Win a VIP music prize in Dublin this weekend.

Darragh

Hi all,

Definitely one for the music fans, we have a great competition for you from the lovely folks behind http://www.discover.ie/dublin



You can win a VIP stay in Dublin this weekend, Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 August.

You and a guest will stay at the fabulous new gibson hotel for two nights, where you can enjoy breakfast each morning and dinner on an evening of your choice.



The gibson hotel is chic, understated and right in the heart of Dublin's brand new cultural hub. It captures the essence of a vibrant city with a music pedigree that runs deep! Right behind the O2 in Dublin, you'll be close enough to the city to make the most of everything it has to offer.



You will also win a double VIP pass to the Ceilí Culture concerts in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar where you'll see Kila, Paddy Casey & Friends on Saturday August 14, and double VIP passes to see Sharon Shannon, Shane McGowan, Damien Dempsey, Conor Byrne & friends on Sunday August 15.

The prize includes an exclusive pre-event champagne reception, exclusive venue entry and exclusive VIP room access!

Here's a bit more from Discover Ireland:

Dublin is as much an experience as a city. Awash with new openings, fresh sales and funky festivals, it is as much about Georgian redbricks and Caravaggio canvases as summer festival evenings and the snap-fresh food on your plate.

Enjoy the snazzy electric vibes of one of Europes top cities, or escape to scenic suburban seaside towns like Dun Laoghaire. Visit the Point Village, with its Big Wheel, live music events at the O2 and thriving Saturday market – where you’re as likely to pick up cutting-edge designer lines as a hunk of lemon drizzle loaf. Yum.



Or stimulate your cultural tastebuds at the National Art Gallery or many free museums. There’s always something happening and Dublin is now offering the best value breaks ever with hotels offering fantastic value for money deals.

Shouldn’t you answer Dublin's calling? See http://www.discoverireland.ie/dublin. The Fun Starts Here.

Supported by Fáilte Ireland.

To be in with a chance of winning, we'd like some creative answers on why you'd like to win this prize and what you love about Dublin.

The more effort you put into your answers, the higher the chance of winning!

Big thanks to Discover Ireland for the prize.


Terms and Conditions:

The competition will close on Thursday evening August 12 and the winner will be contacted by PM. It's open to all members of Boards.ie and the winner will be the post we think gives the best answer. Judge's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered in to. There is no cash alternative. The winner must be available to take the prize this weekend.

ordinary_girl

I'd like to win this prize because I'm a big music fan and the Ceili Culture concerts are showing some of the best Irish music talent in an excellent city.

What I love about Dublin is the winding streets and laneways, and how two places can be so near but completely different - like Stephen's Greeen and Aungier Street. It definitely has a bit of a bohemian air, and is big enough that you can spend hours browsing around the shops but small enough that you'll see someone you know. It's a hub of excitement on weekends, and I have yet to see a city that comes to life as swiftly as Dublin does on a Saturday night!

hidinginthebush

I'd like to win this prize because in primary school we were made do Irish dancing in infants as well as in first and second class, and being the young boys we were, none of the lads in the class was bothered with it. Fast forward 20 years to last April, and I was at a wedding of a friend of mine over in Florida, getting married to an American girl. Me and my mates all dusted off our dancing shoes and got a 50-person walls of Limerick going, totally wow-ing all the Americans with their awful music, and the fact that we have heritage over here...

So I think I should win this prize as I have bettered the international preception of Irish music and culture.

Reganio 2

I would like to win the prize as I am a big fan of Irish music and Paddy Casey is one of my favourite singers, and I love The Pogus so it would be great to see Shane McGowan although hopefully he is in better shape than the last time I seen him.

I love Dublin just for its friendliness, you will always here about the bad press but you never here about how even in the City Centre you can still say hello and its one of the friendliest places I have ever been, I was in Liverpool about a month ago and walking through the area everybody keeps their head down no one looks at each other, where as here a lot of people will simply smile and make you feel loved

Mr. Presentable

I love Dublin's sense of humour and openness.

Me? I would like, if I won, to give the prize to my Brazilian friend who is getting married on a budget, in Dublin, this week.

cocopops

I would love to win this weekend of bliss for and on behalf of all the people who like me are stuck in a variable rate mortgage that just went up in interest rates this morning! As a victim of negative equity (everybody say awwwwww )I can't afford to go on holiday this year and it's been ages since I've been up to Dublin for the weekend. This prize would put simply a smile back on my face!!!

What do I love about Dublin?

The shouting on Moore Street, the buskers on Grafton Street, shopping on Henry Street, the buzz in Temple Bar, the Great Famine sculptures on the quays, reading a book in Stephen's Green, the walkways on the Liffey, arranging to meet that special someone at the Spire, going to the Savoy cinema randomly in the afternoon, the chicken sheesh kebabs in Zaytoon on Parliament st (yummy!), the queuing outside the Gaiety Theatre, the O2 and the Grand Canal Theatre in anticipation of a wonderful show....need i go on??? Dublin has something for everyone.

dak

Cairde Discover Ireland agus Boards.ie Ba mhaith liom buíochas a bhuaigh an duais mar ta me lucht leanúna mór ceile agus is breá liom gach saghas ceoil. Ba bhreá liom freisin mo bhean chóireáil le sos tuillte go maith an deireadh seachtaine seo. I gcás ina níos fearr ná chun fanacht san óstán Gibson nua a bhfuil an comhlachas ina ainm féin - a Gibson Les Paul Giotár.

Is breá liom Bhaile Átha Cliath mar gheall ar a chultúr, a chuid daoine cairdiúil, a ambiance, an stair go bhfuil cónaí ar na sráideanna agus na foirgnimh na mór go macalla an ceol buskers agus ceoltóirí mar meander tú ag baint suilt as feadh na radharcanna.

yesno1234

I would like to win this because I absolutely love Irish music and I haven't been on holidays in the past few years and this would better any foreign holiday that I'd spend thousands on and instead I get to see great musicians and entertainers.

I love Dublin because in what other city in the world would you have famous singers come out and busk for charity on the streets like what happened last christmas it shows how unique a city it is.

littleoulme

I love Dublin, because it's the place that I was born, reared and will live forever. You can't beat the people, the hussle and bussle of the town, the Phoneix Park, The deers, the history behind it. I got married 5 years ago this week in my wonderful home town when people were all going to other counties and countries to get married, but this "durty oul town" is mine and I'm proud of it. Proud that you can get from here to there and everywhere and even take a walk down Raglan Road, whilst on your way to the Red Rose Cafe.

I'd love to experience a weekend in Dublin in a hotel enjoying the fruits of the our wonderful musicans on my 5th Wedding Anniversary.

Pyongyang

I arrived in Ireland, to live and work here, less than a month ago. You call yourselves Discover Ireland so let me discover Dublin!

gjc

I would like to win so that I could discover the city with its vibrant soul, adding ceili music and guinness for that sham rock'n'roll!!

coolegrain

I would love to win because i never win anything...siltch, nothing...i think kila are maybe one of the greatest bands in the world ever...and it would make me extremely happy if i won this...look at the wealth of irish talent on display that weekend, a superb event by any standard.
I would thank you, so would my kids, my family, my dog, and future ancestors...we would all be so grateful for this wonderful gift...i would document it for all our future generations to see....my great great grandson or granddaughter will log on to boards in 2110 and speak fondly of this day a hundred year ago...it would become part of our folklore and family history - the only time we ever won something !!...this is your chance, boards and discoverireland.ie, to be part of that special moment in our familys history forever !!
..and myself and the missus had our 10th wedding anniversary on 28th july {not trying to copy the poster who was five years married} and i couldnt afford to take her anywhere nice...this is it...this is what would make her the happiest woman in all of ire...well, in all of our house anyway......her mother even said to me - "i'll never forget the look of disappointment on her wee face...i hope you're proud of yourself.."...she's helpful like that my mother-in-law.

I love Dublin because it is the capital of the greatest country in the world..people come from all the way around the world to see Dublin, the city that is spoke of with wonder and awe across the globe...and it's in my country...i'm luckier than i think...
Cobblestone streets, friendly bars, warm and welcoming cafés, art galleries and architectural splendour...guinness, never forget the guinness !!...great people, good craic - the best, and as we see above, the best music...the buzz of the city by night...the beauty of it by day...as Noel Purcell once sang - "For Dublin can be heaven..with coffee at eleven..."
They even named a 'Dublin' in California after it - it's that good !!


phew...that's it..i'm spent...i'm going to ring granny now to say a decade of the rosary for me...that always helps...

Hank_Jones

I would like to win this so I can give it to my parents.
They don't get out much, so it would be great for them to be able to go somewhere without having worry about paying for tickets and then to not have to worry about cleaning up after a night out.

What I love about Dublin is one of the things I love about Ireland as a country.
It's the openness of the people, with the vast majority of people being kind and helpful.
I think there is far more of a humanity factor than there is in other cities around the world.
Nice to know that with all the money that has been pumped into the country there are still many good people in the city.
I know that if I'm looking for somewhere, I should have no qualms about asking a stranger on the street and if they know, they will gladly help.
It's a great city because of the people in it.

The Big Red Button

I would love to win this prize because, when I was in the Gaelteacht in Connemara about ten years ago, Kila used to be played all the time at the Ceilis and I absolutely loved their uniqueness and variety of instruments ... I've heard very little of them over the years, and I would love to see how their music has developed over the past decade! Also, I have heard amazing things about the Gibson Hotel, I want to see whether it's as fabulous as I heard. And finally, I want to win because, although I enter every competition going, so far the only prize I've ever won in my life was a 1000 piece jigsaw in a raffle when I was fourteen, and it turned out that several pieces were missing from that. Feel sorry for me?

As a culchie who recently moved up here, what I love about Dublin is people-watching. You get such a wide variety of characters, it's so entertaining just going for a wander round the streets and seeing who's around, you get to see such a huge cross-section of society and it's amusing and sad and lovely all at the same time.

I love that, while Dubliners moan plenty about the place themselves, they get so defensive if any non-Dubs dare say a word against the "town." :P And you know that, despite any bitchin they do, most of them wouldn't dream of living anywhere else.

I love that, while you get a sense of that great "Irish hospitality", it's big enough to allow you anonymity too. As a city, it's just big enough, without being overwhelming. If you've a day with nothing to do, it's easy to get nicely lost, but easy to find your way home again when you want to.

I'm a total homebird and have always hated living away from home before ... I moved up to the big shmoke a few months ago for work, absolutely terrified and totally alone. I love my life here now and can't stop raving to everyone back home about how great Dublin is, in fact I have since persuaded three of my friends to move up here too! And that's despite being mugged by junkies twice in six months - even that wasn't enough to put me off the place! Since I'm doing such a great job of promoting Dublin to the rest of the country, I reckon that it's only fair that this prize should be my reward! :P

alanajane

Why would I like to win??? Cause I can't even win an argument and I'd love to go, you can't beat a good chat with a rail Dub!!

landsleaving

I'd like to win this prize because as a broke student, I spend an obscene amount of time aimlessly wandering the cobbles of temple bar and beyond, taking in the culture and art of the city, whether it be a gallery, a busker or just a stroll. Just today I was sitting in Meeting House Square and listening to some music in Temple Bar. I do this on a budget of my bus fare in and back home, so it'd be great to be able to fully enjoy the city, with some proper Irish music (and Paddy Casey) and a place to stay with my girlfriend, who usually accompanies me on my budget travels from the opposite side of the city.

It's great to be able to enjoy all the free entertainment the city offers, but between studying and being out of work, I rarely get a chance to get out after dark, and I know I'm missing so much of what Dublin has to offer, it would be fantastic to get a little taste of that.

Uncle Buck

Why do I want to win? Just to win something... it sure has been a while. Much like the previous poster, I can't even win an arguement.

What do I like about Dublin? How people say 'Howaya!".

claudiaaims

I like Dublin so much I bought the company.




Yours




Victor NAMA

deelite

I'd love to win this competition as me and my hubby need a break from our kids - the last time we were away on our own was 11 years ago - and that's not a joke.

What I love about Dublin - has to be the people.

alan85

What do you think of when you think of Dublin? Traffic, lots of people, business and industry? But the flip side of what is a very busy European capital is the culture, nature(yes! nature...), stunning views and sheer zest that the inhabitants seem to always have no matter what happens in the city.

There's so much that's understated about Dublin. Bull Island, The Hell Fire Club and it's views of the city, Howth and it's freshest of fish and the Phoenix Park and it's deer. I remember watching GMTV one morning and they did an article on Dublin. The presenter was surprised Dublin was on the sea coast! We don't realise how lucky we are naturewise....

Don't even get me started on culture. Ireland has come a long way in the last 15 years and Dublin is the epicentre of all that goes on. If you're coming from South America to work out west you'll probably pass through Dublin. And all those people that come to Ireland for whatever reason leave a little bit of themselves in Dublin, making it our cultural capital. We celebrate world cultures, our own culture and even mangle the two together. It's amazing what results you get!

What do you need to refresh the spirits? A laugh! Dubliners have to be the funniest people you're going to meet of any capital city. They're cheeky, blunt and caring in one. They'll surprise you, scare you and feel you leaving at home in the one go. Whatever encounter you have with them, one thing's for sure; you'll feel like you have encountered something new.

So, next time you're in Dublin take a bus or D.A.R.T. to somewhere you've never been. Have a walk around and discover the hidden gems in our city!

I'd love to win this prize to treat my girlfriend to a special weekend in Dublin and show her around. I love taking time out and exploring some more of the city. I would certainly make the most of this wonderful prize!

áth mór!

rameire

i would love to win this competition for my wife.

my wife has given birth to our new beautiful daughter 8 days ago, as of yet we have not had a chace to get out and relax by ourselves as we have had family and friends visiting us constantly, and there will be more next week, this competition would be the best thing for my wife as it would mean a relaxing break well needed.

what i like about Dublin - its compact and easy to access everywhere

Appleguy

I really like Paddy Casey and would love to hear Sharon Shannon live. I would love to go to the gig this weekend.

The reason i'd like to go to the gig is to see the acts i like in true VIP style.

The second reason would be to give two homeless people two nights off the streets of Dublin and a good feed.

geraldino

Love the colour, the clamour, the rich cultural ambience - it's all there. I find it so stimulating - the exhibitions, galleries, food choices, lively pubs, quays, canals etc - and yet can hop on the Dart for charming seaside villages, Martello towers and serenity.

Even to sit on the bus and absorb the dublin wit and friendliness and take in the beauty of the leafy suburbs and georgian houses.

I even had myself photographed with Seamus Heaney and Liam Og O'Flynn who were strolling behind me - made me feel like a real VIP.

This midland girl longs to get the whole VIP treatment in our exciting capital and who knows who I would bump into!

wildlifeman

Why would I like to win?? I love this Dirty old town anf if you dont give me the tickets I'll beat the **** out of you!:P

the third twin

Queen of procrastination, I-wish-I-wish to be treated like a VIP this week-end! 'Hell catching up with college assignments!
Again it's party time in Temple Bar! I've sold my soul to Kilà many moons ago and have wandered endlessly in Dublin to the sound of Paddy Casey's voice... could I be more ready to witness that intriguing stage at Meeting house square filling up with such a gang of hot musicians? I promess to dance the nights away at the Ceili Culture concerts
... and after having had a few days ago a taste of a delicious coffee at the Gibon hotel, I would be completely taken back by staying there for two nights... and who knows, maybe even have a high flying spin on that wheel of fortune over the city of Dublin by night!
A celtic music buzz not to be missed!

kerash

I'd love to win this prize so I can bring my mam to city for a well deserved break.
I love Dublin because there are so many things to do, see and visit.

BlueDragon

I'd love to win this prize because I'm a big music fan and would love to see some of the best Irish music talent in our nations capitol

What I love about Dublin is that it is so full of live and activity. Whenever you come here weekend or weekday, night or day -it's allways full of people. There are more sights for everybody and many locations to spend the evenings. Just perfect!

hootietootie

I'd love to win this prize and let my hair down for a night in the big schmoke. Being from the sticks we normally make a once a year trip to dublin, good old cultchie shopping day, so the only place I know with any certainty is where Busaras is. Unfortunately I would need to share this trip with a friend, as my hubbie is away around Europe touring with a band(as a driver not a rock and or roller), and our meetings are few and far between these days-I'm fed up of the backstage phone calls, and the "guess who I just met/saw/threw up on" text messages at 4 in the morning. For once I want to be making those calls!!!

ALSO job hunting and interviews are exhausting, so far this week I've had 2, with another 2 before Friday lunchtime-I need to chill out, and what better way to do it than listening to the best our country has to offer-staying in a fancy hotel would only add to my excitement!!

KLow0329

why i would like to win this prize?

OMG... er.... I want to see all of them:eek::eek::eek::eek:

What i like about Dublin?

er..... .... Place of heaven, i can shop shop shop and shop.. then eat eat eat and eat~~ (Actually i want to say place of sin: drink drink drink and drink, then fun fun fun and fun~~)

PabloDublin

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|| |______| \ \ |_-_|/ ||
___theO2_____ || |______| | | | |
_|____________ |_ | | |______| |___|___ i|_|i
| ______________ | | | |______| / / \___ \ )) i_______| |
| o o o o o o o oo | | | |______| \ \ /_/ __|i i i/ \i i i| |
| _ _ _ _ _ _ | | | |______| \ \ CHHD /__ | | | | |
| ( )( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) |__| |___|______|__CHHD________|__ |__| |__|___|

_________________________________________________________
| | | |
|GreenGreenGreen | | OrangeOrange |
|GreenGreenGreen | WHEREVER IN DUBLIN |OrangeOrange |
|GreenGreenGreen | THE MUSIC IS FLOWING | OrangeOrange |
|GreenGreenGreen | GET YOUR ARSE MOVING |OrangeOrange |
|GreenGreenGreen | SHAKE IT, SHAKE IT!! | OrangeOrange |
|GreenGreenGreen | | OrangeOrange |
|_______________|__________________________|_____________|

PabloDublin

Resending, photo attached!!
Shake it, shake it!! :)