Spraoi happenings!

dlofnep

No threads on The Spraoi? Suppose we could post a list of what's happening and how everybody finds the festival this year.

Couple of bands playing today. Tomorrow at 3PM there is going to be a group of breakdancers from the US by the Cathedral. Should be a good craic.

Bring it on!

Xyo

am i the only one that hates spraoi.. the town is full of scum waiting to pick on the first girl or small guy the see.. sickens me.

dlofnep

At night it can be a bit hectic.. But during the day til late evening it's a good craic. Good music, etc..

pommers

Its a great weekend!!

Not The Real Scarecrow

ya aint the only one that hates the weekend.Totally agree with you, the town gets over run with scum and idiots.I generally avoid the town for the whole weekend because of this.I also hate street performers, they should all be set on fire and pissed on and then repeat cycle until it gets boring.I also detest most of the bland middle of the road world music thats put on under the guise as good music.Although I don't fault anyone for liking it and I do appreciate all the hard work that goes into it,but its just not my thing...therefore I stay away.

Fajitas!

Tonight was quite good.

I was on the Plaza until about half 9, then over to the Courthouse - Went up to Down's with intention of going to the Forum, but left early - Was out on the hooch til the early hours this morning.

Looking forward to the new 'parade' too.

floyd333

Xyo wrote: »

am i the only one that hates spraoi.. the town is full of scum waiting to pick on the first girl or small guy the see.. sickens me.

The town does get a bit rough. A lot of scum about, but It's generally a good weekend.

Fajitas! wrote: »

Tonight was quite good.


Looking forward to the new 'parade' too.

Whats this new parade business????:)

daftdave

Meatwad wrote: »

ya aint the only one that hates the weekend.Totally agree with you, the town gets over run with scum and idiots.I generally avoid the town for the whole weekend because of this.I also hate street performers, they should all be set on fire and pissed on and then repeat cycle until it gets boring.I also detest most of the bland middle of the road world music thats put on under the guise as good music.Although I don't fault anyone for liking it and I do appreciate all the hard work that goes into it,but its just not my thing...therefore I stay away.

"people should be set on fire for trying to entertain others??".....??.....your a sad sad person,
imgine if you went out and enjoyed yourself, you might just set yourself on fire with excitenemt ! ...... IDIOT

RxQueen

daftdave wrote: »

"people should be set on fire for trying to entertain others??".....??.....your a sad sad person,
imgine if you went out and enjoyed yourself, you might just set yourself on fire with excitenemt ! ...... IDIOT

I think it was just a bit of a rant, not serious!


I like the spraoi, shame im working today though

Fajitas!

floyd333 wrote: »

Whats this new parade business????:)

Rather than all the acts moving down through the Quays, there'll be 5 stages (ports) that they'll all go up to and do their thing on. There's gonna be a ship then that moves from stage to stage with more music, et al.

daftdave wrote: »

"people should be set on fire for trying to entertain others??".....??.....your a sad sad person,
imgine if you went out and enjoyed yourself, you might just set yourself on fire with excitenemt ! ...... IDIOT

Keep the personal abuse to yourself mate, and ignore the naysayers.

Fajitas!

Anyone heading in tonight?

I'll be down the Plaza again for most of it - Be sure to check out Gorbachov, are a class act

Stokolan

Probably going to head down to the court house for the hydro thingy. then head somewhere for a few drinks.

Whats was the parking like down by the court house last night anyone know? Probably going to head close that way about 9ish

Fajitas!

Park up by St. Declans if you're going in early, otherwise, taxi ftw!

Stokolan

Was thinking that myself.

Sully

Fajitas! wrote: »

Park up by St. Declans if you're going in early, otherwise, taxi ftw!

Where is St. Declans? Ill be heading in myself..

Mossy Monk

daftdave wrote: »

"people should be set on fire for trying to entertain others??".....??.....your a sad sad person,
imgine if you went out and enjoyed yourself, you might just set yourself on fire with excitenemt ! ...... IDIOT

You can call people idiots now?

Sully

Mossy Monk wrote: »

You can call people idiots now?

No, but it was decided to give him a warning. The call was made by Fajitas!, so if you have any issue with it PM him so we can keep on topic here

blue-army

Sully wrote: »

Where is St. Declans? Ill be heading in myself..

St. Declans primary school....opposite the side entrance of De La Salle by the park...

Not The Real Scarecrow

daftdave wrote: »

"people should be set on fire for trying to entertain others??".....??.....your a sad sad person,
imgine if you went out and enjoyed yourself, you might just set yourself on fire with excitenemt ! ...... IDIOT

So what kind of street performer are you , a juggler or a busker?
Get a sense of humour dude and if ya don't share the same as other people don't go around abusing them, I didn't abuse you nor did I obviously mean any offence to anyone.
Oh and by the way,as I have seen in previous posts by you at least I'm not attacking the travelling community or another minority.
AS I said in my post, the majority of what goes on is not my cup of tea, however that does not mean I do not appreciate the hard work that goes into the event or the work the acts do.End of.
at least its good to see that others aren't as childish or ignorant to attack me for having a personal preference.I am also suprised to see that the same person that complained on previous posts for being censored and warned for voicing his personal opinion has been the one to call me an idiot for doing the same thing.

daftdave

Meatwad wrote: »

So what kind of street performer are you , a juggler or a busker?
Get a sense of humour dude and if ya don't share the same as other people don't go around abusing them, I didn't abuse you nor did I obviously mean any offence to anyone.
Oh and by the way,as I have seen in previous posts by you at least I'm not attacking the travelling community or another minority.
AS I said in my post, the majority of what goes on is not my cup of tea, however that does not mean I do not appreciate the hard work that goes into the event or the work the acts do.End of.
at least its good to see that others aren't as childish or ignorant to attack me for having a personal preference.I am also suprised to see that the same person that complained on previous posts for being censored and warned for voicing his personal opinion has been the one to call me an idiot for doing the same thing.

you didnt mean an offence to anyone :eek:

you said street entertainers should set themselves on fire ????
you must be quite bored to be trawling back through my posts !!!!

Sully

Grow up the two of ye and get back on topic. ffs.

lilmissprincess

Caught these earlier today when I was stwearding. By far the best act I've seen all weekend, for audience participation especially.
Not sure if they're performing tomorrow, but if anyone else has seen em, what did ya think?

Fajitas!

Merging this together so we don't have 230 threads on Spraoi

ROCKMAN

sorry

Cabaal

ROCKMAN wrote: »

sorry

Fireworks are tonight as the spraoi runs from Friday to Sunday,

ROCKMAN

Cabaal wrote: »

Fireworks are tonight as the spraoi runs from Friday to Sunday,

THANKS

just got mad thought in my head that it could be Monday for some strange reason. (too many pints over the last two days maybe )

paddy1mac

Just back from the parade after going with my 10 year old. I dont want to knock the Spraoi as it is a brilliant event and never fails to deliver but i think this years parade was bit of a let down. Going by the reaction of my own lad and the people around me it seemed to go over peoples heads a little. Also the fixed podiums didnt seem to have the desired effect in that unless you were near you could'nt really see what was going on. Like there was 50k people at least on the quay and it was all over in an instant.

Another quibble I have is that when the shows are on it is very difficult to see what is actually happening unless you are near the front given that the audiences seeme to be bigger this year they could have been stewarded more forcefully in getting people to spread out or sit down.

One other thing was the attitude of some people with regard to leaving kids at the the front to see. I was at the USA Streetdancers in Cathedral Square today and a child was trying to make his way to the front and a few of us asked a grown up in a red jacket to let him through and he said no - couldnt believe it.

But as i said i dont want to knock what is after all a free event and a great boost to the city.

Sully

Agreeing with paddy1mac, felt that parade was a major let down. I think Sparoi is a great idea, and brings massive benefits to the city. As my first time to Spraoi, I was bored of my trolley.

- The fixed podiums were pointless. Mimes stripping with stupid background music and drums we couldnt hear! I felt sorry for those waving the plastic sheet around. The guards were clearly bored, one of them was texting for most of it.

- Far to crowded and very dangerous. One of the girls fainted and found it hard to battle through the crowd to get medical attention - plus, there was no open space for her to feel less crowded around.

- Parade was boring, but the boat was interesting and very well designed. Took far to long to reach the clock tower, but apparently that happens every year. I prefered St. Paddys Day parade.

- Iv never really seen any firework displays before, but found this interesting. Others didnt like it tho.

drunkmonkey

Sully wrote: »

felt that parade was a major let down

- The fixed podiums were pointless.

- Far to crowded and very dangerous.

- Parade was boring.

I bet your nickname is happy:D

Sully

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I bet your nickname is happy:D

Listen, just because you got a bollixing on another forum because I moved your stupid posts from here to there does not give you the right to troll me. Either contribute or go away. Take that as a warning.

Roen

Sully wrote: »

Agreeing with Roen, felt that parade was a major let down.

I was at home

Queen-Mise

I have to agree with 2 of the previous posters. the Spraoi parade was an absolute farce.

There was far to too many people for only one half of the quay to be open. The stages were a terrible idea: we couldn't get within 50 meters either side of a stage - we couldn't have either, how would you entertain a 2 1/2 year old for an hour or longer in a packed crowd.

We were standing at the barriers up near the hotel near the bridge for 25 minutes by the barrier and then we found out the parade wouldn't come up to us.:mad:

I have been at the Spraoi 3 or 4 times in recent years - last night was a awful.

On a different note was there a phenomenal large amount of drunk people & people drinking on the street last night - to me there seemed to be a lot.

deisemum

My husband and boys enjoyed most of this year's Spraoi and were looking forward to what's normally the highlight of the weekend, the parade but they were so disappointed and thought it was the worst Spraoi parade to date and not a patch on previous years.

They enjoyed the fireworks but wouldn't waste their time going to future parades going on how poor last night's one was.

Stokolan

I'm glad I stayed at home now. I had an idea the stages wouldn't work out.

Cabaal

Didn#'t see the parade at all but was well impressed by it in previous years, they have honestly done a fantastic job but have heard very little positive comments about this years....why did the change the format this year?

Sully

Roen wrote: »

I was at home

I could of sworn your name was on paddy1mac's post

Aquos76

Ok, my views on Spraoi 08, Friday night was very enjoyable, topped of by hydromania, which was something very different, but built up to be better than what it actually was. We were lead to believe that everybody would be blown away with this spectacle and were also warned to wear waterproof clothing as we would all get a soaking. This was a totally exaggeration. However the light and water show did work well together. The drummers at the start were very good too.

Saturday, the highlight of the weekend for me. There was just such a good atmosphere around the whole city centre. Some excellent bands and kids entertainers on display. My favourite band were Jason Isaacs and the Dave Connolly big band on the Aol stage Saturday night. They were excellent.

Sunday, to be honest, I didn't head in during the day, as there was a down pour just as we were about to go in so we left it as we would have only been going in for a few hours and then home before going back in for the parade. Its hard to keep a 7 and a 5 year old occupied in town for that length of time.

We headed into to the parade at 8ish and got a decent enough spot outside the Centra on the quay. The parade was suppose to start at 9.30 however it was closer to 10.30 before it got up to where we way. I was really disappointed with the parade if I am been totally honest. I really could not see the purpose of the stages. There was some sort of fire works attached to these stages but the major flaw with this was that when the fireworks went off on our stage, the main firework display had just begun. I have been to all previous parades and this has by far been the weakest one. I was really impressed with the ship, hugh amount of effort went into creating that. On that creation, Spraoi staff take a bow. The fireworks were pretty much what we have been treated to in the past and were very enjoyable as always.

In relation to the comment made previous

On a different note was there a phenomenal large amount of drunk people & people drinking on the street last night - to me there seemed to be a lot.

I would have to 100% agree with you on that. I thought the amount of underage drinking that was going on was atrocious. As I said previously, I was outside Centra on the quay, and at one state the Guards had to call reinforcements to stand outside and check for ID of people coming out with cans. The guards actually confiscated dozens and dozens of cans from underage teenagers. I hope that Centra are prosecuted for this. The guards went in there on numerous occasions to caution staff about it. Mind you, the amount of adults with young kids in their care drinking 6 packs on the streets was really noticeable too.

Overall, I enjoyed the weekend and the weather held up for all involved except for a few heavy showers on Sunday evening. The parade was a let down and hopefully with all the negative reviews about the parade, the organisers will hopefully revert to the parade of previous years. I hope I dint sound ungrateful, I am just saying it as I say it.

Well done Spraoi and to all the volunteers for all the hard work that was put in to make this weekend so successful.

paddy1mac

Totally agree with everyone on here with their comments on the drinking in public - i thought there was going to be zero tolerance on this - ok would have been hard to achieve - but i parked in the TescoPoleberry carpark and couldn't believe what i witnessed. At the entrance of the store where the revolving doors are (now the store had closed at this stage) were about 15 - 20 no. 14 - 15 year olds absolutely smashed- one girl was crashed out on the ground, another lad was crashed out up against the wall and the rest of them were causing mayhem.

I saw a lot of adults mixing up their drinks elsewhere i.e. vodka being poured into coke bottles etc in view of the Gardai who turned a blind eye.

The only place i saw it being policed properly was on the plaza where there was a large amount of undercover cops and they were also stopping people going onto the plaza with drink but they were allowed finish them off outside - isnt this illegal?

Dont get me wrong i enjoy a good session myself - but in the right environment and not in view of kids etc

There also seemed to be a lot of activity in the courthouse last night does anyone have anything on this. They would hardly have special courts set up for public order offences or was it related to the "fued"

Cassle

Anyone know what happened in Ruby's last night? Some huge brawl or something. My sister came home with blood all up her arms apparently. Haven't seen her so don't know the details. Some girl was thrown across the room by some guy. Like 4 or 5 people taken to casualty???

Roen

Drinking on the street kind of pales compared to two lads doing lines off the bonnet of a car just off the quay in a street crowded with families on the way to the parade.
Not that excessive boozing is to be condoned at all.

alpha2zulu

Its gas to read all the negative comments regarding the parade on here compared with what I was hearing on 'billy am' on WLR this morning. To put it mildly they were putting something of a positive spin on the parade. In a package of about 10 short interviews with people at the parade, only 1 of the interviewees experessed any disappointment with it.....while everybody else I've talked to today seemed to be a bit miffed by the whole setup last night.

ChapOfDRyans

Cabaal wrote: »

Didn#'t see the parade at all but was well impressed by it in previous years, they have honestly done a fantastic job but have heard very little positive comments about this years....why did the change the format this year?

Trying something new was the main idea. The stages were meant to be docks and the people were building ships which it didnt work to well.

The reason the parade was because we got caught on a pole and as the ship is so big it was hard to move

Typhoon.

Ah stop complaining about the parade they put a huge effort into it and it was free entertainment. they cant get everything perfect

those complaining on billy this morning are prob the ones that didnt even donate anything to sproai. Next year they should sit at home and give us all a break from listening to em moanin!

as for the underage drinking.....the cops shoulld be doin something about that

I thought it was a fantastic weekend

kudos spraoi

Aquos76

Typhoon. wrote: »

Ah stop complaining about the parade they put a huge effort into it and it was free entertainment. they cant get everything perfect

those complaining on billy this morning are prob the ones that didnt even donate anything to sproai. Next year they should sit at home and give us all a break from listening to em moanin!

as for the underage drinking.....the cops shoulld be doin something about that

I thought it was a fantastic weekend

kudos spraoi

No one is disputing that it was a fantastic weekend. I just felt that compared to previous years (in relation to the parade only) the new idea for the parade did not work. Yes there was an amazing effort put in by all concerned, its just that we have been spoilt by all the guys and girls of sproai in the past and I guess they have their work cut out year after year trying to better themselves. The idea of the stages was probably a great idea in theory, but it was lost by the thousands of kids who lined the streets. I am guessing that they are a very large part of the targeted audience.

With regards to any other problems like the drinking, Spraoi can not be held in any way responsible for this.

Sully

Typhoon. wrote: »

Ah stop complaining about the parade they put a huge effort into it and it was free entertainment. they cant get everything perfect

those complaining on billy this morning are prob the ones that didnt even donate anything to sproai. Next year they should sit at home and give us all a break from listening to em moanin!

as for the underage drinking.....the cops shoulld be doin something about that

I thought it was a fantastic weekend

kudos spraoi

To be fair, people wont come to a festival if its ****e. There putting **** loads of money into a festival and I think they want our feedback. Nobody is denying the hard work and effort they put in - there simply giving their opinion on the night.

Underage drinking is up to the Guards, which I saw very little of (in the crowd).

flonge

Does anyone know what happened last nite?
There was more gards den usual around?

Aquos76

flonge wrote: »

Does anyone know what happened last nite?
There was more gards den usual around?

Might have something to do with the fact that there were over 50,000 people on the streets of the city.

Sully

Aquos76 wrote: »

Might have something to do with the fact that there were over 50,000 people on the streets of the city.

Aye, and the fact it was confined to one area. Crowd control needed there!

Good night tho - atmosphere wise.

Not The Real Scarecrow

alpha2zulu wrote: »

Its gas to read all the negative comments regarding the parade on here compared with what I was hearing on 'billy am' on WLR this morning. To put it mildly they were putting something of a positive spin on the parade. In a package of about 10 short interviews with people at the parade, only 1 of the interviewees experessed any disappointment with it.....while everybody else I've talked to today seemed to be a bit miffed by the whole setup last night.

Reason being,WlR are sponsors so they won't broadcast anything negative about the weekend.Similar to what goes on in most of Ireland.
Even on a normal weekend of assault and stabbings and god knows what WlR only reports a very small amount of the **** that happens in this town because it would be bad for tourism....I'd imagine.

bythewoods

Thought Cathy Davey was excellent on Friday night!
Anyone else in Electric Avenue? Love that place, always has a great athmosphere. The €21 for a ticket was a bit sh!t, but overall? Worth it.

Floyd Soul and the Wolf played in EA- nothing quite like a bit'a local talent.

As for underagers out on the knack- jeus they were everywhere! The amount of shiny, neon tracksuits was blinding.. even at night.
I was approached by a few to go alcohol purchasing on their behalf! if they weren't utter skangers I'd have helped them out. But alas..

ChapOfDRyans

Meatwad wrote: »

Reason being,WlR are sponsors so they won't broadcast anything negative about the weekend.Similar to what goes on in most of Ireland.
Even on a normal weekend of assault and stabbings and god knows what WlR only reports a very small amount of the **** that happens in this town because it would be bad for tourism....I'd imagine.

Its not like that at all regarding the Spraoi part,they provide them with advertisment and promotion but they wont hide any problems people had or didnt with the parade