IRELAND’S MUSIC FESTIVAL scene grew from lean beginnings. In the early nineties, Irish music fans had their pick of Féile on the August Bank Holiday and an annual gig at Slane Castle on a randomly selected day sometime between June and August.
Beyond that, the recurring events in the musical calendar were Galway Arts Festival in July, or maybe the Fleadh Cheoil, if it happened to be held in a county near you that year.
For comparison’s sake, summer 2018 saw four festivals scheduled for one bank holiday weekend alone: All Together Now in Waterford, Castlepalooza in Offaly, Indiependence in Cork and Beatyard in Dublin, all of which took place from August 3 – 5.
Ireland’s summer festival programme is packed with multi-day camping festivals (Body & Soul, Electric Picnic, Vantastival), tent-free festivals (Forbidden Fruit, Longitude) and an almost weekly line-up of gigs at rural estates, bars, rugby stadiums, GAA stadiums, farms and even beaches around the country.
Despite the growing appetite among gig-goers and concert bookers, the summer only contains so many usable weekends. So is it time to look beyond the safer weather months of June, July and August? Yes, definitely – and smart event planners are already ahead of the curve.
Shelter from the storm
“Our festival marks the end of the year, with Dingle twinkling far away from the high street Christmas onslaught,” says Aoife Woodlock, music producer with Other Voices.
Ireland’s landmark winter music festival began as a one-off music event at St John’s Church for 80 people in December 2002 and has since grown into a weekend of gigs and talks all around Dingle for the 10,000 attendees, none of whom pay a ticket fee. Previous acts include St Vincent, The National and Hozier.
On the Wild Atlantic Way at the peak of winter, any weather extreme is a possibility, but Woodlock says the international artists – and the festivalgoers – take it all in their stride.
Irish people, despite popular belief, get on with their plans regardless of forecast. We’ve gotten every act in, every year, even if some re-route through Cork or Shannon. We did once have to clear the car park Skellig Hotel for James Blunt and Rufus Wainright so they could helicopter in. Then we got a call to say their flight was taking off as planned, so we missed all the drama of a chopper.
To avoid being rained out, all of the Other Voices gigs take place indoors: mainly in churches and bars but sometimes in shops, cafes and restaurants too. And some years, the wind and rain stay away entirely. “We’ve had some gorgeous weather over the years, bright blue days,” says Woodlock.
Escaping the summer touring cycle
Down in Cork, Sounds From A Safe Harbour runs every two years in late September, with a line-up that last year featured Bon Iver, The National and Lisa Hannigan. The festival follows a similar format to Other Voices: headline acts play at Cork Opera House, with a music trail of smaller gigs across Cork city.
“I would rather work indoors to be honest, as the weather is so unreliable at any time of year,” says Mary Hickson, who conceived the idea for SFASH in 2015 with musician Bryce Dessner, guitarist with The National.
By mid to late September, the summer festival schedule is over, which was a positive for Hickson and Dessner. The pair were keen that acts wouldn’t just be “dropped in” for one gig.
“That time of year was selected as it’s the end of the summer touring cycle so we had a better chance that Bryce’s calendar would be free – and the calendars of all the other artists we wanted to work with,” says Hickson.
Sounds From A Safe Harbour is artist-driven, so we invite artists to come and spend time in Cork around the time of the festival, working with each other and igniting new ideas and projects.
For a no-camping festival at a particularly chilly time of year, attendees need to be able to get from A to B without being too exposed to the elements, adds Hickson. “Cork city is an easy one to navigate and no venue is more than ten minutes from anywhere else.”
Preparing for every eventuality (even a blizzard)
When it comes to keeping festivalgoers happy in extreme weather, the crew at Iceland Airwaves are pros. The Reykjavík music festival runs from November 7 – 10 this year, marking its 19th anniversary.
“Our official merchandise is a little different from other festivals,” jokes Will Larnach-Jones, the head of operations.
We have an Iceland Airwaves overcoat and beanie hat on sale along with the t-shirts.
Early November is a risky time of year for weather, and while it’s usually crisp and dry with vast expanses of blue sky, some snowfall is not unusual. Or even blizzards, like in November 2012, when the country caught the tail end of Hurricane Sandy. The festival rolled on though, despite the 230 mph gusts.
“Reykjavík – and Iceland as a whole – is hardy,” says Larnach-Jones. “It can snow here even in summer so we’re used to it. And tourists are aware that it won’t be warm at this time of year. By coming they choose to embrace that.”
Iceland Airwaves grew from a need to attract more international visitors to the country at what was typically a quiet time of year. “November was a low period,” says Larnach-Jones. “Iceland Airwaves changed that. And from a programming perspective, it’s a good time of year for bands to hook a tour onto.”
So how do you keep a musical festival with 8,500 attendees and 14 venues ticking over smoothly when weather is a heightened concern? Constant communication, says Larnach-Jones.
An official festival app and social media team are common elements of most festivals’ PR plans, but for Iceland Airwaves, they are vital logistics tools too:
“Our venue capacities vary from 100 to 1500 and we want to minimise outdoor queues as much as we can, so we use push notifications and social media to let people know of any long waits or venue changes. The app was downloaded by 82 per cent of attendees last year.” The more information you can share with festivalgoers, the more seamless the experience will be for everyone, says Larnach-Jones.
For Mary Hickson of Sounds From A Safe Harbour, the time of year is a minor concern once people know they’re attending a well-managed festival with a line-up of acts who really want to be there.
If the core experience of the festival is good, the weather or the rain doesn’t matter. I like to think that Sounds From A Safe Harbour has its own microclimate.
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