Forest Fest - Emo, Co. Laois - 2024

scruff monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121472995#Comment_121472995

Have heard similar

majcos

Really enjoyed last year despite the weather but would not support it again. Regular concert and festival goer who cannot abide exploitation of the artists or indeed exploitation of anyone.

bodhrandude

Looks like they've done a Wild Roots, not paying certain suppliers or acts. With Wild Roots they pissed off toilet suppliers for the festival in 2022 so we had building site loos and not many for 2023 and certain DJs and collectives were missing this year who played 2022 who weren't paid.

sydthebeat

if the above is true then thats disgusting, but to be honest, not entirely surprising, considering .......

ive stood up for the festival here, but if its true that artists and suppliers haven't been paid ill never give them a cent again

Thundercats Ho

This was their response on FB. Dickheads

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121482497#Comment_121482497

They’ve stated on FB that it’s currently a handful of bands that are owed money. They blame shutting down their own admin office after the festival for non payment.

SteM

Was it only the smaller artists that were effected by the admin office shutting down? I wonder did the bigger acts get paid before they shut down.

Stillill42

Is this just a result of the smaller fests blowing their budget on a couple of big acts to get the initial interest and not having enough to look after the smaller acts? Because that strikes me as a pretty good way to put yourself out of business. Worrying that those stories have surfaced for both Wild Roots and Forest Fest. I mean it's pretty clear that that festival market is over saturated, right?

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121482543#Comment_121482543

Bigger acts would have received half up front and rest settled within week of festival. Normal industry terms

SteM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121482615#Comment_121482615

Seems unusual that they had the money available to pay but left 6 outstanding invoices for local smaller acts before shutting down the admin office. And then asking the unpaid artists to reach out for payment rather than have a record of who they haven't paid yet. Maybe just poor organisation.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121482649#Comment_121482649

Could have just hired people for admin and when they left the organizer can’t easily see who is owed what

majcos

Don’t know for sure but suspect it is more than six acts. A lot of comments on Facebook and more that were removed. Other artists that haven’t commented but haven’t been paid despite making contact numerous times. It has been about five months and if they are ‘open’ to advertise for 2024, they should be able to pay the ‘six’ remaining acts. Cannot be that hard to transfer a pre-agreed fee.

rockterrain

It's a tricky one. Hope the festival survives. Key differentiator for me is the quality of acts which I thought was amazing last year. Some great performances. The set up was okay hardly spectacular. Loved the craft beer and cocktail bar set up with view of main stage. Food was a bit meh though - could get more high end suppliers. If they drop the quality of acts to cut fees they'll not have a lot to offer and attendance will drop no doubt. Bit of a double edged sword.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121488246#Comment_121488246

And realistically only so many acts of that calibre about. And once other promoters get whiff that those acts sell they will come in and take them

funnyname

Anyone get a refund yet for campervan portion of ticket for 2023 fiasco? I got an email about it but never heard anything after that.

Penfailed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121489297#Comment_121489297

I know someone that did. I didn't even try for a refund as I was quite happy to get a bus back and forward.

Thundercats Ho

I see they now have loyalty tickets on sale at €170 each which is reasonable, but the cheeky fuckers want an extra €50 to pitch a tent.

€416 for 2 people. Charging people €50 to pitch a tent in a field is a step too far for me.

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490137#Comment_121490137

Yep, **** message there. Nobody is coming away thinking that's 50 euro well spent, EVERYBODY feels ripped off with that one. Big own goal. And God help us if it rains again.

TenPicnics

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490137#Comment_121490137

That's not OK, brings total price up to what EP or ATN tickets cost!

Dreamweapon

Well, people seem perfectly happy to fork out €100 just to park a van in a field so it was only a matter of time before someone thought to charge for tent space.

traco

Not paying artists has me out so - the industry is tough enough for smaller acts so good luck to it.

blowitupref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490137#Comment_121490137

How much will tickets be I'd wonder without the loyalty, I'm guessing an increase on last year?

rockterrain

For the sake of 20 quid or so I'll probably hold out. Would like at least a flavour of the top acts. In fairness last year seemed pretty well organised with some big acts announced in the initial batch and they all came to pass and delivered great performances.

rubick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490137#Comment_121490137

This is such a brass neck move given the shape of the campsite this year.

Absolutely will not support.

Took exactly 3 outings for the "friendly, good vibes only, indie-friendly" festival to turn into everything it supposedly despises.

F*ck them, won't be back.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494090#Comment_121494090

What if they announce a KLF comeback Rubick 😆

rubick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494116#Comment_121494116

That will never, ever happen big man 😂

CoffeeImpala

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121490137#Comment_121490137

How is this different to 2023 when they were selling weekend only tickets or weekend camping tickets for €25 more.

Looking at this year's prices the camping is €5 more for a single occupancy tent, the same price for two sharing, and gets cheaper as you add more bodies into the tent.

A lot of festivals do non-camping weekend tickets as an option for locals or people staying in local hotels. I not sure about the approach they're taken as I think they're giving themselves more work to plan how much space they need, then make sure only ticketed tents are pitched and control access over the weekend.

Thundercats Ho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121497022#Comment_121497022

Ah i wasn't aware they charged extra for camping this year.

rockterrain

Some reports (perhaps unfounded) on Facebook that Dexys, Travis and Human League are some of the announcements. Which would be a far cry from Suede, BellX1 and James last year. Let's hope there's more substance to the acts come the actual announcement.

Penfailed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121510059#Comment_121510059

It's on the first page of this thread.