated in very few hands.  The report does not mention Ireland or Europe, but a similar picture exists in ROI.

I’m late to the party on this, and I’m happy to admit that the Guardian and the NME reported this a few weeks back, but I saw it today and was intrigued and wanted to cover it.

The study shows that Live Nation now owns or controls 25.6% of UK festivals over 5,000 capacity. The American corporation’s festival market share is over three times that of its nearest rival Global, which controls 8% of the UK’s festivals over 5,000 capacity through promoter Broadwick Live.  AIF members own 20% of festivals, with 37 companies operating 65 festivals.

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Live Nation organises iconic festivals such as Isle of Wight, Parklife, Creamfields.  They also have a controlling stake in Festival Republic, which organises Reading & Leeds, Latitude and Download among others in the UK.  In Ireland, Festival Republic organise Electric Picnic and Longitude.

The AIF has called for a probe into the dominance of Live Nation in the market.  They have drawn attention to Live Nation’s dominance throughout different levels of the supply chain.  According to AIF, Live Nation also owns Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticketing company, which controls an estimated 46% of the top 61 venue box offices in the UK and sells 500 million tickets worldwide annually. The company also manages over 500 artists and promoted 30,000 concerts globally in 2017.

The Association is launching an online Stamp which independent festivals can use to mark their independence.  Similar to the craft brew or artisan food movements, this stamp is likely to play well with a type of customer who values supporting smaller businesses.

AIF Chief Executive Paul Reed said: “AIF’s festival ownership map paints a stark picture of the sector. Allowing a single company to dominate festivals, and the live music sector in general, through vertical integration reduces the amount of choice and value for money for music fans. It can block new entrants to market, result in strangleholds on talent through exclusivity deals and stifle competition throughout the entire live music business.”

While there is logic in what AIF are saying, it is also fair to say that the number of festivals available to punters remains impressive.  There have been high profile cancellations, but there certainly seems to be a healthy and diverse market. Independents and the Big players play important roles in this.

The most important thing about the AFI announcement, is that people know more about what they are buying.  The AFI campaign and the new Stamp will help improve consumer awareness, that can only be a good thing.

Ed Sheeran confirmed for Sziget

As outlined earlier in the week, Sziget are out of the blocks early with their first announcement for 2019. Ed Sheeran is the first name to be announced for the Budapest festival.

Like him or loathe him, Sheeran is one of the biggest acts on the planet and will be a major draw for the festival.

Sziget will take place in Budapest, Hungary, in 2019 between August 7-13.

Tickets for the festival go on sale on October 1st.

 

11 dead in tragic week for festival goers

11 people have died and more have been hospitalised after incidents at three separate festivals, in the US, Vietnam and Australia.

Two people died at the Lost Lands EDM festival in Thornville Ohio. Official causes of death is unconfirmed pending toxicology results.

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7 people died and a number more were in a coma following what appear to be drug related incdidents at the Vietnamese, Trip To The Moon festival in Hanoi’s upscale West Lake, a neighbourhood known for its nightlife and clubs. The incident has led to a ban on EDM festivals in the Vietnamese capital.

Finally, two people died, again of suspected drug overdoses at the Defqon 1 festival in Sydney, Australia. Police reports indicate that as many as 700 people sought assistance at the festival site.

While there has been calls for all three festivals to be banned, the Defqon incident, in particular, has re-ignited a debate about the need to introduce pill testing facilities at festivals.

Whether that is the answer is up for debate, but the simple policy of hoping people will just say no does not seem to be working, with tragic consequences.

Continue reading “11 dead in tragic week for festival goers” →

It’s not really a festival, but…..

Slane isn’t a festival, I know, I know. But there are a few gigs that are bigger than gigs. They are part of the cultural landscape in a way that a trip to the O2 Arena, Principality Stadium, Croke Park will never be. Hyde Park maybe, or Knebworth. Anyway, its a quiet day, so to hell with the rules.

Since Thin Lizzy headlined the first gig at the Castle, Slane has been home to some of the greatest gigs ever held on these isles. Over the years U2 (2), Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Guns and Roses (2), Madonna and Eminem were among the headliners.

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Rumours had been kicking about for a while that Metallica would be returning to Ireland in 2019. More recently, Slane was rumoured to be the venue. Although no announcement has been made, a picture of the band was posted on the Slane Castle Facebook page today.

Metallica have played Ireland many times before. In 1986, they played the SFX in Dublin in support of Master of Puppets. Since then, they have played larger venues like Marlay Park and the RDS. But these venues are dwarfed by the natural amphitheatre at Slane, which has a capacity of 80,000 people.

Metal fans will certainly welcome the announcement, particularly if it is accompanied by a strong supporting line up. They will need a good bill to sell that many tickets.

Glastonbury tickets

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After a fallow year in 2018, Glastonbury is back.  The mother, father and cute cousin of all festivals is back once more to embarass the hell out of all the other less awesome festivals.

Tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2019 (26th-30th June 2019) will go on sale at the beginning of October. Coach + ticket packages will go on sale at 6pm on Thursday 4th October, 2018, with general admission tickets on sale at 9am on Sunday 7th October, 2018.

If this is your first time buying tickets in recent years, you will need to  register in advance. Registration remains free of charge and only takes a few minutes at www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk. You can also check your existing registration here. Registration will close at 12 noon on Monday, 1st October, after which there will be no opportunity to submit/re-submit a registration until after both ticket sales.

Tickets will cost £248 + £5 booking fee per ticket and will be sold exclusively at glastonbury.seetickets.com.  Children aged 12 and under are admitted free of charge and do not need a ticket.  A bit pricey, but there is few better value festivals anywhere.

Between now and Sunday you should get your fingers in training, practice hitting the refresh button.  That and sell a soul or two, if you haven’t already.

‘Rock’ music goes bad

Opposition politicians  in Gibraltar, have called into question Government funding for the MTV Presents Gibraltar Calling Festival, taking place this coming Friday and Saturday.

An opposition party leader in the UK protectorate, Keith Azopardi, has claimed the event has lost a lot of money in recent years.

“The music festival had losses of over £3.1 million last year – the highest ever – and could face even larger losses this year given the diminished list of acts, worse timing of the festival and the undoubted effect on ticket sales.”

In what might be viewed as a dig at the festivals relatively new partners, MTV, Azopardi said;

“Additionally, the GMF (Gibraltar Music Festival) was a greater success when there was larger local involvement in organisation and control. Lessons need to be learned from the past and there needs to be a review of who is charged with organizing this festival.”

Last years event, the finances of which Azopardi has criticised, included Craig David, Tinie Tempah, Kaiser Chiefs and Bastille among others.

At time of writing, four days from the gig, tickets were still available for this years event. This year’s event sees Stormzy, Two Door Cinema Club, Rag and Bone Man and Texas join a host of local favourites.   A ‘Classic Stage’ boasts Suzi Quatro, Sister Sledge, Boomtown Rats and Bad Manners.  Two day tickets are £99, with one day passes £85.

If you fancy hopping off for a last minute weekend on the Rock, tickets are available at

https://www.gibraltarcalling.com/get-tickets

 

A Sziget for sore eyes

It seems like the festival season isn’t even over yet, and already we are seeing the first  headliners for the 2019 festival circuit lining up.  Weezer had already been confirmed as the first headliner for Bilbao BBK, now we have news that Sziget will announce their first headliner on Thursday, September 20th.  Tickets for the festival which takes place next August will go on sale on October 1st.

Sziget is rapidly becoming established as one of the go to festivals on the European circuit, with increased numbers of UK and Irish  visiting one festival goers visiting one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, Budapest.  The festival takes place over seven days, has over 1,000 acts and is located on an island on the middle of the Danube.  What’s not to love. Last years headliners included, Kendrick Lamar, Arctic Monkeys and Gorillaz.  Lana del Ray, Interpol,  Kasabian, Mumford and Dua Lipa were also part of the line up.

Seriously, cities don’t get much more beautiful than the capital of Hungary.  If you are looking for a change of scenery, this could be worth keeping an eye on.

So many more heroes.

Is it a festival, is it a showcase, does it really matter?  Dublin’s ‘Hard Working Class Heroes’ has been a staple on the Irish music scene for the last 15 years.  The much loved event returns to the city on September 28 & 29.  HWCH gives up and coming  bands a chance to play to punters and assembled industry types.  It gives punters a chance to catch a load of top quality acts for very little cash.  In addition to the music, there is also a series of workshops where industry experts dispense their wisdom.

Music wise, this year’s instalment is split between The Workmans, Grand Social, Doyles, Yamamori Tengu and Tramline.  The Conference element is in The Chocolae Factory.  Among the acts playing are Pillow Queens, Woodburning Savages, Laoise, AE Mak and Bad Bones, all of whom performed at the recent Electric Picnic.

With 50 bands performing over two days, a music only pass for the event is €35.  Whopper Value!

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https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/hard-working-class-heroes-2018-tickets-48066392875#tickets