UCD Ball / end of term

Riamfada · 10-04-2008 11:24am

MarkOShea wrote: »

Line-up is indeed muck. But it's end of term. €15. Have a few cans, Chill with your mates. Get sh1tfaced. Sing along to to C'est La Vie. Perfecto.

Thats the spirit !

princess-sprkle · 10-04-2008 11:32am

MarkOShea wrote: »

Line-up is indeed muck. But it's end of term. €15. Have a few cans, Chill with your mates. Get sh1tfaced. Sing along to to C'est La Vie. Perfecto.

this man speaks the truth!

how many people would be interested in something like the <snip> last day of term? most people i know anyway usually spend the last day of term sitting outside drinking and having a laugh anyway. its not meant to be super cereal. i for one am going & cannot wait to shout 'i foight loike me daaa as well' :P

vote4pedro · 10-04-2008 1:30pm

jimi_t wrote: »

There's at least 200 more tickets being released tomorrow - proper figures for sales are in the sub 2000 range from what I hear.

<some convent missing>

Well, what exactly did you want on a limited budget? What act played a similar sized venue/university in Ireland that you wanted to see?

I've zero affiliation with ents and went to maybe 2 of their events this year, but I would feel obliged to play devil's advocate in this case. Even to organise the 'ball' of a small society easily hits the 5 figures, getting international acts in is a far more complicated and expensive procedure.

In any case I paid 15 euro to see Messiah J on one than more occasion, the cost of the ticket for them, a days drinking and a few joke acts is definitely worth it.

For people who are still dead-set against the idea, the LGBT had their alternative Debs recently, there was at least 3 major 'balls' I can think of in the last week, JazzSoc had another free band/booze up in Astra Hall, free indie-rock gig in the student bar yesterday, GameSoc tournament all weekend, trips with most of the major sporting organisations... Less time spent complaining on boards and more time getting involved in UCD life people!

Firtly, you ask what band played a similar size venue that I'd like to see? The Student Bar is what, 800? Tripod is only 1200, I'd say Whelans is around the 800 mark.
The limited budget thing doesn't really hold up when they're paying for top drawer electro/dance acts, which Digitalism are. If they can accomodate Felix, Lectroluv and the rest than why not the occasional rock act. Lets bear in mind that Ents aren't flying in Digitalism,Calvin Harris, Lectroluv and the rest, they're all acts with gigs booked in town, just playing a extra night. Good thinking from Ents alright, but why not do a similar thing with big enough bands who are flyingover to play places like Whelans? I know the costs involved in booking bands, including flying them over to play a one off show in Dublin and its not astronomical. It would though require a bit more effort than just ringing up the Coronas.

As for not getting involved in UCD, I am very involved in a few societies and organisations. Even if I wasnt though that shouldn't stop someone from claiming a lineup containing B*witched and East17 isn't exactly stellar. I agree with you about paying 15 to watch MJEX being value initself, just the rest of the crap going on would put me off..

Raphael · 10-04-2008 4:03pm

The Trinity Ball is an MCD event, and therefore discussion of it is banned on boards.ie. Any further posts making mention of it will be removed.

breadmonkey · 10-04-2008 6:21pm

Last day of term last year was surely one of the best days UCD has ever seen. As has been said already, it would have been great if they had stuck to the formula of classic Beatles, banging techno and knacker drinking (but I know the success of such an event is highly weather dependant).

The line up this year is nothing short of embarrassing tbh. E17 and Bewitched sounds funny initially but I have no doubt that nobody will be paying any attention to them once the first song is over. Was it Ents that started that rumour about Daft Punk playing? Haha, how retarded is that? Serious lack of foresight to fail to see how that would backfire and make everyone realise just how much better the "Ball" would be with a top act.

I'm finding it hard to see this event receiving widespread praise when all is said and done. Regardless, I'm looking forward to getting hammered and seeing how it pans out:)

EDIT: @jimi_t: I agree with your sentiments but am sorely disappointed with the standard of the UCD Ball and think they should have done much better with the acts.

jimi_t · 11-04-2008 2:03am

vote4pedro wrote: »

Firtly, you ask what band played a similar size venue that I'd like to see? The Student Bar is what, 800? Tripod is only 1200, I'd say Whelans is around the 800 mark.

I meant venue as in on-campus venue. For Ireland, given our scandalous record with concerts, we're pretty much top of the food chain in terms of college ents.

The limited budget thing doesn't really hold up when they're paying for top drawer electro/dance acts, which Digitalism are. If they can accomodate Felix, Lectroluv and the rest than why not the occasional rock act.

Because 'top drawer' acts like Digitalism, shockingly, are both far cheaper than their equivalent rock set-up and are willing to play small, on-campus venues.

Lets bear in mind that Ents aren't flying in Digitalism,Calvin Harris, Lectroluv and the rest, they're all acts with gigs booked in town, just playing a extra night. Good thinking from Ents alright, but why not do a similar thing with big enough bands who are flyingover to play places like Whelans?

They're linked to a promoter. They don't so much choose their bands as they take the odd bone they're thrown with grace. The roll of Ents officer has a lot less to do with choosing bands than some might think.

I know the costs involved in booking bands, including flying them over to play a one off show in Dublin and its not astronomical. It would though require a bit more effort than just ringing up the Coronas.

Coronas - contract. Gran Casino - contract. Republic of Loose - probably a contract. I despise all three, but at the end of the day you're getting live music as opposed to the telly, usually for minimal cost.

....shouldn't stop someone from claiming a lineup containing B*witched and East17 isn't exactly stellar.

I agree with your sentiments but am sorely disappointed with the standard of the UCD Ball and think they should have done much better with the acts.

If the plans hadn't fallen through for the *actual* UCD ball, which had some quite good acts nearly lined up, then this would be marketed as some sort of pre-exams summer festival - a completely different market to that which shall not be named. The problem here is that its easy to make unfavourable and unjust comparisons with the flagship ball (and pretty much their only proper ents night) of another dublin college.

Sangre · 11-04-2008 2:16am

can non-ucd students buy tickets or get into this?

OpenYourEyes · 11-04-2008 2:19am

vote4pedro wrote: »

Not one decent rock/indie/alternative act playing all year

indeed! plenty of up and coming proper rock bands in ireland/dublin that would have been great to have in the student bar over the course of the year. dont have to have big international rock acts, but at least some acknowledgement that there are people here who couldnt give a f**k about the coronas, nevermind want to see them 27 times in as many weeks!

breadmonkey · 11-04-2008 9:30am

jimi_t wrote: »

The problem here is that its easy to make unfavourable and unjust comparisons with the flagship ball (and pretty much their only proper ents night) of another dublin college.

I made no such comparison (but I do wonder why the Ents office has essentially forced a comparison in its naming of the event). I'm sure you'll agree that the acts (for the most part) are objectively rubbish.

Because 'top drawer' acts like Digitalism, shockingly, are both far cheaper than their equivalent rock set-up and are willing to play small, on-campus venues.

Zing! I wonder what techno/electro act the money spent on E17 and Bewitched could buy. (I'd definitely swap both of them for one good DJ).

jimi_t · 12-04-2008 5:10pm

breadmonkey wrote: »

Zing! I wonder what techno/electro act the money spent on E17 and Bewitched could buy. (I'd definitely swap both of them for one good DJ).

As would I, but then you'd have people complaining that its all techno and there's never any alternative acts :rolleyes:

simonrooneyzaga · 12-04-2008 5:19pm

i hate to admit it... but jimmy knows his stuff about this kinda thing!

Jonny Arson · 12-04-2008 5:38pm

MarkOShea wrote: »

Line-up is indeed muck. But it's end of term. €15. Have a few cans, Chill with your mates. Get sh1tfaced. Sing along to to C'est La Vie. Perfecto.

true, but you can still do all those things without spending €15 and signing drunkenly to poxy 'C'est La Vie'

the point is this 'Ball' is selling tickets because its on the last day and not for much else unfortunately, its basically a novelty ball.

there is great potential to have a really decent ball on the final day of term, the ticket sales for this bubblegum sh!tfest proves that. you dont have to copy any other university ball but do your own thing, i dont care what anyone says, you could have a really decent one stage no tuxedo crap Ball with decent varied acts in conjunction with DJs in the bar for something reasonable like €30-€35

all it takes is foresight from Ents, the officer has 9 months to prepare for a UCD Ball. if they're competent, organised and know their market, a successful UCD Ball should be achievable

vote4pedro · 12-04-2008 5:42pm

jimi_t wrote: »

I meant venue as in on-campus venue. For Ireland, given our scandalous record with concerts, we're pretty much top of the food chain in terms of college ents.

Because 'top drawer' acts like Digitalism, shockingly, are both far cheaper than their equivalent rock set-up and are willing to play small, on-campus venues.

I don't really get what you mean about scandalous record with concerts?
Look at bands who play Universities in England, there's more than enough interesting, quality rock bands willing to play there at smaller unis than UCD. I'm not talking about flying them over especially for the gig, but why not ask bands like Los Campesinos or Forward Russia to play an extra show here (they're just two bands from the top of my head, many more bigger and more interesting acts are happy to play UK unis)
As for the cost factor, while established acts may be more expensive, I've been somewhat involved in the booking of bands and we're not talking astronomical fees for emerging/alternative acts. In fact I'd imagine many would be cheaper than Royseven, and in many cases are happy/excited enough to have a jaunt overseas.

They're linked to a promoter. They don't so much choose their bands as they take the odd bone they're thrown with grace. The roll of Ents officer has a lot less to do with choosing bands than some might think.

Coronas - contract. Gran Casino - contract. Republic of Loose - probably a contract. I despise all three, but at the end of the day you're getting live music as opposed to the telly, usually for minimal cost.

So Digitalism et al are all gotten through a promoter, presumably the one Stephen Quinlaven said he had ties with in his manifesto last year. Great, but why does that stop Ents forging similar ties with other promoters? Dublin is full of dozens of small and mid sized promoters, of all types of music who could be interested. Then there's the biggest promotion company in the country who are happy to work with college media and college gigs where it could be successfull.

I don't mean to be having a go at Ents who have organised some great, successful gigs this year but anyone can see there's something of a mismatch when the electro acts put on are Digitalism, Lektroluv, Felix, Calvin Harris whilst the rock acts are Fun Lovin Criminals, Royseven, Coronas, The Flaws.

niceandfriendly · 12-04-2008 9:01pm

They are erecting two marquees beside the student bar to hold the capacity it said it in the e-mail ents sent out. I don't think they should take over the student bar for the last day of term. I also heard that they were closing the forum bar because their using all the staff from there for the ball. I'm raging. I loved it last year down at the forum with the DJ, even if it was the typical house/techno that ents is obsessed with.

I heard that some of the bigger societies might be getting together to do something in the forum to please some of the pi**ed off ucd folk. I actually wouldn't mind going to the ball but none of the ppl in my course have tickets and all of my friends, who ironically are no longer in ucd(clinging on) are going!

End fuming

p.s really random rumour but someone told me services are putting sprinklers on the grass so ppl can't drink there!

Riamfada · 12-04-2008 9:11pm

niceandfriendly wrote: »

p.s really random rumour but someone told me services are putting sprinklers on the grass so ppl can't drink there!

Firstly not at all true and secondly would be hilarious .

jimi_t · 12-04-2008 9:36pm

vote4pedro wrote: »

I don't really get what you mean about scandalous record with concerts?

Ireland has the worst track record in Europe as regards ticket prices, cancellations and just not getting acts in. If I was to make any analogy it would probably be to our health service compared to that of other countries - i.e a shambles.

Look at bands who play Universities in England, there's more than enough interesting, quality rock bands willing to play there at smaller unis than UCD.

Thats because they can profit by throwing a band in a bus and playing 5 universities a week. We simply don't have the population density or infastructure to follow (I've had this very same argument with a few people). It's all well and good saying 'sure come over on the ferry' but it effectively kills 3 days work for the band and comes with all the fun of currency conversion, lodgings etc... They're just not willing and we just don't have the money for the most part.

...but why not ask bands like Los Campesinos or Forward Russia to play an extra show here (they're just two bands from the top of my head, many more bigger and more interesting acts are happy to play UK unis)

As for the cost factor, while established acts may be more expensive, I've been somewhat involved in the booking of bands and we're not talking astronomical fees for emerging/alternative acts.

As have I - up untill about 4 years ago we had a family run promotions agency bringing fairly big names in Jazz and World Music into the country; sold out the NCH and similar sized venues around the country for 70-80% of our shows. There's things I can't say here for obvious reasons, but you would be absolutely shocked by the complete monopoly the two big agencies have on putting on acts in Dublin - it is close to criminal.

In any case, it's easy to look at paying 500 euro for an up-and-comer as an easy decision in the 'if I was ents officer' mindframe, but things like overheads often turn 'cheap' 'alternative' acts which look great on paper into financial disasters.

Ents have about 15 late licenses a year. For *every* event they do, they have to hire in their FOH sound desk, pay the bouncers, subsidise committee members (and their booze), hire in the crash barriers for *every* gig - they can't buy their own for insurance reasons, and they cost close to a grand IIRC - lights, amps, marketing/printing costs, specifics written in the riders of the various acts....it goes on and on

A good example is Justice last year. Great act, not hugely expensive compared to what they are now, sold out every ticket and all was looking peachy...

...ents ended up making an overall loss of about 6 (?) grand due to VAT or somesuch being incorrectly calculated.

So Digitalism et al are all gotten through a promoter, presumably the one Stephen Quinlaven said he had ties with in his manifesto last year. Great, but why does that stop Ents forging similar ties with other promoters?

Contracts, contracts, contracts. We're affiliated with one of the big two (i.e. Aiken and ***) and thats where pretty much all our acts come from. We screw up and they're perfectly within their rights to tell us to **** off.

I'd advise you to do some research into what the UCD Ents officer actually does - it's nice in the manifestos saying 'Oh I'll get X, Y and Z in next year if I'm elected' but the reality of the job is that its primarily focused around working as a marketing administrator for the events, a liaison for the various outside companies involved in the events and as a recognisable face around campus

I don't mean to be having a go at Ents who have organised some great, successful gigs this year but anyone can see there's something of a mismatch when the electro acts put on are Digitalism, Lektroluv, Felix, Calvin Harris whilst the rock acts are Fun Lovin Criminals, Royseven, Coronas, The Flaws.

I agree completely, but pretty much every act we've ever had in has placed in the Irish Top 100 charts - now count how many feasible rock acts are in those charts that could be brought in and then compare it to the dance acts. Its a matter of financial risk at the end of the day.

It's just the way it is, its a matter of getting used to it unfortunately; It's the same in all Irish universities. Go to Whelans or the Village or something - the main UCD bar is an awful venue anyways.

BlackMamba · 12-04-2008 11:07pm

Not many well-known bands would be interested in playing at UCD for various reasons! Personally I'm not goingto the ball. My plan involves knacker drinking, food, more knacker drinking and some drunken adventures round campus! Whoop whoop!!:D:D

vote4pedro · 12-04-2008 11:25pm

jimi_t wrote: »

In any case, it's easy to look at paying 500 euro for an up-and-comer as an easy decision in the 'if I was ents officer' mindframe, but things like overheads often turn 'cheap' 'alternative' acts which look great on paper into financial disasters.

Ents have about 15 late licenses a year. For *every* event they do, they have to hire in their FOH sound desk, pay the bouncers, subsidise committee members (and their booze), hire in the crash barriers for *every* gig - they can't buy their own for insurance reasons, and they cost close to a grand IIRC - lights, amps, marketing/printing costs, specifics written in the riders of the various acts....it goes on and on

While the costs are obviously excessive, I still dont see how they're relevant to the argument. The costs are the same for a rock act, or a dance/electro act (bar the performance fee/rider which I still don't think would be a huge difference between the genres, and even if so the price of the dance gigs have, comendably, been very reasonable, and a couple of quid could easily be tacked on to them), and its not like a decent rock act couldn't sell out the bar.

Im not saying we should turn every electro night we've had in the past two years, or the UCD Ball/freshers Ball, in to some alternative obscure indie circle jerk but it's ridiculous to blame overheads or contracts on the fact there hasn't been a single decent rock act in two years. If these problems can be worked around for getting in Digitalism, I don't see how there wasn't one occassion in two years where a single interesting rock act were available. I mean come on, even the nobs that run Antics at Crawdaddy are able to bring over some quite cool acts.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that none of the Ents crew would be the type you'd see hanging around Whelans or what have you. I dont blame them, Id do the same and want to get in as many of my favourite acts/genres where it would be possible, if I were Ents officer, and again I don't want to sound like I'm having a big go at them because I've enjoyed some great nights/gigs. However we shouldn't pretend that having one single good rock act in two or three years is an impossibility.

jimi_t · 13-04-2008 12:04am

vote4pedro wrote: »

While the costs are obviously excessive, I still dont see how they're relevant to the argument. The costs are the same for a rock act, or a dance/electro act (bar the performance fee/rider which I still don't think would be a huge difference between the genres

And thats basically the crux of the argument, there is a huge difference in price between a four/five piece band and a single DJ - in terms of everything from insurance, to licencing, to their fee to everything else.

and its not like a decent rock act couldn't sell out the bar.

Im not saying we should turn every electro night we've had in the past two years, or the UCD Ball/freshers Ball, in to some alternative obscure indie circle jerk but it's ridiculous to blame overheads or contracts on the fact there hasn't been a single decent rock act in two years.

In case you haven't noticed, decent rock acts are fairly thin on the ground in Ireland - we've had pretty much every released Irish band with a guitar in the bar at this stage; the problem being they're mostly absolute muck. There are some decent acts around - Boss Volenti for one - but the real problem I supposed is erring to the side of financial caution for the reasons discussed above.

If these problems can be worked around for getting in Digitalism, I don't see how there wasn't one occassion in two years where a single interesting rock act were available. I mean come on, even the nobs that run Antics at Crawdaddy are able to bring over some quite cool acts.

Heh - there is quite a decent act playing the freshers ball this year from what I've been hearing; I know nothing about the running of Antics, but they have their own venue to play with (i.e. money coming from the booze) as well as a *lot* more cash than UCD.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that none of the Ents crew would be the type you'd see hanging around Whelans or what have you. I dont blame them, Id do the same and want to get in as many of my favourite acts/genres where it would be possible, if I were Ents officer, and again I don't want to sound like I'm having a big go at them because I've enjoyed some great nights/gigs. However we shouldn't pretend that having one single good rock act in two or three years is an impossibility.

Well I'd be delighted to see someone into rock and whatnot run for Ents Officer but evidently they have better things to be doing.

13-04-2008 12:26am

Maybe a bit late but will there be anymore tickets going on sale?? Jimi_T, I didn't see any on sale on Friday (in a prior post you said there would be 200 more on sale). Could these have been delayed till Monday??

RIP-sanity · 14-04-2008 3:45pm

I'm not getting into the costs argument because really I have no experience with that side of things but personally I don't understand why we have to fly in bands. Everybody seems to assume that bands like The Coronas and The Blizzards are all we've got in Ireland. There are some excellent bands that are making serious waves in the music industry who could easily play a set in UCD.. The Crete Boom are amazing, from Dublin, about to launch an album and no doubt willing to play gigs in University's to promote that. Equally The Last Tycoons (formally Porn Trauma), also from Dublin, also a veryvery good band, recently launched an ep and were gigging like mad to promote it. Mike Got Spiked, also from Ireland, have already played on the warped tour, extremely talented but relatively unknown over here, soon to be releasing an album and once again will be looking to promote it. The Millionaire boys, a very good hiphop act from dublin. They were supporting Republic of Loose in the Academy, I talked to them afterwards and they actually asked how they'd go about getting a gig in universities.
There are plenty of people willing to play.
Anyway, my point is, don't be disillusioned by the irish music scene, we do not have to fly people in, there is loads of talent around the place.
And I think we should be focusing more on getting quality rather than bigname,
I'd be more interested in seeing new fresh bands rather than old 'successful' but stale bands.

Also want to point out. When complaining about the one-sidedness of the genre of acts booked. How many hip-hop acts have we seen in UCD in the last year? Even if electo outnumbers rock somewhat at least there have been some rock bands (like Metallicia, who were amazing)

Blut · 14-04-2008 5:32pm

The problem with a lot of those bands I imagine is theyre unlikely to sell out the student bar. With all the costs listed above for extra security, crowd control, sounds/lighting etc it probably wouldnt be profitable to stage gigs for bands that dont have a semi-well established fan based and are assured to sell a good number of tickets.

Anyway, any news on extra tickets being released for the ball? I heard the rumour that more were coming out last week too but havnt seen any sign of them yet.

mloc · 15-04-2008 2:19pm

Hold tight, fair few more on the way.

dajaffa · 15-04-2008 3:18pm

Ste told the Ents Crew + SU Council yesterday that they're investigating relocating the gig to the Student Centre car park + surrounding areas. IF they can that'll mean an extra 1000+ tickets at the end of this week or early next week.