Castlepalooza 2011

ghostdancer

not comparing like with like there.

a pint is a fiver at EP, and in Whelans, same at Castlepalooza.

cans of Hackenberg are 4 for €5 in most off-licences, from the Castlepalooza off-licence they're €2.50 each, or, as the pricelist seems to suggest, €4 each from the bars.

i'm pretty sure shop-bought cans don't turn to soup, and unless the Castlepalooza control the weather, the cans you buy there will go lukewarm too, assuming they're all refrigerated in the first place (you can get ice at EP, presumably you can at Castlepalooza too?). As for them being gone altogether, not really sure what point you're trying to make there, people generally bring enough to last them the weekend.

aside from that, there's an off-licence at EP too, so everything that you think are advantages at Castlepalooza are at EP too.
except at EP you can choose to bring your own drink too.

i wouldn't find the drink situation that much of a problem if it was reasonably priced, but €2.50 a can is cheeky and €4 a can is an absolute joke.

ShriekingSheet

ghostdancer wrote: »

not comparing like with like there.

a pint is a fiver at EP, and in Whelans, same at Castlepalooza.

cans of Hackenberg are 4 for €5 in most off-licences, from the Castlepalooza off-licence they're €2.50 each, or, as the pricelist seems to suggest, €4 each from the bars.

i'm pretty sure shop-bought cans don't turn to soup, and unless the Castlepalooza control the weather, the cans you buy there will go lukewarm too, assuming they're all refrigerated in the first place. As for them being gone altogether, not really sure what point you're trying to make there, people generally bring enough to last them the weekend.

aside from that, there's an off-licence at EP too, so everything that you think are advantages at Castlepalooza are at EP too.
except at EP you can choose to bring your own drink too.


€2.50 a can is cheeky, €4 a can is an absolute joke.

I'm not apologising for Castlepalooza. I just like the idea of an on-site off-licence, and being allowed to drink the cans at the gigs, not just in the campsite.

On paper, it is way cheaper to BYOB, a-la EP or Oxegen. But anyone who's been to a lot of festivals knows that in practice, few people have the discipline to not buy any drinks at the bars, and to only drink from their stash of brought cans. This gets even less realisitc come Sunday, when the cans are warm, and it's a trek out of the actual arena back to your tent to get them, and the bar is right beside the stage you want to go to.

If you have that discipline to never spend a fiver, fair play to you, and you are 100% right to be pee'd off, as your way is much cheaper. But in reality, most people end up squandering cash on 5 or 6 bar drinks over the weekend. This is €30 wasted, which undoes the economy of bringing the cheap booze in the first place.

Fair enough, it's a shame we won't be having any €1 cans at Castlepalooza, but we won't have to be buying any €5 pints either.

ghostdancer

well if you want an actual pint, you WILL have to be paying a fiver, same as any other festival.
if you want a can instead from the bars, you'll be paying €4 for the privilege.
or you can stock up during the 5 hours a day that the off-licence is open, and have them go warm within the time it takes to drink 1 can, and pay €2.50 a can for those.

I'll be at Indiependence this weekend, so it doesn't really affect me, but it'll certainly be a consideration next year that it will cost far more alcohol-wise to go to Castlepalooza than any other small festival, where the walk to the campsite is about 1minute, about the same as walking from the Castlepalooza stages back to the campsite off-licence.

as i said, if the prices were reasonable, then it'd be fine, but €4 for a can of Hackenberg that costs €1.25 in an off-licence, and probably less in the Cash&Carry, is a joke.

darren atticastatic

Does anyone know if they have anywhere to plug stuff in, like chargers, hairdryers etc?

Also, how easy is it to smuggle in drink, those off-licence prices are insane.

Thanks

Toast

There isn't anywhere official to plug stuff in but you might be able to convince someone to let you plug something in in the castle for a short time... probably not a hairdryer though.

There isn't much point about asking about smuggling drink in. Mods don't allow it and the promoters are also watching for tips on what to look for. Also if the reason for this is truly license based and there was evidence of them NOT fulfilling their duty as per license on a public forum they'd almost certainly step up any methods they have as an appeal against the event could use such talk against them.

catch--22

Anyway.... there will be music on this weekend too. So here's my hit list for the weekend. If anyone has any other recommendations please post em!

Friday - Nothing in particular. LOVED Mercury Rev last year on the main stage so will pop into their DJ set.

Saturday -

Bitches With Wolves - Caught them at Seasessions. Brilliant pop.
Planet Parade - Haven't seen/heard from them in a while but loved them before.
Codes - as above.....but always great live
The Minutes - new album is great but still haven't seen it played live.
Jape - Always a great festival performer
Hudson Mohawke - caught him in Oxegen last year playing to about 100 people in the dance shed. This could be my highlight.

Sunday -

Jogging - Again another band I've yet to see live
Enemies - Their first album is now on a free download from their bandcamp page (http://bit.ly/ilWVj2)
Jimmy Cake - Love this band!
Naughty by Nature - I've a really good feeling about this set!
DJ Tu-Ki - It wouldn't be a Castleplaooza without him!


Also -to the person asking about powerpoints - there are a couple in the main room of the castle I'm sure you could plug into for a quick phone charge one of the mornings.

Roll on Friday evening!

mal1

I'm more disappointed about it being a three day event. There's not much to be seen on Friday (in my opinion) so the extra night is a bigger revenue pull then the crappy drink prices. I just hope there is space in the camp site on Saturday morning cause i ain't going down on Friday.

Go Panda Go and Clock Opera are my recommendations.

ShriekingSheet

Clock Opera for me too. The Minutes' new album is good, so like Catch 22, would be interested in seeing them do the new stuff live. They always put on a good gig, especially once the singer doesn't say anything cringe-worthy between songs. Moths stuff sounds good via earphones. Hard to know how it will go down at a festival but I'm definitely going along to see. Also on for Le Galaxie and Jape which should be good for a bop.

Would welcome any tips on any other bands worth checking out.

Whipping Boy

Drink situation is far from ideal. Can't afford the prices mentioned and though I can go without a drink it's nice to be able to bring your to a festival if you so wish.

Anyhow, here's a preview thing with recommended acts.

http://stop-thelights.blogspot.com/2011/07/festival-preview-castlepalooza-2011.html

darren atticastatic

Thanks for the info on the sockets!
Line up looking good, can't wait to see Adebisi Shank, These Charming men, Codes & Sleep Theives.

What kind of food do they usually have there? I suppose the usual burgers etc?
And is it pricey too?

catch--22

darren atticastatic wrote: »

Thanks for the info on the sockets!
Line up looking good, can't wait to see Adebisi Shank, These Charming men, Codes & Sleep Theives.

What kind of food do they usually have there? I suppose the usual burgers etc?
And is it pricey too?

They've always had some really good grub....more vendors each year. Can't remember prices but the usual festival charge. If the red london bus is here again....last year they were serving the nicest steak sambos! Worth every penny!

catch--22

According to the Castlepalooza FB page there will be a pop-up shop at the courtyard selling phone credit and free charging.

Toast

So are most people heading down early today or how is it split up? Would hope it'll be relatively quiet when I arrive around 6pm.

catch--22

Won't be leaving Dublin until about 6.30. Keep a camping space for me Toast? Good man!

mp3ireland2

Won't be headin down till tomorrow as most of the people I'm heading there with are hadin to too many dj's tonight..... Hoping to get there between 1and 2 tomorrow so offlicence will be open! But have a feeling the other's won't be up too quick in the morning, and one of them has my ticket so can't get in untill she arrives!

mal1

Tomorrow for me too. You can have my space.

catch--22

A brilliant weekend. Well done to everyone at Cherry Cool and the volunteers. You put on a great show.

Adebisi Shank, Jape, Naughty By Nature, Le Galaxie and Minutes some of the highlights. Also that new courtyard stage is a brilliant addition! Roll on next year!

Toast

I think the magic has gone. The site felt very full this year and there seemed to be a lot more random idiots running around. People pissing on tents and the like. Not entirely sure if it was just the extra night or maybe we were in an unlucky area but the level of mashedness people had reached by Sunday was a lot more obnoxious than previous years. It changed from having random conversations with people who stopped by to trying to get them to move on before they fell over your tent. Always was a few of these sorts and it is par for the course at festivals to see a good few like it but there appeared to be several groups of them camped around us and wasn't the sort of atmosphere we'd come to expect from the festival.

Still had some good times and completely agree the new courtyard area was excellent but I think my time with Castlepalooza is done.

Dowdy

Which campsite were you in, Toast? I had a great time myself, and my only complaint about the weekend is related to the one I was making before the festival – the drink situation. Got a slab of Budvar on the Friday, and it was actually a fairly decent drink, so I was happy with that. We ended up going through it fairly quickly though, and on Sunday (and I think for much of Saturday too), there was no Budvar to be had, only Hackenburg and Stoya. I seem to remember hearing that there was only Stoya too by the end. I tried both of them and they were pretty **** beers, particularly Stoya.

Worse than this was the damn queue on Sunday evening. I left before the end of The Jimmy Cake, expecting to get another jug of wine before Adebisi Shank started, and hoping that I would be quick enough to not miss too much of The Jimmy Cake because they were playing a blinder. Ended up in the queue for at least 45 minutes and missed the first 20 minutes of Adebisi Shank, who played the best set of the whole weekend. There were only four taps in the bar, and as many staff at that time I think, so they were taking ages to get through the massive queue. If they had a couple more people serving drinks, and another few taps, they wouldn't have had that problem.

I'm not sure if I was just unlucky to go to the bar at the exact time that loads of other people had the same idea, or if it was like this for a while on Sunday, but it could have been improved fairly easily. I'm mainly just pissed that I had to miss so much of the Shank!

Loved the festival though, and will probably be back next year again.

El Weirdo

Dowdy wrote: »

Which campsite were you in, Toast?

From this line:

Toast wrote: »

Not entirely sure if it was just the extra night or maybe we were in an unlucky area but the level of mashedness people had reached by Sunday was a lot more obnoxious than previous years.

I'm guessing that he may have been in the same campsite as ourselves, Dowdy. You were particularly bad on Sunday and it was obvious that all the other attendees had got together to form a long queue at the bar in order to curb your excessive wine-drinking.

Great weekend and I'd definitely go again next year as long as it's not on the same weekend so I don't miss my son's 2nd birthday.