Beyond The Pale Festival - 10th-12th June - Glendalough

Dreamweapon

I sold my ticket last weekend. Couldn't entice anyone else to go and not enough there for me to fly solo.

RINO87

June on the Horizon....First time in donkeys years that I'm not planning for a festival (apart from the thing in 20/21 there...)

Cant be having that, so I'll most likely go to this. A campervan ticket would make my mind up 100% if anyone knows of any.

Thanks.

Wooderson

Get the impression this event is struggling to sell this year? Posters up in pub jacks etc.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159279#Comment_122159279

advert in the cinema before movies and a few big billboards around town. Last I hard was around 30% of capacity sold, that was a few weeks back though

Whipping Boy

I think the line up is brilliant but it might be lacking one or two really well known names that the casual festival goer would be excited about. In hindsight, prioritising this, with a weaker undercard might have yielded better results. Personally speaking, the Hot Chip announcement before Christmas last year did the trick for my gang…

I also think putting extra resources and clarity into the late night areas was key and hasn’t really been addressed. If you’re going to have an early Sunday finish you should make sure the Fri/Sat nights are worth it. Last year’s experience in the ‘woods’ area was poor. Have they expanded the area this year? Haven’t seen it mentioned and this is what makes a festival for a majority of people.

Had a great time last year so it’s a shame to see is struggling - we’re away that weekend so was never a runner.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159293#Comment_122159293

Orbital touting their appearance from the stage at Vicar St. Flyers handed out, flyers throughout the venue. Grim.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163182#Comment_122163182

would say it’s the make it or break if year for BTP

Landers11

You would think with no B&S that there would be a good crowd expected. That is the reason why I am going.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122164211#Comment_122164211

no one was going to B&S post covid. Just not sure there is demand for 12k weekend festival with such line ups.
honestly probably the hardest to book headliners for as you need 5 or 6 acts that easily sell out vicar/Olympia for 2x nights at least. That could easily cost you 1/5 of the ticket revenue alone

VonLuck

As someone who really enjoyed last year's BTP and said with certainty that I would go again this year, when I saw the acts playing, none of them jumped out at me. I couldn't justify going to a full weekend festival when I knew just one or two of the acts.

I don't know if that's the general consensus but I know last year I was able to tell your "average" person some of the acts that were playing and they recognised the name if not some of the songs, but I couldn't do that this year.

bodhrandude

I know Maribou State have cancelled their summer tour and have pulled out of ATN but I see Holly Walker is in the lineup here, was checking her out on Spotify and all that came up was Maribou State tracks, does she have solo stuff.

ILIKEFOOD

€249 final price seems high for this festival going on how it has been described as. I'm going for the first time, and I like the line up.. but if the sales are low I'm not surprised. Would have thought the proximity to Dublin would be a huge draw.. I don't care too much about it not having much beyond the music itself personally.. I heard it was a wash out on the Friday.. too many bad memories for some perhaps?

Wooderson

Line up skews "dancey" rather than "indie" - at least on paper. Given the older clientele im not sure this combo works. Sadly I have to go to fests with my kids and I'd think twice about BTP given the line up.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122164572#Comment_122164572

they haven’t cancelled ATN, live show changed to dj set as one of them is recovering from brain surgery

Toast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122164711#Comment_122164711

I was trying to find a good way of saying this. Last year it had a vibe that was on its way to being like End of the Road in the UK. Good food, drink, venue, handy to get to, some bits for kids. If they leaned into that it could bring back a lot of people who might think they're "done" with festivals. People a bit older and maybe with young kids. Only problem is End of the Road seems barely sustainable in the UK. With our smaller population I can see how promoters would be reluctant to ditch the dance side of things which probably brings in a consistent number of people. As a result we get these hodge podge festivals which are unsure of what they want to be and jack of all trades themselves into a death spiral.

I think they've also shot any hope of presenting themselves as "boutique" with the flip to Bulmers. My memory of last 2 years is that the bars were barely ever busy so perhaps no one cares but I liked that there was good beer available (five lamps is toilet water, not craft). The temptation must be there to knock freeflow on the head which will be a death blow I'm sure.

Either way, myself and herself are going again to sit on our chairs and passively take it all in. That's our festivals now and BTP was a good fit for that. Everyone else we know aged out of festivals (in their minds at least) or see their kids as barriers to coming. If they can keep the place friendly to consuming it in that way they'll keep us and maybe we can swing more people to join us in the future.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122164711#Comment_122164711

line up this year and last is exactly same level of “dancey”. In its few years it’s arguably been the same type of line up and never portrayed itself as indie.
Honestly don’t think an indie festival would be sustainable here. Dance/electronic music acts sell extremely well here.

crl84

Would agree that BTP has never pitched itself as an indie, kid friendly festival. It's always been electronic focused and the organisers background is in club nights. It's core market is people in their 20s/30s on yips.

Disagree that there's not a market for an indie/rock/guitar-focussed festival though. There's a huge amount of people who used to go to festivals and be "into music" which was primarily guitar based in the 00s/2010s and theres only a small handful of acts of interest at most festivals here. Not to mention a whole new generation where grunge/slowcore/shoegaze is massive with. They largely don't care about the overwhelming amount of bland interchangeable electronic/house acts clogging up every festival lineup that few people would miss if they pulled out.

Some kind of mix of Green Man/EOTR/Primavera 5+ years ago/Sunstroke festival that was supposed to be here in 2020.

ILIKEFOOD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122165268#Comment_122165268

I think the mix is really good.. you can only watch one band or dj at a time.. plenty to mix it up throughout the day and night… that said.. I found myself a bit bored by all the tents at ATN the year before last playing tunes bar the stage in the forest.. I think the older I get (39) I'm looking for a wind down act at the end of the night.. I hope BTP have a few acts that would serve that purpose.

As an aside.. would you think Forest Fest could be categorised as indie? I've loved their line ups but never made it.. perhaps not one that would appeal to the youth

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122165617#Comment_122165617

Forest festival in my eyes is an indie/pop nostalgia festival aimed to people now in 40’s/50’s. It has a market and I’m sure will do well with that audience.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122165617#Comment_122165617

You will definitely like Thievery Corporation, Tourist and Kruder & Dorfmeister then, really downbeat chill music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSMVHdlpsqE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JacLjXpDjyo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LlkJqQh5J4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylcinUF-plg

grudgehugger

While I'm mainly looking forward to the dance/electronic acts, the "indie kid" of my long-since departed teenage years is still kicking away somewhere deep down inside, and there's definitely enough on the BTP bill to rouse it from hibernation - Alvvays, Gilla Band, Courtney Barnett and based on their new album I have to add Mount Kimbie to that list as well.

Last year was a bit more dance-heavy I would have said?

Stillill42

Yeah, agree with most of the above posts. An EOTR/ Green Man festival is exactly what I'm looking for over here but it's not going to happen, is it? Melvin's got his **** formula and isn't turning the clock back and most of the promoters that have that bit of invention have to make compromises to stay in business. ATN is as close as we're going to get and while I've had a great time on both occasions I've been, there's just too much electronica and not enough alternatives to keep me going for the weekend. I'm sure I'll be back but it'll never compete with an EOTR for a weekend of pure music. I mean I know how lucky I am, I'm close to Dublin and everyone plays Dublin, I've more gigs than I can handle. I must admit I miss having that one Irish festival that I absolutely love.

bodhrandude

After digesting the playlist it has now expanded to 63 tracks. Here is my critical review of the upcoming artists, would've done a blog piece but I do not want to take the fire from Body & Soul with the loyalty I've built up with the festival.

Some folk are saying BTP is very electronic orientated which is true to an extent, I can imagine this festival pulling in a few disenchanted Life Festival heads because of the like of Hawtin, Hauff and Orbital among others, but I always found Life heads to be fairly alright usually just pilled and stoned up.

Now the music, there is actually a fair balance of bands and singers playing the festival, Alvvays, John Francis Flynn, Anna Meike, Jessie Ware, Houseplants, James Holden (I mention him as he sometimes does solo electronic sets and sometimes is accompanied by a few musicians making it a band of sorts.) Thievery Corporation (Also have done DJ and electronic sets but also appear with live musicians.) Courtney Barnett, The Scratch, Gilla Band, Royal Otis, The Redneck Manifesto, Rachael Lavelle, She Wants Revenge (I don't know here, they're in first poster but not in the day split poster, so I don't know if they have been removed, but I like what I heard of them, interesting indie rock band) Anyways these are all singers with backing band or groups and I've heard most of them, they are all worth checking out.

The electronic side is quite adventurous, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Thievery Corporation and Tourist can be quite lively but also very lush ambient soundscape, downbeat music. K&D and TC emerged around the early 90s and were part of a wave called Weed Trip Hop, they appealed to stoners as much as ravers. I suppose influenced also by the likes of Moby, The Orb, Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Portishead and Massive Attack. But both K&D and TC brought other elements into the electronica like Boss nova, South American rhythms, Rastafari sounds and I think there's an Asian guy in TC so also Eastern influences. Tourist mixes drum and bass with ambient beats and adds wordless vocals for ambient effect kinda like Daithi with his fiddle adding to the mix.

I'll not bother talking about the electronic musicians or DJs, I still don't know enough about different dance types but there is plenty of different genres represented. I'll leave a video of TC with musicians from a concert last December for ye to digest. I'll also add my updated playlist of 63 tracks.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ycFH8KIICdsJyqIuEL5A6?si=2ebd6bf9d88e435c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWa-K6Mh00g

whelzer

Great post as usual BD, check out Kelly Lee Owens, she is simply fab live! Seen her at ATN last year and really looking fwd to seeing her at BTP. Overall, I think the lineup is superb and cant wait for 21st June...throw in a bit of decent weather and we'll be laughing!

jellybeano

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122170000#Comment_122170000

Super stuff! Orbital played a deadly 20 minute version of Impact in Vicar St recently. With a bit of luck they’ll play it again at BTP. I practically have it on repeat since 🔥

https://open.spotify.com/track/4iu1FH9oXNkS2QYPF2kRaH?si=KvXnNciLSi-YK6ARqS3-HA

CorkScot

Bit disappointing if the poor ticket sales are putting it at risk for 2025 as BTP has become a musical mainstay of my June plans recently. I cobbled together a few battered 40-something year old bodies to accompany me this year, so I am doing my best to keep it going!

Definitely lacking a Fontaines, IDLES, Bicep, LCD, Tame Impala type of headliner to pull in some numbers, but probably all too expensive as mentioned before. I do feel the line-up is really well put together and the undercard has nice depth is strong, especially after a bit of listening to some of the bands/DJs I wouldn't have been familiar with. Think the headliners are a bit underwhelming/seen it before names and don't sell the festival on their own, esp compared to last 2 years.

Looking around at other festival line-ups such as ATN and even Primavera Sound it seems like a challenging environment to pull together an alluring line up. I'm an ATN devotee and I find the 2024 line-up a tad disappointing, but realise it's a tall order with Marlay Park, Malahide, 3Arena etc all hosting big names who fit the Irish festival wish-list bill.

I can't wait for June 21st anyway. Packing the car, cooling the tinnies, tunes on, turn them up louder….Going to be a great weekend!

jellybeano

Loads listed in the arts programme today. Shakalak will be great. One of the highlights for me from ATN last year.

https://youtu.be/dF_TDiejk9I?si=D6i2qVNAjaZ3GZcM

Toast

Kabin Crew is that viral kids thing isn't it?

Landers11

Late curfews announced today. 3am finish Friday and Saturday with a 1am finish Sunday.

rubick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122177961#Comment_122177961

Fair play, not going this year but that's welcome news.