Longitude, Oxegen, Marlay Park
With Slane 1 well behind us, and Robbie a faded echo in the Aviva, what next for the summer music festival season.
Recommended Accommodation Dublin City Centre:
Rod Stewart slips into his leathers for another famous bash in Dublin’s fair city, however, we’re well and truly in the middle of the summer live music season. There’s a heavyweight month ahead with shows from Bruce Springsteen, Grizzly Bear, Mumford and Sons, Justin Timberlake, Beach House and The Killers as well as festivals like Longitude and Oxegen.
What’s abundantly clear at this stage is that supply in the market far outstrips demand. Add the various music offerings from the many arts festivals around the country to the mix and it’s clear that punters are finding it hard to make up their mind about where to spend their disposable gigging income, if their social network hasn’t already collectively decided on an event.
After years of plenty in the last decade, many acts and some promoters thought the good times would last forever, but that was never going to be the case. There is now a live music bubble forming and there will be many shows by the end of summer which just won’t have performed to plan. Acts and especially promoters are going to lose shirts and take baths.
For all that, we may yet see more events on the schedule. One of the most intriguing documents around at present is application number OEL 02/13, lodged by Festival Republic and MCD Concerts on May 24 last with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for shows at Marlay Park on August 3 and 4.
Since this news was broken by On the Record, there has been much speculation about these mooted shows. There’s talk of Oxegen moving to South County Dublin (the application was for a 30,000 capacity, three stage dance/pop event for 18 to 25 year olds which sounds about right, though it would be a sorry pass for the festival which still boasts that it is “widely regarded as one of the world’s top music festivals” and was once a 80,000 capacity beano) and there’s also speculation about a Stone Roses’ gig.
Right now, it’s anyone’s guess what’s going on, but surely the promoters didn’t spend €2,500 on the application just for the lolz? Or perhaps they did to stir the pot to see what came to the top once the pundits had dispatched the word to the multitude.
