Killarney Festival of Music & Food (Formely Westport Festival)

bodhrandude

The Westport festival has changed location to Killarney this year (27th & 28th June) and the line up is not doing it at all for me here, not compared to two year ago at Westport anyway. Headliners and acts confirmed are Jools Holland and the Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Burt Bacharach, Ruby Turner, Louise Marshall, Mabel Ray, Texas, Proclaimers, Undertones, Something Happens, The 4 of us, Declan O'Rourke, Gemma Hayes, Paddy Casey, Wallis Bird, Mick Flannery, Mundy, The Frank & Walters, Dathi, Gangs, Oh Boland, Steven Sharpe and the Broken Straight boys, Tracey Bruen and Lloyd Yates.

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/15/150120i.shtml

seachto7

Catering for a certain demographic me thinks. (Older folk who can afford to spend some time in hotels in Killarney)

yayamark

Does anyone think that the price of this is absolutely ridiculous

€76 per day
€142 for two days

way over priced

30-40 euro would be enough.

ScottSF

I attended the festival in Westport last year for the first time and my wife and I enjoyed it. I was sad to learn they moved it away from Westport this year as it is a wonderful town. We took the train from Dublin for the weekend and had tickets just for the Sunday with Sinead O'Connor, Kool & the Gang, and Bryan Adams as the final acts. It was definitely family friendly but not tons of kids. They aren't going for the 20-something crowd (unless they are with their parents) which can be a good thing to have during the festival season.

I'm not sure about this new lineup announced. Thanks for sharing. There don't seem to be any really big name acts so I'm hoping they have yet to announce more. I don't think the price is an issue. I would have paid €50 just to hear Kool perform live They have to make a profit running a multi-day festival with multiple stages and all the overhead that goes with it. It can cost €76 for one ticket to see a major concert at the O2/3 Arena and for this price you are getting a full day of entertainment. It also helped that it was sunny last year

Furious-Red

The festival is asking bands who want to play one of the smaller stages – called The Actbacker, and billed as an emerging talent stage, to sell a minimum of 50 day tickets (at €76 plus booking fee each) in order to qualify to play the stage. The more they sell, the higher up on the bill they appear. “The acts selling the most will headline,” an email sent to the bands, forwarded to Nialler9, said.

The festival says that the band are required to set up a Fundit page to track sales (Fundit have addressed this on Jim Carroll’s blog today ) and that all sales will be split 70/30% in the festival’s favour.

So a band has to badger “friends, family and fans” to raise €3,800 in sales to play. €1,140 of that will go to the band (before deduction of Ticketmaster commission and VAT it says) for doing all the sales, promotion and essentially, stage curation and €2,660 goes to the festival for doing very little. The band then get to play at a small stage at the festival. Hmm.

Overall, the festival says there are nine acts on the stage per day so 18 in total. So that’s €47,880 in festival revenue if 18 bands sold 50 tickets each. “The 70% retained by the Festival will cover the costs for the stage to include staging, sound, lights, insurance etc,” says the mail.

pmalone

Furious-Red wrote: »

The festival is asking bands who want to play one of the smaller stages – called The Actbacker, and billed as an emerging talent stage, to sell a minimum of 50 day tickets (at €76 plus booking fee each) in order to qualify to play the stage. The more they sell, the higher up on the bill they appear. “The acts selling the most will headline,” an email sent to the bands, forwarded to Nialler9, said.

The festival says that the band are required to set up a Fundit page to track sales (Fundit have addressed this on Jim Carroll’s blog today ) and that all sales will be split 70/30% in the festival’s favour.

So a band has to badger “friends, family and fans” to raise €3,800 in sales to play. €1,140 of that will go to the band (before deduction of Ticketmaster commission and VAT it says) for doing all the sales, promotion and essentially, stage curation and €2,660 goes to the festival for doing very little. The band then get to play at a small stage at the festival. Hmm.

Overall, the festival says there are nine acts on the stage per day so 18 in total. So that’s €47,880 in festival revenue if 18 bands sold 50 tickets each. “The 70% retained by the Festival will cover the costs for the stage to include staging, sound, lights, insurance etc,” says the mail.

I couldn't support this disgraceful strategy in any way .. Boycott!

pmalone

Festival just stated on their Facebook

...<snip>
Contrary to misleading comments circulating through social media, we were not asking bands to ‘pay to play’. Bands and musicians who play would be paid a good fee (more than they would receive at any other festival), receive promotion through the festivals website and be included on festival merchandise and in an extensive marketing campaign while getting the opportunity to play alongside world class acts including Burt Bacharach, Jools Holland, TEXAS and many more to be announced.

All the bands had to do was reach out to their fanbase and seek their support and their fans would get a full day ticket for the festival in return.

Crowd funding sites including Fundit, Indigogo, Kickstarter and PledgeMusic are already widely used by many Irish bands and musicians to raise funds to produce singles and albums and there is no reason why they can't help launch musicians careers by helping fund, profile building, live performances.

Due to the ongoing negative reaction as a result of incorrect reporting, Killarney Festival has made the reluctant decision not to go ahead with this stage at this time.

What an attitude! ... No onsite camping, a pretty nasty attitude from the organisers, a pretty poor line up (We still love you Damo!)... this festival is pretty much doomed from the start.

seachto7

So they're asking bands who get a slot to bring their own crowd with them. Boycott them.

Birneybau

seachto7 wrote: »

So they're asking bands who get a slot to bring their own crowd with them. Boycott them.

I wouldn't be going myself but would discourage people that were thinking of going.

Jim Carroll's take on this disgrace:

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/2015/02/04/paying-to-play-at-the-killarney-festival-of-music-food/

seachto7

I find the headliners very weak as it is.

lc180

while getting the opportunity to play alongside world class acts including Burt Bacharach, Jools Holland, TEXAS

Disgraceful behaviour but I did kinda giggle at this part!

Furious-Red

Yea its a disgrace to ask bands to get friends/family to pay €80 each just to see them play probably a 30-45 min set. And now because they wont get money for the stage they got rid of it.

seachto7

I also recognize some names posting on their Facebook page who are on shaky ground, taking the moral high ground with the Killarney festival.

Birneybau

And, they've taken the page with the criticisms down...

comet

No such thing as bad publicity.
This festival has so far spent zero on advertising, tickets went on sale under the radar. This got the name out there for free.
The average punter doesn't really care about smaller bands who might have considered paying to play and this will all be forgotten fairly quickly.

Level 5 Vegan

Duran Duran added as headliner on the 28th.

ArtOfEscape

Does anyone have any recommendations for nearby accommodation?

comet

ArtOfEscape wrote: »

Does anyone have any recommendations for nearby accommodation?

Loads of B&Bs and hotels in Killarney http://www.killarneyfestival.ie/stay/

Starting to fill out a bit

lc180

Has the venue for the festival actually been announced yet?

Francis H Murphy

ArtOfEscape wrote: »

Does anyone have any recommendations for nearby accommodation?

Killarney hotels most expensive as Irish room rates rise 10pc


Killarney's average room rates are €111 per night, up 5pc on 2013 (Irish Independant 08/03/2015)

Think about the Picnic Nothing will come close in terms of the music lineup , the punters, the spirit or the fun and the value for money.

ArtOfEscape

Francis H Murphy wrote: »

Killarney hotels most expensive as Irish room rates rise 10pc


Killarney's average room rates are €111 per night, up 5pc on 2013 (Irish Independant 08/03/2015)

Think about the Picnic Nothing will come close in terms of the music lineup , the punters, the spirit or the fun and the value for money.

Thanks for the heads up -- I'm really just there for Duran Duran!

yayamark

absolutely no promotion of this event around Killarney

The whole thing is been kept very quiet

Is it going ahead?

lc180

Killarney Festival of Music & Food has today announced that the family friendly festival which takes place this weekend, has relocated from Killarney House Demesne to Killarney Racecourse.

So with only a few days to go the organisers announce that they are moving the location of the festival. Can't imagine this is a good sign.

aka accounts 2010

Reported on Kerry Radio Yesterday.

Kerry Council says venue change is on the cards for Killarney Festival

Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 5:47 pm.


Killarney Festival of Music and Food is understood to be seeking an alternative venue ahead of the two day event this weekend.


According to a statement from Kerry County Council this afternoon the event, which promoters claimed would draw up to 36000 over the two days according to its original licence application, has now been downsized to less than 5000. The Festival has 18 acts, including Duran Duran, the Stunning and Jools Holland and has Killarney House Demesne as its venue currently.
The Festival had successfully concluded negotiations with the National Parks and Wildlife Service about the use of that portion of the National Park for the event.
The statement from the council says :

An event licence is only required where the attendance is greater than 5,000 persons. Notwithstanding the requirements in relation to Event licensing, the organizers are obliged to consult with An Garda Siochana and Kerry County Council in relation to revisions to the traffic management plan, which had originally been prepared for a significantly larger attendance.
The Council statment says its awaiting these traffic management plan clarifications
Several attempts have been made to contact Killarney Festival of Music and Food and a Radio Kerry understands that a statement is expected shortly.

ArtOfEscape

Just got the email from Ticketmaster. Hard to know what to make of this change...!

scruff monkey

less than 5K? that's a serious crash and a half

ashdale5

scruff monkey wrote: »

less than 5K? that's a serious crash and a half

Hard to see how this is going to work with that low a crowd and the number of different stages.

Wrongway1985

scruff monkey wrote: »

less than 5K? that's a serious crash and a half

I'd say the only thinking big they did here appears to be the cost of tickets.

Level 5 Vegan

And that's not even an indication of tickets sold, just the amount needed before you have to apply for a license.

Killarney Festival of Music & Food Relocates to Killarney Racecourse
Killarney Festival of Music & Food has today announced that the family friendly festival which takes place this weekend, has relocated from Killarney House Demesne to Killarney Racecourse.
The picturesque Killarney Racecourse, which is just 10 minutes’ walk from the centre of Killarney town (on Ross Road) lies just above Lough Leane, between the outstretched arms of the McGillycuddy Reeks and Torc mountain. It has an excellent infrastructure with first class facilities including bars, hospitality areas, and flushing loos which are a bonus at a festival and Killarney National Park will provide an unrivalled backdrop! Killarney Festival of Music & Food would like to thank the board of directors of Killarney Racecourse for facilitating the move.
A spokeswoman said “ The festival organisers would like to extend their gratitude to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for working with us over the last few months to bring this festival to Killarney. We would also like to thank Kerry County Council for working with us and granting the festival licence.”
Killarney Chamber President Kate O’Leary says “We are delighted that the relocation of festival was so seamless, Killarney racecourse is an exceptional location and will showcase Killarney at its best. Killarney is very fortunate to have so many suitable locations for all kinds of events. We are looking forward to a wonderful weekend of stellar entertainment and hope that everyone enjoys Killarney.”
The Killarney Festival of Music & Food promises to provide an unforgettable experience for festival goers of all ages. The unique family friendly weekend festival has an eclectic line-up of music, comedy and Ireland’s top chefs performing across seven different stages.

Furious-Red

Can nearly see it being cancelled just before it happens

Peter File

Promoters will be taking a very cold bath on this one.
€76 for a day ticket to a festival in the most expensive town in Ireland makes no sense and the booking of Father John Misty is strange as well as most acts are middle of road or heritage acts