Castlepalooza 2012

cat_rant

nm wrote: »

Getting on your tippy toes for 3 seconds while holding an arm out is a health and safety hazard? My god..

Maybe festivals aren't for you.

NM - you point would be fair If I didn't have a bad back I was in two traffic accidents 7 years ago and had months of physio. I am just pointing the lack of a platform out to the event organizer so they can consider it for future events.

I am not a festival virgin by any stretch, and I go camping every year. I also do other activities like airsoft. Please don't mistake me for some delicate wilting flower that can't hack it.

I do believe though in the words of Scroubious Pip Castlepalooza need to "get better"

Beans_On

How someone could think the weekend wasnt worth 50 Euro (for a camping ticket) baffles me.
no complaints from me.A great wee festival.

Aoife B

Seanachai wrote: »

Does anybody know who the group were with the DJ , guitarist and female vocalist on Saturday night?.

Band were Donal Dineen Parish Project. They were great, weren't they. We bailed on Sunday because of the rain. Dieing to hear what the sunday night vibe was like?

nxbyveromdwjpg

cat_rant wrote: »

NM - you point would be fair If I didn't have a bad back I was in two traffic accidents 7 years ago and had months of physio.

In fairness, although unfortunate I don't know what that has to do with the festival.
It was high but no higher than a burger van or any other stall usually is.

cat_rant wrote: »

I am just pointing the lack of a platform out to the event organizer so they can consider it for future events.

Fair enough I guess

Skittlebrau

First time at the festival this year and overall it was good but definitely not perfect. I also think that some of the responses by the organisers to the complaint above are a complete cop out.

cat_rant wrote: »

a. There were numerous signs put up on Friday morning from all roads leading to Tullamore. These were A1 directional signs.

Wasn't really an issue for me but I have it on good authority (from someone who was in the production office in the castle on Friday afternoon) that all the signs were still in a pile in the office until mid-afternoon on Friday and couldn't have been put up until early evening. I saw two on my way at about 8pm.

cat_rant wrote: »

b. This was on our website under 'Info' & then 'parking'. There was always going to be a charge & that's why it was on the website. The only change was we moved fields which were owned by the same farmer.
MDF would not work as it gets worse than grass when wet. If a field gets as much water as we got on the weekend there's nothing you can do. We got 3 tractors in on Sunday to help every person out.

This one annoys me. The €10 parking charge came as a complete surprise to me and everyone else I knew there. The info is on the website now but when exactly did they put it up there? It definitely wasn't when I bought tickets a month ago or checked it again in the week coming up to the festival. All it said at that point was 'Our new car park is situated off the main avenue of Charleville Castle.' In fact, the app still just says that. No mention of the €10 there.

cat_rant wrote: »

c. We don't have to give out a brochure but do anyway, there were freely available outside the castle entrance & all acts were on boards outside each stage too.

Pretty blunt in tone this one and doesn't exactly come across as customer friendly but in any case, the brochures didn't appear until Saturday afternoon. We asked for one before that and was told it was in the brown goodie bags at the gate (which weren't at the gate at all and which didn't appear for another couple of hours and ended up being held in the merch/lost & found tent).

Not really a big deal at the end of the day and it's true there were boards outside each stage but if you're going to go to the bother of printing schedules, at least make them available from the start of the festival.

Speaking of the merchandise, while very reasonably priced, I didn't think a lot of the designs. Really wanted to buy a t-shirt or something but they were just terrible. Surely they must know some artistic people who could knock up something better.

cat_rant wrote: »

f. The moat campsite was our new campsite. When it rains, fields get wet & again no event manager can change a wet field. We had above the legal amount of toilets in that field & even more within the main arena. These were all approved in advance by the authorities.

I was in the castle campsite but did take a stroll around the Moat one on Saturday (mainly to see why I was paying €35 extra to be honest). First thing that struck me was that there wasn't nearly enough toilets there. A strip of 5/6 for the entire field if I remember correctly. There was also a shower block but which wasn't working as there was no power to it. Apart from that it appeared fairly decent.. the vast majority of tents were pitched on the raised areas around the edges so most people should have been flood free.

The other gripe I have is with the €50/€85 difference in ticket pricing. When I bought my tickets the €50 Moat camping tickets were 'sold-out'. 3 days later they went back on sale and remained on sale at €50 from then on. I understand that apparently the initial €50 offer was an 'early-bird' price but it clearly didn't stay that way. There was absolutely no info available as to the differences between the Moat and Castle campsites or why you'd pay an extra €35 to be inside.

Overall it was an enjoyable festival and I would go back... although tbh I'd probably consider a hotel/b&b next time. The place was a bit of a mudbath on the Sunday morning (admittedly a cheapo tent didn't help in this regard).

ShriekingSheet

In over 10 years of going to festivals, I've never come accross such a chilled out collection of attendees, who are virtually all on the same buzz, with a maximum of enjoyment and minimum of hassle. Not only that, but the whole thing is extremely reasonably priced.

There are many hardships that come as part and parcel of an irish festival. Military style event organisation can negate some of that hardship, but not all.

In my experience, less intensive "organisation" creates a more relaxed and enjoyable festival. Take any succesful festival and it will follow the life-cycle of grubby up-start on a wing and a prayer (even Witnness), and proceed through years of increased Health & Saftey, security and organisation and end up as a completely different animal. Do they end up more enjoyable? No.

More hi-vis jackets, one-way systems, security checks and rules = more cost to the punter and less craic.

If you don't agree with me, rest assured, you're in the majority. Which is great, because it means the pernickety masses might stay away from CP, SS, B&S and the like a little longer, and allow those festivals to stay the grubby, slightly flawed, marginally unsafe and considerably behind scheduel weekends of awesomeness that they are.

Meanwhile, the major promoters with their attention to detail, fire-officer approval, health & safety compliance and minutely planned security operations can continue to deal with vomitting 12 year olds assaulting each other.

Castlepalooza, don't ever change, you f*cking legend.

cat_rant

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

In over 10 years of going to festivals, I've never come accross such a chilled out collection of attendees, who are virtually all on the same buzz, with a maximum of enjoyment and minimum of hassle. Not only that, but the whole thing is extremely reasonably priced.

There are many hardships that come as part and parcel of an irish festival. Military style event organisation can negate some of that hardship, but not all.

In my experience, less intensive "organisation" creates a more relaxed and enjoyable festival. Take any succesful festival and it will follow the life-cycle of grubby up-start on a wing and a prayer (even Witnness), and proceed through years of increased Health & Saftey, security and organisation and end up as a completely different animal. Do they end up more enjoyable? No.

More hi-vis jackets, one-way systems, security checks and rules = more cost to the punter and less craic.

If you don't agree with me, rest assured, you're in the majority. Which is great, because it means the pernickety masses might stay away from CP, SS, B&S and the like a little longer, and allow those festivals to stay the grubby, slightly flawed, marginally unsafe and considerably behind scheduel weekends of awesomeness that they are.

Meanwhile, the major promoters with their attention to detail, fire-officer approval, health & safety compliance and minutely planned security operations can continue to deal with vomitting 12 year olds assaulting each other.

Castlepalooza, don't ever change, you f*cking legend.

That's the problem though isn't it? The attendance at CP this year was larger than two years ago. They have an extra camp site for extra attendance. When a festival grows the need to plan, organize and execute it needs more attention to detail. My companion this weekend attended two years ago and said " this is not the boho boutique little festival I was at two years ago"

Your post is emotional and misty eye'd and I can understand the sentiment. An event does not have to be run by a major promoter to be organised. And frankly any public event expecting large numbers of attendee's need to consider health and safety. And i am not going to even remark on the vomiting 12 year old's comment.

CB19Kevo

I have worked at a lot of festivals over the years.
And i must say that the atmosphere was very chilled at CP and it really was the way a festival should be.
The rain on Sunday morning did cause issues but up until that point the campsites were not so bad.

ShriekingSheet

cat_rant wrote: »

That's the problem though isn't it? The attendance at CP this year was larger than two years ago. They have an extra camp site for extra attendance. When a festival grows the need to plan, organize and execute it needs more attention to detail. My companion this weekend attended two years ago and said " this is not the boho boutique little festival I was at two years ago"

Your post is emotional and misty eye'd and I can understand the sentiment. An event does not have to be run by a major promoter to be organised. And frankly any public event expecting large numbers of attendee's need to consider health and safety. And i am not going to even remark on the vomiting 12 year old's comment.

Well let me be less emotional and misty eye'd then. Ironically, most of your complaint is based on your own lack of organisation.

You set off for the festival not knowing where it was. 2 mins on Google Maps would have helped, like the rest of us did.

You planned your spending with absolutely no contingency, such that €10 (divided among all occupants of your car) threw up a major issue. You should have brought a few extra quid, like the rest of us did.

You expected to be provided with a brochure of events on arrival. This rarely happens, unless you pay €15 for the privelege at Oxegen. Why didn't you just print it off, or even just scribble down the stages and times of the acts you want to see in advance, like the rest of us did.

You were careless enough to lose your things, but again this was the festival's fault.

You say you're utterly disappointed with their organisation. Well I'm utterly disappointed with your organisation. And by going down there so unprepared, you were only ever going to be disappointed by something.

A festival doesn't mean you pay €50 and arrive expecting the organisers to look after every element of your weekend. You need to take some responsibility for your own good time.

cat_rant

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Well let me be less emotional and misty eye'd then. Ironically, most of your complaint is based on your own lack of organisation.

You set off for the festival not knowing where it was. 2 mins on Google Maps would have helped, like the rest of us did.

You planned your spending with absolutely no contingency, such that €10 (divided among all occupants of your car) threw up a major issue. You should have brought a few extra quid, like the rest of us did.

You expected to be provided with a brochure of events on arrival. This rarely happens, unless you pay €15 for the privelege at Oxegen. Why didn't you just print it off, or even just scribble down the stages and times of the acts you want to see in advance, like the rest of us did.

You were careless enough to lose your things, but again this was the festival's fault.

You say you're utterly disappointed with their organisation. Well I'm utterly disappointed with your organisation. And by going down there so unprepared, you were only ever going to be disappointed by something.

A festival doesn't mean you pay €50 and arrive expecting the organisers to look after every element of your weekend. You need to take some responsibility for your own good time.

Wow ShriekingSheet, your assumptions about my level of organistion are coming across as really agressive.

I did indeed have plenty of money for the duration of the event. I more so had an issue with the lack of information about this charge as much of the other posters have also indicated. It wasn't I who lost the item in question, it was my companion. However I still believe my points on that topic to be valid.

I do indeed take responsibility for my own actions, planning and organisation.
I will admit that I am having a moan here. But like I said earlier on in the thread. I felt strongly enough to want to complain.

I really don't think your reply is helpful, positive or contributory to this discussion. I am not going to let this turn in to a Troll fest or a flame war. From what I can see you have made your point of view and negativity towards my weekend experience abundantly clear. And that's the last I will discuss with you on this topic.

Kind regards

Cat_rant

ShriekingSheet

cat_rant wrote: »

Wow ShriekingSheet, your assumptions about my level of organistion are coming across as really agressive.

I did indeed have plenty of money for the duration of the event. I more so had an issue with the lack of information about this charge as much of the other posters have also indicated. It wasn't I who lost the item in question, it was my companion. However I still believe my points on that topic to be valid.

I do indeed take responsibility for my own actions, planning and organisation.
I will admit that I am having a moan here. But like I said earlier on in the thread. I felt strongly enough to want to complain.

I really don't think your reply is helpful, positive or contributory to this discussion. I am not going to let this turn in to a Troll fest or a flame war. From what I can see you have made your point of view and negativity towards my weekend experience abundantly clear. And that's the last I will discuss with you on this topic.

Kind regards

Cat_rant

I felt compelled to reply for the simple reason that small festivals rely heavily on word of mouth to survive. I put some balance up on the thread so that readers don't take your rant as gospel.

There were a few annoying factors - parking charge, weather, booze policy and Le Galaxie took a million years to sound check. However, you get that sort of sh*t at all festivals and overall it was a savage time.

schemingbohemia

cat_rant wrote: »

I have sent an official written complaint to the info@castlepalooza mail address about the event management at this festival. It was disgraceful.

The charge for parking was not justified........was ruined by poor event management and aggressive staff.

cat_rant wrote: »

a few issues that really affected my ability to enjoy this festival.


As there are no atm's on site at this festival we had planned out our finances and had withdrawn money in advance to last us through the weekend.

I am disgusted that this charge was placed on to the customer.


unacceptable.



very lackadaisical and ineffective.



I am very disappointed with the event. I do not feel that I received my money's worth in relation to the facilities provided.

To say that I am utterly disappointed and angry to have parted with a considerable amount of money to attend this event is putting it mildly.

cat_rant wrote: »

Wow ShriekingSheet, your assumptions about my level of organistion are coming across as really agressive.

I did indeed have plenty of money for the duration of the event. I more so had an issue with the lack of information about this charge as much of the other posters have also indicated. It wasn't I who lost the item in question, it was my companion. However I still believe my points on that topic to be valid.

I do indeed take responsibility for my own actions, planning and organisation.
I will admit that I am having a moan here. But like I said earlier on in the thread. I felt strongly enough to want to complain.

I really don't think your reply is helpful, positive or contributory to this discussion. I am not going to let this turn in to a Troll fest or a flame war. From what I can see you have made your point of view and negativity towards my weekend experience abundantly clear. And that's the last I will discuss with you on this topic.

Kind regards

Cat_rant

Jeez, you'd pay €50 for two nights camping in a good few places, you get a music festival thrown in on top and you moan like you've been robbed?

Way over the top complaints, in fact whinges. And you give out that someone's being agressive in the comebacks? :rolleyes:

FledNanders

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

In over 10 years of going to festivals, I've never come accross such a chilled out collection of attendees, who are virtually all on the same buzz, with a maximum of enjoyment and minimum of hassle. Not only that, but the whole thing is extremely reasonably priced.

There are many hardships that come as part and parcel of an irish festival. Military style event organisation can negate some of that hardship, but not all.

In my experience, less intensive "organisation" creates a more relaxed and enjoyable festival. Take any succesful festival and it will follow the life-cycle of grubby up-start on a wing and a prayer (even Witnness), and proceed through years of increased Health & Saftey, security and organisation and end up as a completely different animal. Do they end up more enjoyable? No.

More hi-vis jackets, one-way systems, security checks and rules = more cost to the punter and less craic.

If you don't agree with me, rest assured, you're in the majority. Which is great, because it means the pernickety masses might stay away from CP, SS, B&S and the like a little longer, and allow those festivals to stay the grubby, slightly flawed, marginally unsafe and considerably behind scheduel weekends of awesomeness that they are.

Meanwhile, the major promoters with their attention to detail, fire-officer approval, health & safety compliance and minutely planned security operations can continue to deal with vomitting 12 year olds assaulting each other.

Castlepalooza, don't ever change, you f*cking legend.

Good shout. Less nanny-stating at festivals makes for better buzz.

It's a small independent festival, **** will go wrong...just session around the bumps in the road :cool:

ceegee

Regarding the programmes, these were definitely being handed out at the entrance to the castle area on friday evening (I arrived at about 6 - not sure if they were there from 4-6) and I also picked up a spare on Saturday at around lunch time from outside the Castle door.

My main complaints were the parking charge (defo not up on the site in the leadup to the festival) and the offie only opening at 8 on saturday (and not having enough Budvar)

Denalihighway

so all that shizzle aside...how were the performances???

Did the Charlatans give their usual top notch nostalgia buzz? Intrigued to know how yer man King Charles went down and also Ghostpoet who I saw in Whelans at the Camden Crawl and thought he was great.

I couldn't go and sold me tkt at last minute.

Go on...torture me

ShriekingSheet

Denalihighway wrote: »

so all that shizzle aside...how were the performances???

Did the Charlatans give their usual top notch nostalgia buzz? Intrigued to know how yer man King Charles went down and also Ghostpoet who I saw in Whelans at the Camden Crawl and thought he was great.

I couldn't go and sold me tkt at last minute.

Go on...torture me

I was desperately disappointed by The Charlatans. They looked like they didn't want to be there at all. Such a difference from NBN last year on the Sunday night. His vocals are absolutely poxy and while they have 2 or 3 songs I really like, their fillers in between are awful.

Le Galaxie own that festival now. Last year was brilliant on the main stage. This year, in the tent, they tore it up again, even with a very long set-up and a power cut.

Last Days of 1984 followed by Dogs on the Sunday was class, one after the other. A few brilliant DJ sets in the courtyard - Lil Dave and Donal Dineen in particular.

All in all, while the headline nostalgia act was a let down, the lower lights of the bill totally picked up the slack.

JazzyJ

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

I was desperately disappointed by The Charlatans. They looked like they didn't want to be there at all. Such a difference from NBN last year on the Sunday night. His vocals are absolutely poxy and while they have 2 or 3 songs I really like, their fillers in between are awful.

Not sure if it was just Tim's vocals - there was a ridiculous amount of feedback/echo going on - I felt it was more the sound setup. It improved after about three songs. I really enjoyed the rest of it.

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

A few brilliant DJ sets in the courtyard - Lil Dave and Donal Dineen in particular.

Yeah - Donal Dineen was great in the courtyard. Super buzz going on there altogether.

nxbyveromdwjpg

JazzyJ wrote: »

Not sure if it was just Tim's vocals - there was a ridiculous amount of feedback/echo going on - I felt it was more the sound setup. It improved after about three songs. I really enjoyed the rest of it.

I agree, good time had

Goreme

Itwas a great festival, hard to better at such low ticket price. A great DJ act I saw who I thought were brilliant were the DJ duo Double Agent Seven. They played aroung 10pm – midnight on Saturday night and they were an eye opener for (older 1950′s) music that people may never have gotten into. They played Do Wop, 5′s Rock n’ Roll, 60′s Soul, 50′s/60/ss R n’B, really high energy stuff, excellent. I went over to see what was going on in the ten when Hal were on the main stage. Hal really didn’t do it for me… I thought the Charlatans were excellent, ‘How High’, from Telling Stories was another track they played which was excellent. However they only played for 57 minutes – a bit short for a weekend Headline Act I thought. Two years ago Mercury Rev played 90 minutes and were also brilliant. King Charles were really good, big sound, confident performance, definately a cut above most of the (budget) other acts. The only gripe I would make to the organisers was that throughtout the weekend there was a ridiculously long wait at the bar(s), up to 20 minutes. For such a small festival crowd, there was really no need to have this (consistent)length of a bar wait over the weekend. Apart from that you couldn’t go wrong with Castlepalooza...
PS someone said that it was a larger crowd than two years ago, well if it was, it didn't necessarily feel that way, it still had a small festival feel to it.