Kilkenny "Con": Bob Dylan Concert

iti114

Were you ripped of by the Source Festival (Aiken Promotions) today?

Thousands of people turned up at 12 noon at Nowlan park Kilkenny today (Sat 24 June06) to see Bob Dylan.

The tickets and all of the press advertising leading up to the event announced that the Flamin' Lips would be the support act and that the gates would be open at 12 noon. So far so good.

4 hours later and no sign of Bob. But look it's Mundy! I like Mundy but hey I can see him a few times in the year. I go to a steward and ask "Where's Bob?" She responds "Oh not until 8.30pm" (Followed by sheepish look on face as if to say Yes I know you were all thinking that he would be on anytime soon but hey! we have beer and hotdogs to sell!)

She shows me the running order to confirm the bad news. "Wish I had seen that before" I say. "Just got it myself an hour ago" said she.

So I have been waiting to see Bob for a few years. But I can't wait 81/2 hours as I have to drive back home tonight as I have a babysitter at home (4 hour drive) so off I go. Outside (4pm) people are lining up with no idea that they have 41/2 hours to wait...

The event stewards then finally put the running order up on the gate...The guy from Ticketmaster outside the gate with the title "Services" on his badge had the same look on his face when I complained. Sheepish. He just turned away.

I witnessed a number of people who attended with their young kids of 8 or 9, some touching examples of older dads with their kids, only to find 4 hours later they their old man wasn't going to get to see Bob...A guy with a cane finally gave up and had to leave with his 6 year old little girl as 4 hours waiting for Bob became too much for her.

If you were affected by this rip off (IMHO) make sure you complain in writing to the Source Festival organisers, Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce, Liveline, Gerry Ryan and anyone else to make these guys pay.

I plan to keep these guys firmly on my radar. This will not be repeated.

ps The Aiken promotions website are so sneaky (IMHO)! The website currently lists the running order with Bob showing at 20.30 but the same page (thanks, Google) prior to the concert show Bob Dylan first! see http://url.ie/1il

BrianD

Everyone knows that for a one day festival type event that the gates open early in the day and the curfew is normally 1030. It's a festival afterall! Therefore, the main act will always be on 1.5-2 hours before the curfew. In amy case the main act will always be the last act. Did you expect Bob to wander out first and play??

I don't know wht you thought the staff were sheepish! They would have known how long they were working and The Source is the same as a half of dozen other outdoor events they these guys would do doing the year. The steward probably thought you were looking for the exact running order - I think there were 4 acts playing including The Flaming Lips and The Violent Femmes. People would know exactly what they are q-ing for outside!

Perhaps you should do a little research before you lift the phone to Joe ... the main act is always listed first!! Look at any of the promoter or ticket sites.

padi89

The main acts are 99% of the time on last,its always been this way.Why would you put the main act on at 1 o clock in the afternoon and have lesser bands then playing throughout the rest of the day?.

Complaining to Gerry Ryan?????????....meh!

DMC

TBH, it sounds like any old day long concert.

whippet

maybe he thought that poor auld Bob was too frail to be up late and had to get back to watch the Mexico game.

I'd say that live line would be hopping if Bob played at 2 in the afternoon and Munday headlined at 9pm.

I suppose the OP will probably have to wait until festivals are digitally interavctive and he will be able to press the red button and choose the act he wants to see !!

mikemac

In fairness, this was discussed on national radio on Friday evening.

OP, you should have made it your business to find out the running order.
Sorry, but I've little sympathy for you

wyndham

They were also in cahoots with the Kilkenny business community with a number of hotels not accepting one night stays and charging you for Friday and Saturday night.

This is standard practice in hotels in major cities/towns throughout the world week in week out. It is extremely difficult to book a Saturday night in isolation anywhere when there is an event on/ demand for accommodation. The hotels can fill with people coming for the weekend or 3 nights. Why should they be left with an empty room to accommodate you?

With regard to Dylan, I agree with the other posters here who have pointed out that it was obvious that he would be on last. Headliner closes the show. I was at the last Dylan gig in Kilkenny about 3 years ago and I wasn't very impressed. His voice is failing badly.

Red Alert

the running order was in multiple places on the web for the past week or so.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Had to edit the OP. Think it is unfortunate that you didn't get to see Bob, but it is really down to you misunderstanding how these concerts work. The main act is always last.

Definitely not fair or appropriate to accuse a wide number of organisations of fraud and conspiracy. Although you are free to say that you felt 'let down' by them - to accuse them of anything stronger could get this forum in trouble.

BrianD

Our Dylan fan may of course be an irregular concert goer and unfamiliar with how the standard line ups work and how they are advertised. In fairness, he would have been better off researching this then launcing a campaign on Joe Duffy that is going to go nowhere. A posting on this board or the music boards last week would have saved him a lot of hassle and disappointment.

Going off topic, I think Kilkenny hotels are over priced and relish events like the Source and the Cat Laughs to push up prices beyond capital city prices. Irish hotels differ substantially to their British and Northern Ireland counterparts where prices come down at the weekend!!

iti114

The only running order shown was the Flamin' Lips for some time. Don't forget that many listened to an ad on RTE 1 for a Dylan concert in Kilkenny many months ago and would have booked accom and made arrangements then. Once I have the tickets why do I need to go on the web? Do you think everyone goes on the web? Not everyone thinks like you do. The tickets made no mention of running order and listed only Lips and Dylan with no mention of a Day long festival. I was there and witnessed many many dissapointed people. That is all.

Huggles

Jesus, I thought everyone knew the headliner was always on stage last??? OP I'd be very surprised if you got much suport for this, as already stated, its something that is taken for granted, what would be the point of Dylan playing before his warm up acts???

muletide

iti114 wrote:

The only running order shown was the Flamin' Lips for some time. Don't forget that many listened to an ad on RTE 1 for a Dylan concert in Kilkenny many months ago and would have booked accom and made arrangements then. Once I have the tickets why do I need to go on the web? Do you think everyone goes on the web? Not everyone thinks like you do. The tickets made no mention of running order and listed only Lips and Dylan with no mention of a Day long festival. I was there and witnessed many many dissapointed people. That is all.

I can only assume that this was your first consert/festival as I have never seen or heard of one where the main act comes on shortly after the gates open.- please correct me with examples if you know of any. As someone already pointed out they will always be on approx 2 hours before the show ends.
You seem quite nieve (sp?) about how these work so for future reference the big act is last preceded by the 2nd biggest preceded by the third biggest and so on.

BrianD

iti114 wrote:

The only running order shown was the Flamin' Lips for some time. Don't forget that many listened to an ad on RTE 1 for a Dylan concert in Kilkenny many months ago and would have booked accom and made arrangements then. Once I have the tickets why do I need to go on the web? Do you think everyone goes on the web? Not everyone thinks like you do. The tickets made no mention of running order and listed only Lips and Dylan with no mention of a Day long festival. I was there and witnessed many many dissapointed people. That is all.

i don't mean to offend but you are a one off! Everyone knows that the main act is on last, everyone knows that this act will be on after eight, everyone knows that for a festival event additional acts will be added up to the event itself (and some times cancelled!). The tickets and event info will list the acts that are available at that particular time. Most people go onto the web to check the running order and line up or any changes. Remember you were buying a ticket to the "Kilkenny Source Festival" as opposed to a ticket to Bob Dylan. I find it hard to beleive that there were other "disappointed patrons" as you say. What you saw at The Source is the standard operating procedure at all one day festivals.

Unfortunately, I think you'll have to accept that it's your lack of knowledge of music events that caught you out and not a con by the the event organisers.

honru

While I agree "Bob Dylan plus special guest Flaming Lips" is a misleading title, how you came to the conclusion that Dylan would set the stage in the afternoon is beyond me. A typical headliner will always begin at night unless stated on the ticket.

Advertisements for the gig for the last couple of weeks featured Dylan and four of the six support acts. These were on billboards and plenty of newspapers. The timetable was also released last week and it is your responsibility to check if need be.

Nightwish

I agree with all of the other replies here, as I take it the OP hasnt been to a gig before. The headlining act is always on last, to close the show. Thats the whole point of having "support acts". The times for the show were posted on any sites on the net (including here) for over a week prior to the concert, so I'm afraid its your own fault for not checking them out.

ergonomics

I live in Kilkenny, beside Nowlan Park to be precise. Saturday's gig was the 5th year of the Source Festival and every year the main act didn't take to the stage until about half 8 or so. As everyone else has said this is standard practice for a day long concert. I don't really think you have grounds for complaint.

tbh

this is so funny! OP, cop on. Did you think Bob Dylan would come on at 12 and play for 8 or 9 hours? You got it wrong, accept it, and don't worsen it for yourself by complaining to anyone else - I promise you, you'll get the same reaction as you did on here. Seriously, this is too funny.
"I'm ringing Joe Duffy!"

FillSpectre

This is hysterical.

"I plan to keep these guys firmly on my radar. This will not be repeated."

Way to give yourself a heart attack. THere is a book called "Old Man and the Sea" I suggest you read. If you can find anybody else to agree with you I would be quite surprised.

Dub13

I don't think I have ever seen such a one sided poll on boards.