- Music
- 24 Jun 15
There may be a down-scaled indoor gig, but this weekend's Duran Duran-headlined outdoor event is definitely off
It's been confirmed that the Killarney Festival has been cancelled with just two days to go, which is especially bad news for music fans who've booked hotel accommodation locally and might be unable to cancel at such short notice.
Alarm bells rang yesterday when it was announced that the June 27 and 28 event, which had hoped to attract upwards of 30,000 punters, was moving at the last minute to Killarney Racecourse where due to planning regulations the crowd would have to have been capped at 4,999.
Unfortunately, the three heritage headliners - Duran Duran, Burt Bacharach and Texas - simply weren't box-office enough to make the festival, which had originally moved down to the Kingdom from Westport, work.
Blaming "unforeseen circumstances beyond our control", the promoters, Darryl Downey's Jarash Limited, say they're attempting to put together a severely scaled down bill in an indoors venue.
"We are devastated that the festival has been cancelled - we did everything in our power to make it happen this weekend," continues a spokesperson. "We would like to extend our sincere apologies to all the festival-goers who were planning to attend the event, and would like to thank all the local businesses and statutory agencies for their help and support. The promoters are currently in discussions with some of the acts, about performing in an alternate indoor venue in Killarney over the weekend and hope to make an announcement as soon as possible. For refunds please contact Ticketmaster."
One of the big Irish acts due to play, The Stunning, gave some possible insight into the cancellation when they tweeted: "Some local insurance niggle. Big loss to the Kingdom."
Lead singer Steve Wall has subsequently proffered: "It had a great line-up of Irish acts as well as big names. It's a shame that it wasn't supported locally."
Meanwhile, a clearly unofficial 'K-Fest Facts' website using a similar URL to the official festival website has appeared online.