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The Fleadh Drogheda 2018
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10-08-2018 7:40pm#1
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As someone who has attended 'many' a fleadh over the years i have to say the Drogheda one is right up there with them all.👍
The music(as always) is exceptional and the atmosphere is as good as any i've witnessed anywhere.AND it's just up the road from me,so no hotel,hostel or b&b worries for this one
Well done Drogheda.0 -
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Got down today for about 90 minutes. Had a pint and a walk around. Was lovely weather when I was there. Town was busy but not too packed. Could easily wander around and have a mooch.
It's great to see the talent and ability on show. As I said before, I'm not the biggest Ceili or traditional Irish music fanatic in the world, and it all becomes a bit 'samey' after a little while, but it is still a great little spectacle. It's all done really well, but all still quite amateur with the people throwing down their own mats (plywood?) to clatter about on (instead of little set up stages around the place). Although I'm not complaining, i love the 'makey uppy' kind of charm it all has.
With the street pedestrianised completely, and the sheer volume of people wandering around, it does feel like a completely different place. It's like going on holiday somewhere you've already seen in a film. It's all very familiar, yet seems strangely different.
I never really noticed it, but Bank Of Ireland have a clas floral display on their building. They have a solid horizontal line o flowers across the upper half of the building (presumably by sticking a load of planter boxes tight beside each other) but it really jumped out at me today when I was wandering around. Looked really really good.
Now for my moaning: They (by 'they' I mean the pubs, the Council, any shop or business, just anybody really) should fire some extra seating out onto the streets. Even if the Councul could lift some benches from dundalk's streetscapes and stick them in drogheda for the week to avoid buying benches they wont need in a few days. for the 90 minutes I was there, i didnt sit at all. Which is fine, I'm 30. But I seen an enormous amount of older people wandering around and you could tell they wanted to stop and sit, but the facility simply isn't there for them.
Even a load of pallets lined up in the middle of the street with a bit of ply screwed on top of them would work (would look cheap of course, but would serve it's purpose and could be disposed of afterwards).
I also noticed Frank, the large Fleadh statue/man, has now only got one arm. :rolleyes: I hope whoever broke it didn't take the arm with them and actually left it there so it could be fixed up (though I doubt they'll ever put him back in the town again).
And my final negative moan: The taxi drivers can fcuk right off! Moaning about their loss of revenue, and yet they're driving so incredibly aggressively around the place. Genuinely, without exaggeration; I don't know how I didn't clatter into one of them when she skipped the traffic on the bridge of peace by using the left lane, and then (without any prior notice) nearly took me off the road by jolting in front of me to wedge into the right lane (to turn across west st). Full of moaning and complaining they're not making a penny, you'd think they'd be happy to sit in traffic with everyone else, but nope, have to make the whole fleet look like a bunch of as*holes by doing stupid stuff like that. And that' just one example of the aggressive taxi driving behaviour i noticed in my short stint driving around the town this week.
It has completely put me off them. Taxi drivers were never gonna do well at this, so lots of them booked holidays to go away. A few businesses closed up (admittedly I only know of 2 personally, but I'm sure there's more) as the lack of access would make their job hard. Yet, they're not giving out about getting legal with the council.
The DI (or Leader? Can't remember which) article about the Taxi drivers made them look like a bunch of amateur cowboys. No professionalism whatsoever and nothing good to say about anybody.
Anyway...
Great Garda presence about the place; I'll give them that.
Does anyone know what time the fireworks are on tomorrow night? I heard something about them earlier on but i haven't seen any official mention of them (or if its even a thing? Perhaps i was just told little lies..?) 0 -
[Deleted User] wrote: »Fair shower of rain there. No way that crowd could have all found shelter.
We didn't Got soaked, not a taxi to be seen, nothing for it but to walk home in the rain. Ah well! 0 -
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[Deleted User] wrote: »
Does anyone know what time the fireworks are on tomorrow night? I heard something about them earlier on but i haven't seen any official mention of them (or if its even a thing? Perhaps i was just told little lies..?)
Fireworks starting at 11.30pm from the top of scotch hall!0 -
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I'm sure there were more than dozens who had a great time. Sure why wouldn't you? The whole town in party mode. That's not the point I was making, though.There's always one. You're entitled to that view of course but thankfully it's not shared by anyone else I've heard give their verdict (which is dozens upon dozens).
The majority view among I encountered among regular fleadh attenders, both musicians and lovers of the music, was that this year's fleadh was a disappointment. The fleadh 'proper', if you like, has always been the competitions and performances organised by Comhaltas. Which, tbh, I can take or leave. Around this though are the sessions and meetings and spontaneous gatherings that just kinda happen. There were relatively few opportunities for this in Drogheda though. That's what I meant by the town not really 'getting it'. I passed through several pubs with a guy belting out ballads through a PA. Half empty. One or two more with DJ's later in the evening. Again, not rammed with fleadh punters. I saw one funk band playing (good band. I do like me funk!). Now, I get it. Publicans are quite entitled to lay on whatever entertainment they want to pay for, and that they think their punters will enjoy. No argument there. I wonder if many were aware that to make a killing last week, all they really had to do was open the doors and turn off the telly... As an example, we eventually rocked up to Sarsfields. The back room was empty so we sat down for a tune, and within 20 minutes or so there was a gang of about 15 playing and punters started pouring in. 'Getting' the fleadh, if you like. It could have been like that in every nook and cranny in the town, as it has been in every fleadh I've been at.
Bit of a whinger's myth. As I alluded to earlier, Comhaltas don't really make extra cash dependant on numbers. The town does. Disclaimer for clarity: I have nothing to do with CCÉ. I fine organisation, I'm sure, but not really my cupán tae. I've no doubt there's some *ahem* donation made, but that'd (hypothetically) be made by whatever town hosted the event. Comhaltas don't make a cut of every pint or burger sold, or accomodation paid for. The host town does.borderlinemeath wrote: »Ah, there was a couple of moaners on a facebook thread I was commenting on. Apparently organisers over the past decade or so have sacrificed tradition for high attendance numbers because numbers translate to money.
Aslan. Great bunch o' lads, and best of luck to them. Again, the folks I'd be talking about wouldn't be bothered with the big events. They just want to settle in to play music, meet old friends, have a bit of craic, and make memories. Now, speaking personally as somebody who has played the 'gigrig', and had a few friends doing so this year, I'd like to state quite categorically at this stage, that that isn't the issue. I've a great pal playing with Kila, a remarkable band to see live and a group that really get up the purists noses. But you won't find the purists at the Kila gig. They'd be playing or listening down the town somewhere. If they could find anywhere to do so, of course.borderlinemeath wrote: »They don't like the direction it's been going and how dare they have the likes of Aslan to appeal to non traditional music fans.
It's a valid, if minority opinion. One I wouldn't share, by the way. Again, what I'm talking about has nothing to do with audience. It's to do with just making space available for the fleadh to happen. Drogheda filled those spaced up with big dollops of missing the point.[/QUOTE]borderlinemeath wrote: »One went so far as to say that it shouldn't evolve and if if traditional music dies out because they are reluctant to move with the times and appeal to wider audiences then it "should die with dignity". Typical Irish cut off your nose to spite your face type stuff. You would swear it's turned into the Eurovision song contest they way they were going on.
It's OK. Peig's not on the syllabus any more. You can let that go if you like.borderlinemeath wrote: »One of the reasons I hated learning Irish in school was it was always mired in Misery such as Peig Sayers. Some of the moaners reminded me of it!
Best of luck to Drogheda next year. I sincerely hope y'all enjoy the hooly.
I could go on, but I have a feeling you wouldn't 'get it'.
Perhaps visit whatever town gets it in 2020. Hopefully you'll get to see what I mean. 0 -
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