Does Limerick need a good quality live small to medium size live venue?

bigpink

Got me thinking after everyone trying to get Mumford and Sons tickets,is Dolans warehouse over rated?Yes they bring good acts but the venue it self needs a bit work i think
Does Limerick need a good live venue?
Something like Tri pod or Academy or Button factory in Dublin

bullets

bigpink wrote: »

Got me thinking after everyone trying to get Mumford and Sons tickets,is Dolans warehouse over rated?Yes they bring good acts but the venue it self needs a bit work i think
Does Limerick need a good live venue?
Something like Tri pod or Academy or Button factory in Dublin

I quite like Dolans, nice and relaxed most of the time.
I've gone there to see bands I have had little or no interest
in, just because it was a stress-less nice relaxing night out,
where you can relax and listen to a bit of live music,
have a few pints and grab a cab home without a queue
when you walk out of the place.


You can have yer pint in peace at the bar and wander into the gig afterwards your
not jammed packed like a tin of sardines, but for bigger acts its probably not the best but most of the bands I like
are either dead or have never been heard of with the exception of having New Model Army/Justin Sullivan & friends play Dolans in Little Ol Limwreck,

I would consider the Button Factory in Dublin on Par with Dolans, regarding the amount of people being able to be packed inside of it. Most of the bands I had any interest in
going back a few years were obscure goth related bands that most people would never have heard of and the temple bar music center stroke button factory was like Dolans a perfect place to get a nice intimate gig.

~B

Poxyshamrock

Franciscans on Henry St. would be a good location.

Amazotheamazing

Dolans isn't over-rated, it's limited by it's size but for it's size it's a great venue. I'd go as far as to say it's the best small venue outside Dublin in Ireland, certainly better than anything in Cork or Galway, imo, soundwise.

Could Limerick do with a bigger venue, definitely, but that's nothing to do with Dolans. I'd love to see something bigger open, who wouldn't?

CiaranMT

Could it be supported though? Ideally, Dolan's would be expanded, but that's not going to happen with things the way they are.

Amazotheamazing

CiaranMT wrote: »

Could it be supported though? Ideally, Dolan's would be expanded, but that's not going to happen with things the way they are.

Problem with expanding Dolans is that it's only too small for a handful of it's gigs every year. Most of the revenue probably comes from the tribute bands and small acts that suit the size of the place. For every sell out gig, there's gigs like Brendan Benson that are great but no where near sold out.

If they were to expand Dolans they'd need to change the profile of the bands they get. great in theory but it may not be easily done. It'd be great to see the type of bands that play the Olympia or Vicar street also play somewhere in Limerick but you can't compare the potential market in Dublin to that in Limerick.

Course, we have a ready made venues for larger gigs, the Milk Market or King John's Castle could be awesome places for gigs (and both have held gigs before) but with our weather we could do with an indoor venue of maybe 850-1200 people, on the assumption people would travel from Cork/Galway to gigs if the bands were good enough.

Vicar street can hold 1500, the Olympia can hold 1300, The Academy can hold 850, Whelans 400. That's a fairly broad spectrum but like i said, different market. Mind you, Castlebar's Royal theatre can seemingly hold 4,000 so maybe if we build it, they will come. My preference would be to keep Dolans as is and build a larger capacity venue on the gasyard beside Dolans (easy access for commuters from Cork/Galway and that area could do with a lot more life).

breezy1985

problenm with limerick is audience size not venue size.ive been at many bands in dolans which were filling venues in the other cities but got pitiful attendances in limerick.people just have no appreciation for music here

Amazotheamazing

breezy1985 wrote: »

problenm with limerick is audience size not venue size.ive been at many bands in dolans which were filling venues in the other cities but got pitiful attendances in limerick.people just have no appreciation for music here

Possibly, there's something in that but i also think Dolans can be bad at marketing itself. It's a remote outpost of great music and facilities when ideally a venue like that would be suited much nearer the centre of town (think Savoy in Cork, Roisin Dubh in Galway). Because it's out of the way it should be better at selling itself but often it let's itself down.

Wonder what the capacity of the Cornmarket bar would be if it was redesigned inside to be a proper gig venue (could those pillars be altered?)? Ideally we'd have a proper live venue near the Market.

vkid

Limerick has one in the Theatre Royal which has been sitting idle for years over tax or ownership problems or some other political crap. Used to do well for gigs when it was open i think.

Dolans is a great venue but unless theres something on i want to see its too far from the city center to stroll down there when you are out on the piss. I'm very lazy though ;-) Sound isnt great sometimes but dont know if thats the band or the sound. They get good acts sometimes for the size of it.

badboyblast

Dolans is by far not over rated - under rated if you ask me and only growing.

Where else would you get to see Mumford and Sons, Kasabian, some of the worlds
headline djs such as Green Velvet, Derrick May and Mr Scruff.

They threw an excellent party for thier 10 year birthday, they cater for all music types
from Rock, Traditional, Hip Hop, House etc.
They stick their neck out and put on new acts where every other club in the city just has
Jimmy Disco behind the decks playing the top 40!!

Your comparing Apples and Oranges when talking about Dublin v`s Limerick - Dublin has a population
of 1 million plus and your talking about the Acadmey having a capacity of 400, Dolans maybe 550 over both venues
and Limerick with a population of 100K people so Dolans are doing very well on one tenth of the potential patrons.

kilburn

I always thought that if we had a top notch quality indoor arena in the city centre it would support itself. Whe you think of the possibilities it is a good idea. Maybe a 4000 seater arena, something like the NEC in Birmingham or the Odessy in Belfast. Have a ice hockey or basketball team based there. Get the boxing matches, wrestling tours, decent bands, exhibitions like the rds has shows like Top Gear or fashion shows. With the tunnel and motorway network now there is a catchment area of at least 400-500k people with in an hour of Limerick City so it is viable if the events match it.

breezy1985

were also f****d geographicly because alot of touring bands do dublin cork galway belfast and dont see the need to do anywhere inbetween.and alot of those are playing venues the same size as dolans

Amazotheamazing

breezy1985 wrote: »

were also f****d geographicly because alot of touring bands do dublin cork galway belfast and dont see the need to do anywhere inbetween.and alot of those are playing venues the same size as dolans

Bands will go wherever they think they can get money from sold-out gigs. Make it worth a bands while to come to Limerick and they will.

cson

kilburn wrote: »

I always thought that if we had a top notch quality indoor arena in the city centre it would support itself. Whe you think of the possibilities it is a good idea. Maybe a 4000 seater arena, something like the NEC in Birmingham or the Odessy in Belfast. Have a ice hockey or basketball team based there. Get the boxing matches, wrestling tours, decent bands, exhibitions like the rds has shows like Top Gear or fashion shows. With the tunnel and motorway network now there is a catchment area of at least 400-500k people with in an hour of Limerick City so it is viable if the events match it.

Great idea in theory but no way Limerick would ever be able to support or sustain a 4k arena.

Imo the UCH is criminally under utilised though perhaps that's the plan for it - catering for the Paddy and Josephines of this world with D'Unbelieveables etc etc.

whatever73

cson wrote: »

Great idea in theory but no way Limerick would ever be able to support or sustain a 4k arena.

Imo the UCH is criminally under utilised though perhaps that's the plan for it - catering for the Paddy and Josephines of this world with D'Unbelieveables etc etc.

Don't think UCH would be great for rock/indie bands being all seated. Seen Morrissey in the INEC in Killarney and think a venue like that would be ideal in Limerick

JerryHandbag

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Franciscans on Henry St. would be a good location.

Excellent location. Anyone know any info about this place, occupied or not etc??

kilburn

The Fransicans Church and Friary was donated to Mary I. It is a protected structure so you can not do too much to it but the Vity council were mooting the idea of moving the museum in there as it was insuitable for a library

sioda

I thought the J's was given to Mary I not the franciscians ????

dave 27

Lads all i'll say is MILK MARKET.

Iv posted here quite a few times saying that the milk market would be the coolest venue for a live gig, you have areas there which could be used for bars and in the centre of the market quarter!

Imagine this place filled for a concert!

kilburn

sioda wrote: »

I thought the J's was given to Mary I not the franciscians ????

J's was bought by a private developer for i think 6m at the time he wanted to make it a restaraunt or something.

Franciscans defo a part of Mary I, maybe it is about time UL staked a presence in the City, something in Frans or the Old Mid West business institute maybe?

sioda

@ kilburn Your right google as always has led me right :P

UL never have given a monkeys about the city imho.

Dont see them doing much with it. But a least its not in the hands of the council

TestTransmission

Could be good news,wonder what the capacity would be if the setup was right?

http://www.limerickpost.ie/index.php/navigation-mainmenu-30/local-news/2914-milk-market-earmarked-for-concerts.html

L.T.P.

Great news, Limerick City seriously lacks a good live music venue. Obviously Dolans is there but I think its that little bit too far outside the city centre.

Hows about Springsteen for an acoustic set in the market?:D

crazygeryy

breezy1985 wrote: »

were also f****d geographicly because alot of touring bands do dublin cork galway belfast and dont see the need to do anywhere inbetween.and alot of those are playing venues the same size as dolans

i totally agree with that.if you look in the paper there isnt enough bloody space to list the bands that are on in dublin.they just wont come here and maybe it is because the venue s here arent big enough.

but i totally disagree with this

"problenm with limerick is audience size not venue size.ive been at many bands in dolans which were filling venues in the other cities but got pitiful attendances in limerick.people just have no appreciation for music here

i dont think thats true at all.there are a lot of music loving people in this city its just that they havent a decent venue to go to.
and as someone said already uch is a fine venue but total ****e for indie and alternative or rock bands.i saw the frames there and i was seated ffs.you dont sit at a frames gig.

id love to know if dolans find it hard to get bands to come play there?or do they even try?

DesLyons

bigpink wrote: »

Got me thinking after everyone trying to get Mumford and Sons tickets,is Dolans warehouse over rated?Yes they bring good acts but the venue it self needs a bit work i think
Does Limerick need a good live venue?
Something like Tri pod or Academy or Button factory in Dublin

I 100% love Dolan's . Its my favorite place in town ... I love going to Macro night in there.. So class... They sued to have Strutt inside there as wel dont know if thats still going on.

I used to hang around the other side of town, trinners molly's and all that but now i wouldnt go near that side of town!!

Been to the tripod twice ( seen van burren & boys noize ) its a wicked spot , the sound system is unreal.

Seen a thing in the post there trying to turn the market square or something into a venue for concerts ..

Would love if they got Gv's out in DunDrum its only half an hour away and its a lovely spot

if6was9

Interested to see how the Market works out for gigs.
Personally I think there's not enough people going out to gigs to warrant a permanant venue bigger than Dolans. Been going to all sorts of gigs in Limerick since before I was old enough to legally be allowed to and there just isn't a crowd there to sustain it. Dolans is very rarely full and alot of touring acts overlook limerick because it's just not a big enough city to be on their radar.
Sure Mumford and Sons drew a big crowd but if you had bands of that size or similar playing here every week the numbers would drop significantly. To keep a venue open you need consistent numbers and the likes of Dolans know what kind of numbers to expect putting on gigs a couple of nights a week, going by that they know what kind of money they can risk on a gig with bigger bands.
It would be a different story if Dolans were packed out most nights of the week and smaller gigs in other venues likewise but the reality is they aren't.