Castlepalooza '08

Toast

Well it looks like the major complaint about Castlepalooza last year has been addressed with a staggering price drop. Announcement was made via myspace that Early Bird tickets are going to be €55.50 for a "limited time" from this Friday for the festival which is happening 2nd & 3rd August. Last year they were €100 for a couple of weeks before being put up to €125.

I went back in 06 for cheap (tix where 85 but I got a deal on two for 50 the week before) and it turned out to be one of the better festivals of that year. Quiet, excellent facilities and some surprisingly good performances from lots of small Irish bands. Not at all hurt by the excellent weather.

Last year I paid the early bird rate of 100euro and felt that the festival failed to deliver on the promise of the previous year. Some issues I had were the sudden introduction of Heineken as a drinks sponsor which replaced Krombacher, Budvar and Kopparberg from the previous year. A no bringing booze into the campsite rule which is unheard of anywhere else. A lineup that had a lot of rehash from the previous year and didnt feel like it was fair for the money charged. It was also hurt by rather ****ty weather.

However it still had that certain charm from 2006 to it that its impossible to find in larger festivals and Id be willing to give them another chance if they listened to some of the issues that I and others had with last year. The price drop certainly is a positive step in that direction.

catch--22

I went in 2006 with a group of about 10. Went back last year with a group of about 25. We'll all be back this year and we'll all be bringing more friends!! This is a great little festival!

Ticket bought!

Mantel

Toast wrote: »

Some issues I had were the sudden introduction of Heineken as a drinks sponsor which replaced Krombacher, Budvar and Kopparberg from the previous year.

I've heard that should be changing this year, no idea what's replacing Heino though. I was quiet disappointed when I seen the bar I don't think there was any cider on tap either! Hopefully they'll have proper stuff this year

Spider_Baby

Any line-up announced yet?

Toast

can almost guarantee Spring Break considering cherry cool wheel them out for pretty much every event they promote.

catch--22

Toast wrote: »

can almost guarantee Spring Break considering cherry cool wheel them out for pretty much every event they promote.

And that is a great thing btw!

Love to see Fight Like Apes, Ham Sambos, Redneck Manifesto, + Jimmy Cake. Also some nice overseas acts such as Man Man etc.

Toast

Hopefully they get a good lineup this year. Free Indiependence in Cork really stuck it to them last year what with a totally free lineup with far better selection of bands. They say they are going to have more international acts this year. Id actually prefer if they stuck to getting more irish acts and got a good selection of smaller bands than one big headline name but I guess I'll wait and see what they pull out of the hat.

catch--22

I still find the atmosphere and venue are the main selling points of this festival. The line up is an added bonus....so unless it's really bad I'm not going to be disapointed! A nice varity would be nice...and the last two years have had that!

Denalihighway

great little festival, hopefully not too many repeats this year - lot of same bands from 06 played 07. They needed to drop tkt price big time and sort out drink in campsite/drinks promo issues, it was all v authoritarian last year but still had a great time once i got over that. Agree with Catch-22, music is a bonus at something like this, hasnt been bad at all though. You just can't expect a load of high-profile overseas acts given what small budget they probably have

catch--22

Denalihighway wrote: »

You just can't expect a load of high-profile overseas acts given what small budget they probably have

True. It is great to see such a dramatic drop in ticket prices this year for the early birds at least. Every year people talk about what changes they would like to see in their favorite festivals and it's nice to see one of them being addressed! If they sort out the drink situation it would be brilliant as well.

Has anyone got a list of the line-up from last year? Their site doesn't have it posted anymore!

catch--22

catch--22 wrote: »

Has anyone got a list of the line-up from last year? Their site doesn't have it posted anymore!

Hang on....found it muse.ie:

Sister Sledge*
Neosupervital
The Chapters
Mainline
Star Little Thing*
The Gorgeous Colours*
The Chakras
Red Kid*
The Spikes
Fight Like Apes*
Sickboy*
Gavin Glass
Royseven
Angel Pier
Spring Break*
Daves Radio
The Loafing Heroes
The Aftermath
The Ok's
Corsairs
Moebius
The Ministry
Martin Staunton Band
Prison Love
Marian Bradfield
Frightened Rabbit
Kinetics*

*All brilliant last year! The rest of them are a happy blur!

iamnothim

you left out Robotnik... how could you!

catch--22

iamnothim wrote: »

you left out Robotnik... how could you!

I took the list from Muse.ie....so they left it out. And as I mentioned....a lot of that weekend was blur!

great pic btw!

fluke

They organisers should make it a good strong Irish line up, promote it on it's Irishness, consider the following Irish acts:

Cathy Davey
Gemma Hayes
Ham Sandwich
Juno Falls
La Rocca
Large Mound
Super Extra Bonus Party
The Coronas
We Should Be Dead

Also:
It would be a good idea to get a couple of decent international big names, nothing huge but say if they get a solo player from a band to do an acoustic set, that would be unique and special. Play to the strengths of their unique settings.

arse..biscuits

Toast wrote: »

A no bringing booze into the campsite rule which is unheard of anywhere else.

Is this still the case? I just read the rules and it doesn't mention it...

Spunge

is there any electronic type music?

catch--22

arse..biscuits wrote: »

Is this still the case? I just read the rules and it doesn't mention it...

The've had that the last 2 years...enforced it last year but not the year before. Their reason is that the whole place is so small....the campsite is part of the festival as in it's not closed off etc, and they have drink sponcers to keep happy.

I seriously hope they would allow drink into the campsite this year and close it off to the main section of the festival....ie put up a barrier beside where the toilets were to stop people bringing it around to the front of the castle so people would use the bars around there. Also if they got in a good selection of beers in the bars people would be more inclined to use them!

Great festival all the same!

Toast

Last year they searched rucksacks as they came in but there were ways of getting around it with creative packing. No word what the story is this year but I suspect that it will be enforced to some degree but with a little bit of cop on you could probably get stuff in as long as you dont arrive with a slab or 2.

AMYCare

As the place doesn't have a drink licence, they have to get a temp. one from a local landlord... In last year's case he was somewhat... sharper than expected, but this year should be taken care of... Should be flippin' brilliant, can't wait!

polarexpress

06 was epic!
Delorentos, Blizzards and the Loose banging the tunes out.
07 was such a drunken state but equally immense!!SPRINGBREAK!
Tickets maybe a bit pricey but its a young festival and im sure it was experimental. 55 squids this year?!?!? Could u get a better deal?!?!
maybe 70 with 12 months free subs to HOTPRESS?!? sounds good if u ask me.
Line up this year shows the return of the republic of loose however this time itll be behind the decks in their funky dj set! The Flaws!!!!
Gonna be such a laugh.
Lets bring in some new Tshirts btw!!! got the white one, and although ashamed the pink also (drunken mess). but this year hope they mix it up.
AND BRING BACK THE BUS!!!! EPIC singalongs.

Roll on Castlepalooza '08!

catch--22

Can't believe this is on this weekend! Summer has flown by! Really looking forward to it now. Anyone know what time gates open on Sat?

Mantel

catch--22 wrote: »

Can't believe this is on this weekend! Summer has flown by! Really looking forward to it now. Anyone know what time gates open on Sat?

I can't remember last year, 12 I think. The ticketmaster site says doors at 12. Are they opening it for camping on friday at all?

Toast

Its midday Saturday. Nothing about Friday opening. Id very much doubt it. Its an extremely small affair and most people dont arrive until later in the day on the Saturday anyway.

Anyword on booze in the campsite? We are obviously arriving fully stocked regardless especially with the new licensing laws meaning the after bar off license they had last year will have to be closed at 10 as well.

catch--22

Toast wrote: »

Its midday Saturday. Nothing about Friday opening. Id very much doubt it. Its an extremely small affair and most people dont arrive until later in the day on the Saturday anyway.

Anyword on booze in the campsite? We are obviously arriving fully stocked regardless especially with the new licensing laws meaning the after bar off license they had last year will have to be closed at 10 as well.

Yeah, really hope they sort that out. Wouldn't be too hard to close of the campsite (where the toilet block at the castle meet) and would really make the weekend perfect!

MikeHoncho

Anyone tried getting in touch with the promoters about the bringing in your own drink issue? I would but eh well im too lazy really.

n.catenthusiast

just sending an email nowto them now about the drink issue-will keep you posted....

MikeHoncho

n.catenthusiast wrote: »

just sending an email nowto them now about the drink issue-will keep you posted....

Your a legend.

Toast

n.catenthusiast wrote: »

just sending an email nowto them now about the drink issue-will keep you posted....

Good work. Hope they get back to you. Would have expected a bit more communication from the promoters. Website is awful this year as well which doesnt help.

n.catenthusiast

yeah website is a bit coy about certain elements of the weekend-namely booze situation...

No response as of yet, but last time I got in touch with them (no booking confirmation) response was quick

catch--22

Good job mate!

Toast

Well a friend of mine got a response back from them saying there is no booze allowed as per the terms and conditions. Thing is though the terms and conditions link on their website is broke! I did a little digging and was able to find them eventually. The wording actually says certain things arent allowed into the Arena listing alcohol as one. I'd consider an Arena to be seperate from the campsite.

catch--22

Toast wrote: »

Well a friend of mine got a response back from them saying there is no booze allowed as per the terms and conditions. Thing is though the terms and conditions link on their website is broke! I did a little digging and was able to find them eventually. The wording actually says certain things arent allowed into the Arena listing alcohol as one. I'd consider an Arena to be seperate from the campsite.

Not good...really hoped they would have sorted this by now!

n.catenthusiast

ah that's not cool. There's rumours circulating of there being an off license and the reply I got said you culd bulk buy before 10pm
This suggests that closed containers of drink can be bought i.e. cans

Anyone from previous years know anything about this?

Also how extortionate were the prices? Extremely extortionate, or plain-old reasonably extortionate???

MikeHoncho

Its not a festival without Buckfast.:(

Toast

n.catenthusiast wrote: »

how extortionate were the prices? Extremely extortionate, or plain-old reasonably extortionate???

3 quid a can if I recall. Their "off license" only had ****ty beer as well as far as I remember.

Im annoyed with the way this has gone. We'll be arriving with drink for the campsite but concealed well enough that whoever has the unenviable job of upholding this idiotic policy wont be seen to not be doing their job.

I think its a fair comprimise if this is being put on top of the organisers from on high that if the patrons make the effort to not put them in a position where it looks like they are not making an effort to stop drink coming in that they would actually keep the searches brief enough that some drink coming in could be overlooked.

If for any reason they are going to go all out and search everything Ill definetly be making a serious stink about the alcohol ban aspect of the festival next year and not believing any of the various rumours which mysteriously appeared on this board again.

Tedious Bore

got this reply today...

Hi,
Thanks for your enquiry. No alcohol allowed into the arena which
includes the campsite. Our bars are very reasonably priced.
Please see our "info book" & "T&C's" on our homepage for further
information.

doesn't necessarily mean they won't relax this policy a little come the weekend,
but considering sneaking booze in limits you lots if it's tins you're drinking,unless you've VIP parking,you'll be making long treks for it.
says on the website that there's a shuttle bus to ferry people to the car-park.

disappointing.

Tedious Bore

forgot to mention, got a pair of tickets going cheap.....

PM me if interested.

boosh_fan

Is the line up (approx times) anywhere on the website? I can't find it.

This alcohol thing has thrown me. If you leave it in the car can you get it at night and pretend you bought it in the offlicence? Do they confiscate it if they find it on you? Sounds a bit draconian to me.

catch--22

I really don't see the harm in closing off the campsite and allowing drink in there like any other festival! Such a pity. Anyway....we'll have fun anyway!

Toast

boosh_fan wrote: »

Is the line up (approx times) anywhere on the website? I can't find it.

This alcohol thing has thrown me. If you leave it in the car can you get it at night and pretend you bought it in the offlicence? Do they confiscate it if they find it on you? Sounds a bit draconian to me.

Times arent available until you get there. Theyve a chalk board where they put them up everyday. The lineup on the website appears to be in some form of running order at the moment but no times.

Their "off licence"* is in the castle grounds... the car park is a good bit away so you cant really claim you bought it there and then decided to walk out to your car with it and came back.

If you manage to get alcohol in to the campsite I dont think they will confiscate it if they see you with it considering all the bands are able to bring in their own drink as well as friends of the organisers. Just claim someone from a band gave it to you (that Republic of Loose will come with a small warehouse worth of booze is a given so blame them!).


*they are claiming the no booze in the campsite thing is part of their licence then how can you sell booze from an OFF licence in the grounds? If you can have off licence booze in the grounds bought from them then you could have off licence booze in the grounds bought yourself. Ludicrious.**

**I hate to go on about this but if you check my posts over the last couple of years Ive been pretty supportive of this festival but that this hasnt been sorted combined with the shady way the fact was hidden this year theyre losing alot of the goodwill they built up with me.

MikeHoncho

Toast wrote: »

**I hate to go on about this but if you check my posts over the last couple of years Ive been pretty supportive of this festival but that this hasnt been sorted combined with the shady way the fact was hidden this year theyre losing alot of the goodwill they built up with me.

I think thats the key thing. If they just said it straight out it would be fine. Im sure there will be plenty of people who dont read message boards etc rocking down with trays of cans only to be turned away.

Im gonna forget about this now and just concentrate on enjoying the weekend.

catch--22

On a different note Phantom 105.2 will be broadcasting live from the festival over the weekend. I'll be on from 12pm-2pm on Saturday....we'll also have live broadcast at 5pm-7pm and Sunday at 1pm-4pm. Sinister Pete and Neil Austin I think will be covering those ones. All broadcast live from deep within the castle!!!

So if you're driving down on Saturday tune in and I'll keep you company! Get your requests in now!

Toast

I have a request... can you carry in my big bag of "broadcasting equipment". Its very fragile and cant be opened in a non clean environment. Im sure you could be compensated with some nice 12yr old "broadcasting equipment".

catch--22

Toast wrote: »

I have a request... can you carry in my big bag of "broadcasting equipment". Its very fragile and cant be opened in a non clean environment. Im sure you could be compensated with some nice 12yr old "broadcasting equipment".

lol....God loves a chancer!

Tedious Bore

would cost €200 on ticketmaster with booking fees,
Any takers?

2cracks

I JUST GOT A RESPONSE RE: ALCOHOL FROM CASTLEPALOOZA...

Tiger on draught, Bud, guinners on draught. Cans of Kopparberg & most of the usual lagers. Wine, cocktails, jagermeister etc.
You can buy in bulk before the bar closes.
Wait til you see this place...everything is so close so you have nothing to worry about!
X
CP




NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT

Toast

Thats certainly better than last years beer selection of Heineken and Coors. I guess they didnt tell you what prices the off license will be selling these things in bulk?

catch--22

Starting to sound better! Whoop!

See you all down there....and don't forget to tune into Phantom 105.2 while you're driving down from 12pm-2pm and 5pm to 7pm for live broadcasts from the castle!

MikeHoncho

Tiger on draught is excellent news. Should be a great weekend. Have a good one folks.

Tedious Bore

would cost €200 on ticketmaster with booking fees,
Any takers?

ana_conlon

I have never in my life sent a letter of complaint expect now!!

I would recommend ye all express your unhappiness at the underhanded way the festival have gone about there [FONT=&quot]alcohol policy
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