Royal de Luxe September 2014

seachto7

€10 million to the city?

Jofspring

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

I thought the Giant was great. Others didn't get it.

You know it is ok if people don't like something. Lets not have a mentality here of ganging up on people who have a different opinion.

It's one thing not liking it but some people are slating it and calling it a waste of money. Its very harsh considering the reaction it got with the thousands who came to see it.

phog

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

I thought the Giant was great. Others didn't get it.

You know it is ok if people don't like something. Lets not have a mentality here of ganging up on people who have a different opinion.

No problem with folk not liking it but knocking it as a waste of money, especially after seeing the 1,000s that turned out to see it is a bit much to be honest.

beveragelady

I managed a quick glimpse of her on Friday evening and I was entranced. The buzz around the city was so positive and good-humoured, I haven't seen anything like it since Italia 90 when it seemed for a while that we could do anything. Oul wans and yummy mummies beaming at tattooed hard-chaws and trackies-in-the-socks gurriers, cops letting tiny wee skangs play with the siren on their bikes, it was all a bit dreamlike. Waiting for granny to saunter by I had the feeling that anything at all could be about to happen.
The puppetry is astonishing, and the theatrics and acrobatics of her mechanics are fascinating, but granny herself just mooched happily along, benevolent and distant. All around me children were losing it, terrified and awestruck and amused.
When I went back in on Sunday I stood for well over an hour in the sun at the church at Thomond Bridge waiting for the show to kick off. I've thought a lot about it but I can't put my finger on what was so special about the atmosphere. I suppose the weather had a lot to do with it but some credit has to go to the people of Limerick, who handed over their streets so this ridiculous spectacle could play out. I was struck by the audacity of it all, the cranes, the enormous cymbals, the cars on top of cars, the confetti cannon. It demonstrate a 'feck it all, go big or go home' mentality that the locals seem to appreciate.
It is a terrible shame that petty local small-minded politics seem to have been behind the change of plans at the end of Granny's journey, but the naysayers can't claim any real victory. Limerick showed its best side, its true colours, and an event like this will last in people's memories.

That live first "radio station" slated it. Do a bunch of children run it or something? Most of their comments read like 12 year olds wrote them

Iranoutofideas

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

That live first "radio station" slated it. Do a bunch of children run it or something? Most of their comments read like 12 year olds wrote them

The what?

Iranoutofideas

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

The what?

Look up live first on Facebook

pigtown

beveragelady wrote: »

I managed a quick glimpse of her on Friday evening and I was entranced. The buzz around the city was so positive and good-humoured, I haven't seen anything like it since Italia 90 when it seemed for a while that we could do anything. Oul wans and yummy mummies beaming at tattooed hard-chaws and trackies-in-the-socks gurriers, cops letting tiny wee skangs play with the siren on their bikes, it was all a bit dreamlike. Waiting for granny to saunter by I had the feeling that anything at all could be about to happen.
The puppetry is astonishing, and the theatrics and acrobatics of her mechanics are fascinating, but granny herself just mooched happily along, benevolent and distant. All around me children were losing it, terrified and awestruck and amused.
When I went back in on Sunday I stood for well over an hour in the sun at the church at Thomond Bridge waiting for the show to kick off. I've thought a lot about it but I can't put my finger on what was so special about the atmosphere. I suppose the weather had a lot to do with it but some credit has to go to the people of Limerick, who handed over their streets so this ridiculous spectacle could play out. I was struck by the audacity of it all, the cranes, the enormous cymbals, the cars on top of cars, the confetti cannon. It demonstrate a 'feck it all, go big or go home' mentality that the locals seem to appreciate.
It is a terrible shame that petty local small-minded politics seem to have been behind the change of plans at the end of Granny's journey, but the naysayers can't claim any real victory. Limerick showed its best side, its true colours, and an event like this will last in people's memories.

What's this now?

beveragelady

pigtown wrote: »

What's this now?

Granny was supposed to depart on a barge on the Shannon on Sunday afternoon to continue her journey beyond Limerick, but that didn't happen. As far as I know (and I could well be misinformed) it turns out that a permit had been granted for Granny herself to board, but not for any of her tiny red-coated assistants. Somebody in Limerick city hall must have spotted that ages ago, and has probably been crouched over a desk gleefully rubbing their hands for months, waiting for their moment to reveal that those fecking frenchies wouldn't be let just come over here with their great big puppet and get everything their way. Oh no, not while there's breath in our miserable bodies and red tape to put in the way, we'll show them so we will.

Wise Old Elf

beveragelady wrote: »

Granny was supposed to depart on a barge on the Shannon on Sunday afternoon to continue her journey beyond Limerick, but that didn't happen. As far as I know (and I could well be misinformed) it turns out that a permit had been granted for Granny herself to board, but not for any of her tiny red-coated assistants. Somebody in Limerick city hall must have spotted that ages ago, and has probably been crouched over a desk gleefully rubbing their hands for months, waiting for their moment to reveal that those fecking frenchies wouldn't be let just come over here with their great big puppet and get everything their way. Oh no, not while there's breath in our miserable bodies and red tape to put in the way, we'll show them so we will.

I heard something similar but that it got sorted, but then someone hadn't checked the tides. Low tide was at 12:15 or thereabouts, and the river wasn't high enough to take her at the original scheduled time. This could also be wrong, but the tide was fully out when we were there on Sunday

teddyhead

There was a larger than usual boat in the marina on sunday. My theory is that this was the one meant to take granny away but it couldnt go through the lock gate due to low water on the other side . Seems a more logical explanation than politics.

tylrmd

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

5 posts in nearly Four Years, all about what some would consider a gob****e's sport....GOLF For God's Sake.
How much lottery money was wasted on Golf Clubs in the middle of nowhere during the boom years ???
Hint...more than this event cost.

....and you save your 6th post to slate something that probably drew more people than every stupid, pissy little sexist Golf Club had playing over the whole weekend.

edit. And how come boards won't let me type gob****e, yet allow the word bollocks ???? Is there a swear-meter that lets some words through ? Possibly a boards swear-word dictionary that starts at 'G' ?

I think you've got way too much time on your hands G. You should put it to better use...

jonski

tylrmd wrote: »

I think you've got way too much time on your hands G. You should put it to better use...

meh , I thought he spent it fairly well there .

I loved the weekend , the puppet , the vibe , the amount of people that made the effort to come in and see it , I thought for the most part it went off fairly well .

Nudnig

I agree that everything went perfectly and the weather played a huge part. I'm just afraid that it may have glossed over some of the shortcomings and that these will be repeated the next time a festival takes place. I was in at the Culture and Chips food festival over the June Bank Holiday weekend in Arthur's Quay park and it was very disappointing despite it being a great idea. Only two or three competitors in the spiegel tent and only one chip van selling chips outside (and chip vans are hardly known for their 'world class' chips). I think I expected something similar to the BBQ competition during Riverfest. I thought you might have Enzo's , Luigi's, Donkey Fords etc. all showing off their great chips. I think there is nothing worse than building people's expectations up and not backing it up when they make the effort to come to the city and visit.
Anyway, slightly off-point, but we need to get over the back slapping and push things on just like Riverfest has done over the years.
My biggest crib with Limerick is that when you come into the centre of the city (which I consider to be O'Connell St. from Arthur's Quay to Roches St.) there needs to be visible signs that a festival is taking place. Even during Riverfest, the quays outside the Locke may be hopping with people and music but there would be no hint of this in the city centre for someone who just wandered into town. You would be amazed how ill informed some people are to events that are taking place; most of us on this site are not in that bracket so it can be hard to understand.
Also, another reason people might have enjoyed the granny so much was the high garda presence. People felt safe letting their children run around Arthur's Quay park which probably isn't the case most of the time. Again I remember the brilliant National Lottery fireworks a few years back (St. Patrick's weekend??) and the brilliant crowds on the quays and bridges. When I got to O'Connell St. just after (before 9pm but dark), there were a crowd of teenagers drinking cans, shouting and roaring and peeing outside Ferguson's chemist - no gardai to be seen. This puts families off coming back again and you would expect the main street to be properly policed after an event like this.
Basically, we need to learn and improve if we are going to push on from here and take advantage of all the good that this event brought.

gotasmoke

Disco Stuart wrote: »

I heard something similar but that it got sorted, but then someone hadn't checked the tides. Low tide was at 12:15 or thereabouts, and the river wasn't high enough to take her at the original scheduled time. This could also be wrong, but the tide was fully out when we were there on Sunday

It was nothing to do with tides. The tides are known years in advance and the boat to transport granny was well clear in low water. The reason it didn't go ahead is because there was no rehearsal done and the powers that be deemed it unsafe to to move the Granny and the minders without knowing exactly how it would work.

vkid

Nudnig wrote: »

Anyway, slightly off-point, but we need to get over the back slapping and push things on just like Riverfest has done over the years.

Agree with a lot of your post(especially re: Garda presence, which is nonexistent most of the time in Limerick), but Riverfest is as stale as they come as a festival. It hasn't moved on at all imo. Its the same thing every year, since nearly day one. I would imagine it is fairly static crowd wise and has a tiny national profile compared to other cities efforts. Needs a serious re-think imo.

Iranoutofideas

gotasmoke wrote: »

It was nothing to do with tides. The tides are known years in advance and the boat to transport granny was well clear in low water. The reason it didn't go ahead is because there was no rehearsal done and the powers that be deemed it unsafe to to move the Granny and the minders without knowing exactly how it would work.

Health and safety were afraid Granny might drown.

Iranoutofideas

vkid wrote: »

Agree with a lot of your post(especially re: Garda presence, which is nonexistent most of the time in Limerick), but Riverfest is as stale as they come as a festival. It hasn't moved on at all imo. Its the same thing every year, since nearly day one. I would imagine it is fairly static crowd wise and has a tiny national profile compared to other cities efforts. Needs a serious re-think imo.

The whole thing needs a review.

Nudnig

vkid wrote: »

Riverfest is as stale as they come as a festival. It hasn't moved on at all imo. Its the same thing every year, since nearly day one. I would imagine it is fairly static crowd wise and has a tiny national profile compared to other cities efforts. Needs a serious re-think imo.

Hard to argue with you there now that you mention it. I suppose I was referring to there being no festival in Limerick on a bank holiday to now actually having one. I did notice that the river activities had died off in recent years instead of ramping them up as the festival expanded (again, the mysterious tide held up speedboat races one year for about an hour without an announcement). And the French market is held on one of the more narrow and grubby streets in town (instead of Arthur's Quay Park for example).
I just think we need to get a consultant from Galway to show Limerick how to organise a festival. Limerick has better infrastructure bar a Shop St. The Medieval Quarter could have all the character/atmosphere of Galway but the city has never developed up that side unfortunately and we are stuck with the grided Newtown unless the 2030 plan has other ideas.

vkid

Nudnig wrote: »

Hard to argue with you there now that you mention it. I suppose I was referring to there being no festival in Limerick on a bank holiday to now actually having one. I did notice that the river activities had died off in recent years instead of ramping them up as the festival expanded (again, the mysterious tide held up speedboat races one year for about an hour without an announcement). And the French market is held on one of the more narrow and grubby streets in town (instead of Arthur's Quay Park for example).
I just think we need to get a consultant from Galway to show Limerick how to organise a festival. Limerick has better infrastructure bar a Shop St. The Medieval Quarter could have all the character/atmosphere of Galway but the city has never developed up that side unfortunately and we are stuck with the grided Newtown unless the 2030 plan has other ideas.

The last thing Limerick should be trying to do is emulate Galway. Galways efforts work because of its structure and compact size and is completely different to Limerick in so many ways. Completely different market also, with so many bus tours including Galway as part of their itinerary.

Limerick should be doing its own thing... Riverfest is the right idea, but the content is stale and too small scale for what is needed. The French market is a prime example of whats wrong with Riverfest, same old stalls every year, stuck in a miserable part of town, charging high prices for stuff thats often readily available in the Milk Market most weeks anyway. How is that supposed to attract people to the city?

There is nothing new or fresh in that,. If you want to attract people to the city it needs to be a lot more than that. Even the BBQ competition hasn't moved on at all. Its the same thing over and over.

5uspect

Here are my photos from the weekend.

Silentcorner

vkid wrote: »

The last thing Limerick should be trying to do is emulate Galway. Galways efforts work because of its structure and compact size and is completely different to Limerick in so many ways. Completely different market also, with so many bus tours including Galway as part of their itinerary.

Limerick should be doing its own thing... Riverfest is the right idea, but the content is stale and too small scale for what is needed. The French market is a prime example of whats wrong with Riverfest, same old stalls every year, stuck in a miserable part of town, charging high prices for stuff thats often readily available in the Milk Market most weeks anyway. How is that supposed to attract people to the city?

There is nothing new or fresh in that,. If you want to attract people to the city it needs to be a lot more than that. Even the BBQ competition hasn't moved on at all. Its the same thing over and over.

Couldn't agree more, Galway is a different kind of city, which to give them their dues is very successful for them. The ONLY thing that saved Riverfest is the Great Limerick Run, but in order to get fresh new ideas we need fresh new faces, for the record it is the biggest revenue generating weekend of the year in the city I've been told.

I think small boutique festivals run in clusters is a great way to go, we have the cultural diversity to pull that off. Culture and Chips along with TomCat festival was a great idea, the city was packed that weekend when ordinarily the city would have been empty. we do not need tens of thousands of people to descend on the city every weekend, we just need to keep the people here, the rest will follow.

Iranoutofideas

Was very disappointed with the culture & chips festival for reasons already mentioned above. As for the "French" market during riverfest...since when is stall after stall of overpriced pick n'mix considered remotely French? The street it is on is also unsuitable. Moving the BBQ to Michael Street is also baffling as it was the one event actually on beside the river. The whole thing and the people organising if needs a review. Hopefully they consider utilising the fabulous new riverfront this year

thesimpsons

gotasmoke wrote: »

It was nothing to do with tides. The tides are known years in advance and the boat to transport granny was well clear in low water. The reason it didn't go ahead is because there was no rehearsal done and the powers that be deemed it unsafe to to move the Granny and the minders without knowing exactly how it wourld work.

I wandered into town both sat and sunday, had drinks & dinner both days. Something I'd never normally do in limerick at weekend. More open air concerts or activities down town would entice me back in more regularly - not a concert way up in people's park, or down side streets but near the shops, restaurants. We have big areas under utilised in Arthurs Quay or junction Bedford row/o'Connel St, etc. I wouldnt go with full pedestrianisation of city centre, think it'll actually kill off city as it would be ghost town a lot of time and unsafe at night time with no passing traffic.

one of the reasons so I hung round so long on Sunday was to see how they were going to launch Granny - couldn't work out how they were going to do it - looks like the experts didn't either!

wotswattage

I'd love to know who made the final call (and the exact reasons) when it came to blocking the river send off.

I hear it was even worse than a previous poster alluded, that a certain number of people were allowed onto the barge but royal deluxe wanted the full crew of puppeteers on the barge (a handful more) and they were shot down.

I won't blame anyone just yet, as I also hear it wasn't a call made by a local body -more by a national body who oversee the waterways, but whoever it is should be very proud of themselves. Health & safety and red tape gone mad....

mgbgt1978

tylrmd wrote: »

I think you've got way too much time on your hands G. You should put it to better use...

I did. I enjoyed the RoyalDeLuxe spectacle on Friday, and spent the weekend in West Cork.
Better than using my first 5 posts to spout some rubbish about Guys in fluorescent trousers, then slagging off what was possibly the biggest crowd pleaser in Limerick for many years.

Anyway glad to have helped you reach the 7 post mark in your 5 years here.;)

monalitto

beveragelady wrote: »

I managed a quick glimpse of her on Friday evening and I was entranced. The buzz around the city was so positive and good-humoured, I haven't seen anything like it since Italia 90 when it seemed for a while that we could do anything. Oul wans and yummy mummies beaming at tattooed hard-chaws and trackies-in-the-socks gurriers, cops letting tiny wee skangs play with the siren on their bikes, it was all a bit dreamlike. Waiting for granny to saunter by I had the feeling that anything at all could be about to happen.
The puppetry is astonishing, and the theatrics and acrobatics of her mechanics are fascinating, but granny herself just mooched happily along, benevolent and distant. All around me children were losing it, terrified and awestruck and amused.
When I went back in on Sunday I stood for well over an hour in the sun at the church at Thomond Bridge waiting for the show to kick off. I've thought a lot about it but I can't put my finger on what was so special about the atmosphere. I suppose the weather had a lot to do with it but some credit has to go to the people of Limerick, who handed over their streets so this ridiculous spectacle could play out. I was struck by the audacity of it all, the cranes, the enormous cymbals, the cars on top of cars, the confetti cannon. It demonstrate a 'feck it all, go big or go home' mentality that the locals seem to appreciate.
It is a terrible shame that petty local small-minded politics seem to have been behind the change of plans at the end of Granny's journey, but the naysayers can't claim any real victory. Limerick showed its best side, its true colours, and an event like this will last in people's memories.

loved what you said..every word, i was childlike in my appreciation of the whole event..still smiling & its wednesday. more of this kind of thing i say

topper75

Word has reached Raidió Teilifís Átha Cliath that something has happened out there in the great beyonds.

Ah well. Maybe they'll know better for eh... Limerick City of Culture 2015.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/giant-gran-should-have-got-more-coverage-admits-rte-30575339.html

volchitsa

5uspect wrote: »

Here are my photos from the weekend.

Fabulous pictures, thanks for those, suspect, they're brilliant.

It's amazing for me to see the Granny and her little helpers in Ireland too, it all looked so fantastic when I saw the procession in Nantes, which is a beautiful city, that I wasn't quite sure if the effect would be the same elsewhere. But Limerick looks terrific in those photos too. It's the reaction of the crowd as much as anything else that makes it such a great show, isn't it?

Kess73

topper75 wrote: »

Word has reached Raidió Teilifís Átha Cliath that something has happened out there in the great beyonds.

Ah well. Maybe they'll know better for eh... Limerick City of Culture 2015.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/giant-gran-should-have-got-more-coverage-admits-rte-30575339.html

To be honest I could not care less as to how much coverage RTE or anyone else gave to it.

If the two hundred thousand plus people who were at it went home happy, then that is the kind of word of mouth feedback for the event that no amount of RTE coverage could bring.


Would wager that between the number of folks who enjoyed the event and the number of people that were told about the event by those who were at it, that the figure would be larger than that which would watch and talk about the RTE news on any given evening.


The coverage or rather lack of it that rubbed me the wrong way this year was that of the Foynes Coffee festival. That was an event that drew tens of thousands to a small limerick town and the local media gave very poor coverage to it, but I do find it a bit rich to see that same local media whinging about a national broadcaster when the local media let down a local event themselves.


But media coverage or not, both events were a great success and would have been enjoyed by those who were at them.