Body & Soul 2022

keithkk16

bodhrandude wrote: »

Well it looks like Glastonbury is on the verge of being cancelled, so I think the same can be said for this, I hope not but it looks like it could happen.

If we control this they way we are doing atm and everyone continues to play there part the governments are saying things could be back together again in 8 weeks time. That's how things are looking atm in China and Japan, they reckon the Olympics will still go ahead.

SoundOfSilence

keithkk16 wrote: »

If we control this they way we are doing atm and everyone continues to play there part the governments are saying things could be back together again in 8 weeks time. That's how things are looking atm in China and Japan, they reckon the Olympics will still go ahead.

You can be as optimistic as you want but all signs are it's being cancelled regardless.

endainoz

I think it'll unfortunately take more than 8 weeks. It might be possible to stage body and soul later on in the summer? Would be much more difficult for an event as big as Glastonbury.

PabloAndRoy

endainoz wrote: »

I think it'll unfortunately take more than 8 weeks. It might be possible to stage body and soul later on in the summer? Would be much more difficult for an event as big as Glastonbury.

Vantastival is postponed to September 18 - 20 ... will be bloody freezing

keithkk16

Just seen that Glastonbury got cancelled. No hope now I'm guessing

RINO87

I don't think we will see any of the summer festivals this year, in their current form
Even if things do improve in the next few weeks, I don't think the authorities would look too kindly at a bunch of us packed into a campsite, or a sweaty arena...

Unless we all camp 2 meters apart from each other or something!

Edit: Since I posted this, B&S have said on their socials that they are preparing for the festival to take place as planned.

endainoz

RINO87 wrote: »

I don't think we will see any of the summer festivals this year, in their current form
Even if things do improve in the next few weeks, I don't think the authorities would look too kindly at a bunch of us packed into a campsite, or a sweaty arena...

Unless we all camp 2 meters apart from each other or something!

Edit: Since I posted this, B&S have said on their socials that they are preparing for the festival to take place as planned.

Unfortunately I thought it sounded like they were stalling the inevitable decision. I really hope I'm wrong.

MJohnston

It’s hard to compare with Glastonbury - a much much more crowded festival in a country that has taken too long to react to the situation.

Body and Soul is still 3 months away, so there’s a slim possibility that things in Ireland will have reached a new equilibrium by then and we can handle outdoor events again.

mimimcmc

I can't believe this and sunstroke haven't been called off yet, I really don't see them going ahead

johnnyskeleton

mimimcmc wrote: »

I can't believe this and sunstroke haven't been called off yet, I really don't see them going ahead

Nor It Takes a Village, it seems, and that is due for the start of May

endainoz

No official call yet, an email was sent to volunteers this morning saying the deadline for deposits has been extended.

mimimcmc

endainoz wrote: »

No official call yet, an email was sent to volunteers this morning saying the deadline for deposits has been extended.

they replied to someone on facebook yesterday and said still going as planned for now, I can't imagine them recovering from this if they have to cancel this year

MadYaker

Hopefully they aren't forced to make a decision soon, if they can wait until the end of April I think they'll have a much better idea of whether its a runner or not.

johnnyskeleton

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Nor It Takes a Village, it seems, and that is due for the start of May

Got the cancellation email for ITAV this morning. Approximately a month and a half beforehand. I'm not sure B&S will leave it that close, as there is probably a lot more involved in a camping festival*



*Not to presuppose that it is going to cancel, but it does seem likely. Same with Prima too!

MJohnston

It must be very tricky for B&S. They're right in the calendar where you might expect restrictions to start to ease. Obviously we won't know that any better closer to the time, but I honestly don't know that there's any rush to cancel it anyway?

ongarite

Can't see any large person events going ahead before September.
If restrictions are lifted it'll be in slow phases with small venues, then mid size like Vicar St or Olympia, then 3Arena.
Multi-day events being last IMO.

Weepsie

Even if this has significantly died down, there are going to be a lot of health care and emergency workers well in need of time off, having a gathering like this puts external pressures on third parties to provide Medical and Ambulance care, Security and Policing etc.

I can't see any major event happening before the end of the summer, and if it did, I would want there to be a really, really good reason.

There's no good reason for a music festival to go ahead in the current times.

MadYaker

Weepsie wrote: »

Even if this has significantly died down, there are going to be a lot of health care and emergency workers well in need of time off, having a gathering like this puts external pressures on third parties to provide Medical and Ambulance care, Security and Policing etc.

I can't see any major event happening before the end of the summer, and if it did, I would want there to be a really, really good reason.

There's no good reason for a music festival to go ahead in the current times.

Nonsense. According to the scientists advising our government this will most likely have died down by then and third parties can decline to provide the services if they wish. I’ll not have summer written off just yet. It’s too early to be making grand pronouncements like this anyway. By the end of April we’ll have a much better idea of where we stand.

The festival have said they are ploughing ahead and as this currently stand that’s the right course of action imo.

Charlie

MadYaker wrote: »

Nonsense. According to the scientists advising our government this will most likely have died down by then and third parties can decline to provide the services if they wish. I’ll not have summer written off just yet. It’s too early to be making grand pronouncements like this anyway. By the end of April we’ll have a much better idea of where we stand.

The festival have said they are ploughing ahead and as this currently stand that’s the right course of action imo.

What a selfish position to take.

The virus itself having peaked, and society being equipped and ready to go back to normality, are two very different things.

As the poster above points out, our front line workers will have been hammered relentlessly from this thing by the time June comes. Asking them to go again for Festival season is beyond crass.

And I say that as someone with tickets to 3 major festivals this summer. All of this stuff will be waiting for us in 2021 and beyond.

endainoz

Charlie wrote: »

What a selfish position to take.

The virus itself having peaked, and society being equipped and ready to go back to normality, are two very different things.

As the poster above points out, our front line workers will have been hammered relentlessly from this thing by the time June comes. Asking them to go again for Festival season is beyond crass.

And I say that as someone with tickets to 3 major festivals this summer. All of this stuff will be waiting for us in 2021 and beyond.

It's a bit of a silly argument to be fair. Your not going to have ICU doctors and Nurses recruited specifically for summer festivals. Numbers wise, you'd need a very small amount of medical workers for first aid tents.

Some questions people have may be answered here.:

I love The Irish Music Industry Podcast | Putting your Body and Soul on the Line, let's play it!
https://www.podbean.com/ea/dir-7i5q3-883be94

Avril Stanley is the guest on the Irish music industry podcast this week. I haven't listened to it yet but it might be interesting.

Dick Turnip

Just to give an idea of the phased return to normality we can expect. Austria announced today that they are starting to lift restrictions from next week.

The Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, has said the country is planning to let smaller shops reopen next week, with the aim of reopening all shops and malls from 1 May.

From then onwards, hotels and restaurants will open step-by-step from mid-May at the earliest, but a decision on that will come in late April. No events will be held until at least late June.

Kurz told a news conference that since Austria had acted earlier than most countries, that gave it the ability to reopen shops sooner as well.

If all goes well, it will reopen non-essential shops of less than 400 square metres and DIY shops on April 14, followed by all shops and malls on May 1, he said.

Meanwhile general lockdown measures will be extended until the end of April, and schools will remain closed until at least mid-May.

PabloAndRoy

IMHO, there is zero chance of B&S happening in June.

murmer

I would imagine they haven't cancelled as they are figuring out where they stand with insurance and what not. Not a hope in hell any festival will be going ahead this year imho

Dick Turnip

Yeah, that's what I'd think too. They're not going to cancel until they're forced to or else they're screwed for insurance.

dav09

I've seen on lots of business threads with similar remarks about insurance but the fact of the matter is if Body & Soul doesn't happen this year it will go bankrupt. Insurance won't want to pay out for business disruption to any companies during this period and will likely do their best to try and ensure companies don't get payouts and will fight clauses, there's lots of articles online about this. It's the same insurance case for businesses ordered to close from the government over the past few weeks, unless B&S has a specific clause in their insurance contract stating this. From the Irish Music Industry Podcast by the way Avril talks, Body & Soul is in the same boat. What I see more likely is Body & Soul being delayed to either mid August or mid September if their creditors give leeway and allow this, which they may. But for now they're seeing how it plays out as no one really knows what the situation will be in 3 months time.

Bankruptcy probably would mean the end of the festival sadly, I can't see many promoters buying the assets for cheap and starting again as they're mostly all in the same boat at the minute, it's not like the 2007/8 financial crash. I really don't want to see this happen and I will be 100% buying tickets closer to the time if it the situation improves, they're an amazing group of people behind this and it's my favorite festival but every business at the moment is struggling and an independent promoter like this probably won't be able to take this hit.

Even if it goes ahead this year, it might not survive if there is public fear, but if things do settle and it's safe I do think people should really support their favorite independent festivals this year as it will likely be a tough year no matter what happens as we'll probably unfortunately lose a few.

MJohnston

What costs would they stand to lose if they had to "postpone" this year's festival until next year? I would imagine a significant amount of ticket holders for 2020 would be happy enough to retain their tickets for next year. They would hopefully be able to do the same with most of the booked acts too. Staff costs are obviously ongoing, but I'd presume they keep it lean until ramping up on marketing/PR folks closer to June. So what else is there? Would they pay Ballinlough Castle rent for the site or something?

dav09

MJohnston wrote: »

What costs would they stand to lose if they had to "postpone" this year's festival until next year? I would imagine a significant amount of ticket holders for 2020 would be happy enough to retain their tickets for next year. They would hopefully be able to do the same with most of the booked acts too. Staff costs are obviously ongoing, but I'd presume they keep it lean until ramping up on marketing/PR folks closer to June. So what else is there? Would they pay Ballinlough Castle rent for the site or something?

That's a good question, if creditors allowed, it may be possible to continue next year. But in the interview she mentions the festival costs about 2.5m to run each year, so I assume some will demand to have been paid upfront like some of the big names they've got for art installations, along with potentially acts who might not refund booking deposits (and also may decide not to not play next year). I assume cashflow from the festival happening is what pays the staff of the festival in between each year along with the other festivals they're involved with throughout the year like EP and Latitude, so if the wage bill is, lets say 500k, they'll have to make 3m in total next year even if everything else falls into place unless they've decent cash reserves or lay off staff. I'm sure/ assume a lot of the 2.5m goes into production, stage/ equipment costs, mobile networks, other utilities, marketing, permits/liscences/legal costs, sites, security and costs I can't even imagine, some of these in the six figure range I assume. If all of these creditors decide to do the decent thing and not charge for a deferred event, then there might be a glimmer of hope, but on the other hand some of these may also be facing financial issues, it may very well become 'dog eat dog' scenario, but might not happen either. I assume some creditors are waiting on cash from festivals to keep themselves alive for another year to meet their costs. Also I understand some creditors (like security, medical staff, even equipment) might be irrelevant if the festival doesn't happen this year but it all depends how the contracts have been put in place for some of these things, and some might have to be paid regardless.

Unless they can do some serious cash flow juggling acts, have good cash in the bank and have understand creditors (which actually may be the case as many are in the same boat), I can't see it back in this form unfortunately. It was mentioned in that interview that it is unlikely for Body & Soul to happen again if it doesn't this year if I interpreted that correctly.

PabloAndRoy

Service contracts almost always have a force majuere section. I suspect that that can only be invoked in this case if the time frame for the service delivery (the time before and after the festival) fails within a period of compliance as defined by the law. So once the governament pushes the timeframe for social distance coimpliance beyond the date of the festival, force majuere would come into play.

IANAL, but isn't that how this works?

dav09

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

Service contracts almost always have a force majuere section. I suspect that that can only be invoked in this case if the time frame for the service delivery (the time before and after the festival) fails within a period of compliance as defined by the law. So once the governament pushes the timeframe for social distance coimpliance beyond the date of the festival, force majuere would come into play.

IANAL, but isn't that how this works?

Probably yes, and yes that applies to my posts too they're mostly made up of speculation/assumptions, and I hope so but it will probably incur some costs either way I'm sure, but if so and their contracts cover even most of them you'd assume they'll survive, but it really depends how this all plays out. The next thing is if the government will legally stop large public gatherings from going ahead, I haven't looked into the current situation enough and I know some bills are being produced, but to what scope they'll cover will be interesting.

billybonkers

Cancelled