Chic/Kevin Bridges in the Radisson on Sunday

popepaisley1

went to see both these shows which were on in the raddisson on sunday night. first up was kevin bridges, down in the bottom floor of the hotel, then followed by chic in the main ballroom. both acts were on top form and i really enjoyed them.

there was one problem. the bar service in the raddisson that night was about as useless as i had ever seen anywhere. down in the basement at kevin bridges the nearest bar was up three flights of stairs, and even then the queues were terrible. you'd miss half the gig while waiting. as bad as that was there were two obsolete bars in the basement area. i've no idea why either of them weren't open.

for chic it was worse. it was impossible to get anywhere near the bar for at least the first hour. funnily enough there was a large second bar in the ballroom that remained closed for most of the gig. we tried the hotel lobby bar and waited half an hour. ended up missing the start of the show. didnt bother trying to get another drink until the show was nearly over.

i had been to one of the other comedy shows in seapoint a few nights earlier. place was sold out. bar service was excellent. enough people behind the counter and fast efficient service. i was at primal scream in leisureland on saturday. again, no hold ups at the bar, although the place was less than half full.

in fairness to the staff at the raddisson, they were absolutely flat out. i really can't fault them. but the management had known that these events were coming for a long time. they knew exacly how many people were coming since both gigs were sold out. how could they have not been prepared? surely by having more staff on they would make more profit? or has making money suddenly gone out of fashion??

what could have been a truely great night was ruined by the raddisson's shambolic bar service. not sure if id be happy to go there again. hopefully the organisers will think twice about using them again

Galwayps

I was at both shows also and first post got it spot on. However I would add that the entrance and security arrangements for chic were also poor due to lack of staff number.
The ballroom had a second bar closed which would have alleviated the overcrowding at the bar. Good gigs let down by poor organistion

swiftman

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holly8

popepaisley1 wrote: »

went to see both these shows which were on in the raddisson on sunday night. first up was kevin bridges, down in the bottom floor of the hotel, then followed by chic in the main ballroom. both acts were on top form and i really enjoyed them.


i had been to one of the other comedy shows in seapoint a few nights earlier. place was sold out. bar service was excellent. enough people behind the counter and fast efficient service. i was at primal scream in leisureland on saturday. again, no hold ups at the bar, although the place was less than half full.

you've had a busy few days then! it's great when there's a few things on in galway

I_smell_fear

It seems the venue wasn't all too popular with the comedians either:

A characteristic of comedy festivals like Galway is that the best line-ups of comics don't always produce the best shows. A cosily intimate room above a pub or fringe theatre with a relatively unknown act can afford a much more satisfying experience than a bill stuffed with international headliners in a big lounge lacking atmosphere.

Whether it's the high, high ceiling, the abiding impression of a wedding reception venue or the fact that, on this occasion, the overwhelming majority of the crowd had come to see Kevin Bridges above all others, the Radisson Blu hotel's basement is a tough, tough room and seasoned stand-ups struggled and muttered darkly about it all week.

http://www.chortle.co.uk/gigreview/2013/10/29/18953/bobcat_goldthwait%2C_kevin_bridges_etc..

Paddyfield

I was at the Kevin Bridges gig. He was as funny as expected and the MC (Barry Murphy???) was hilarious. The other two comedians were dire. The bars service was poor alright. All that aside, I was surprised that the main act didn't do an encore. He was only on stage for about an hour.

Surely Leisureland would've been a better choice.

Ludikrus

That's odd I went to the radisson on Friday night to see Jason Byrne and there was a bar open in the basement gig room. We arrived just before the first act but it was no hassle to get a drink. I was only waiting two minutes to get another round at the interval. I remember saying to my girlfriend how well organised it was. The extra bar and staff took the pressure off. I don't know why they didn't have it open on the other nights.

Antifa161

swiftman wrote: »

not sure what you'll get from posting here!!!???

this will be more usefull

Meeting & Events
Emma Nevin
Meeting & Events Manager
Tel: <snip>

We're not allowed post names/numbers that are publicly available? what

45mhrc7evo1d3n

I agree, the bar "service" at Chic was abysmal. I couldn't believe the second bar wasn't open. I'd say they took way less money than they could have if they hadn't made it so difficult to get a drink that people just didn't bother. Chic were fantastic although I felt the venue wasn't really suitable for that type of gig. Too low ceilinged and corporate feeling. Seapoint or Leisureland would have been perfect.

biko

Antifa161 wrote: »

We're not allowed post names/numbers that are publicly available? what

Take some time to read the charter. Or PM a mod if you have questions.

popepaisley1

Galwayps wrote: »

I was at both shows also and first post got it spot on. However I would add that the entrance and security arrangements for chic were also poor due to lack of staff number.
The ballroom had a second bar closed which would have alleviated the overcrowding at the bar. Good gigs let down by poor organistion

how somewhere like the radisson could be so unprepared i dont know. both gigs sold out!! they knew exactly how many were coming to the place that night.

popepaisley1

swiftman wrote: »

not sure what you'll get from posting here!!!???

this will be more usefull

Meeting & Events
Emma Nevin
Meeting & Events Manager
Tel: <snip>

already done. just trying to see what what everyone else thought.

popepaisley1

Paddyfield wrote: »

I was at the Kevin Bridges gig. He was as funny as expected and the MC (Barry Murphy???) was hilarious. The other two comedians were dire. The bars service was poor alright. All that aside, I was surprised that the main act didn't do an encore. He was only on stage for about an hour.

Surely Leisureland would've been a better choice.

in fairness to leisureland they supply you with cans. it would have taken an enormous amount of pressure off the staff at chic/kevin bridges if they could do this. maybe (:D) the radisson is too snobby for this!!

45mhrc7evo1d3n

popepaisley1 wrote: »

how somewhere like the radisson could be so unprepared i dont know. both gigs sold out!! they knew exactly how many were coming to the place that night.

While the Radisson are absolutely to blame for the bar fiasco, I suspect Roisin Dubh (the “organisers” in the loosest possible sense) were at fault for the issues with entry and security. I honestly don’t think event management is their strong suit which is a serious drawback considering it's a large part of their business. They sent an email on Friday saying that anyone who bought a Chic ticket online could call into the Roisin that day to collect an actual ticket in order to save time on the night of the gig. What happened then was that there was a long queue of people with tickets trying to get in and no queue at the desk for online bookings :rolleyes:. Plus, people with tickets who didn’t fancy queueing were just walking around the queue up to the top and being let in anyway.

Roisin Dubh also screwed up badly on the Chic start time, their advertising said doors open 7.30, Chic onstage at 9pm. I then saw that Ticketmaster were selling tickets with a start time of 10.30. As I wanted to go to a comedy gig as well that night I rang Roisin to confirm the start time and theywere adamant that it was 9pm and said the gig would be over by the time the Ticketmaster purchasers arrived! Imagine my surprise when we picked up the actual tickets last Friday to see Chic were due onstage at 10.30 . By which time it was too late to get tickets to the comedy show. Considering Roisin Dubh were the organisers of both the Comedy Festival and the Chic gig they really should have got it right.

popepaisley1

have to say i didnt have much trouble with entry to chic, but i do think you're right about everythinig else. roisins do need a better system for ticketing. this code system, even in their own venue is too slow.

i also spotted the chic 9pm/10.30pm mix up. i checked it out and got myself a comedy ticket too.

something similar happened for lee mack in seapoint on wednesday. their site said 8pm, which usually means when the doors open. ticket holders had 7pm door opening on their tickets, but if you just had the code then you wouldnt have known this. by the time i got there there were only seats right down the back. at least the bar service was good there!!

McTigs

I have never enjoyed a gig at the raddisson. That room has sucked the life out of many performance.

I avoid at all costs

degzs

I was at the Chic gig and thought the venue was very good, a lot better than the venue downstairs. I have been downstairs for a few gigs and I think it's one of the worst venues in Galway ( sound quality and layout). The sound was near perfect Sunday night but I was very close to the Stage. Went to the bar at around 9.00pm and took over a half to get served.

biko

Went to The Dubliners there once, in the great hall. Good concert altogether.
It's a bit sterile like but then again it's a function room, not really a concert hall.

popepaisley1

was the black box used at all over the weekend? without the seating its a very good music venue

I_smell_fear

popepaisley1 wrote: »

was the black box used at all over the weekend? without the seating its a very good music venue

Yeah there was 3 gigs there over the weekend. It's not the most ideal atmospheric venue for comedy due to the very high ceiling, but it's not bad.