- Music
- 20 Mar 01
JACKIE HAYDEN previews the CROSS VILLAGE MUSIC FESTIVAL, which will feature premier Irish acts in the most scenic of surroundings.
A capacity attendance of 7,500 is expected at the first Cross Village Music Festival in County Clare set for the holiday weekend of Saturday and Sunday (31st July and Ist August).
It s the only outdoor two-day music event happening in Ireland this year, and as an added bonus the bill consists exclusively of Irish acts of the calibre of Aslan, Blink, The Four Of Us, The Frames, Nick Kelly, Picture House, Juliet Turner, Barbarella, two Bacardi Unplugged winners in The Blew and Sage, and new contenders like Stand and local rock band Deluge. There are also the customary rumours, essential for any self-respecting festival, of surprise guests, with the names of Luka Bloom, Macnas and some local trad heroes like Tommy Peoples expected to come along for the music, craic and delights of this picturesque village only eight miles from Kilkee.
This, though, isn t the first musical extravaganza to hit Cross. Since 1995 local publican Danny Boland has been running a one-day music festival, and this year s two-day event is a natural outgrowth of the success of Boland s initiative. But he was also acutely aware that if the event was to achieve its true potential there was a need for additional expertise, so Danny teamed up with Brendan O Gorman who cut his organisational teeth on such major events as Glastonbury, Fiile, Fleadh Mor and the Phoenix Festival.
We re really trying to recapture the great communal spirit of festivals like Lisdoonvarna and Macroom in the past, and the location, if anything, is even more attractive than either of those places. Cross village is a beautiful coastal spot on the Loop Head peninsula with great views out over the Atlantic Ocean. It s only a small place of about 30 houses. The general reaction has been so good that we re already thinking about plans for making this an annual event, enthuses O Gorman.
Transforming such an idea from the drawing board into reality has not been an easy one, especially with such matters as parking facilities, first aid, toilets and catering to be planned for in an area not used to hosting an event of such magnitude.
As O Gorman explained, For a start we had to have an environmental impact study carried out and then we had to have three community meetings to reassure the locals about our intentions and to allay their fears about drugs problems and what they d call gurriers from Dublin. But we also had initial problems with ticket outlets which we hadn t expected.
O Gorman was somewhat surprised to find that, at the insistence of the gardai, he had to employ five gardai at #20 an hour for the entire duration of the event, despite having his own security, including at least one security person to look after every house in the neighbourhood. Being informed that he must have the Fire Brigade on stand-by at a cost of #1,500 was another burden he hadn t bargained for, but he still hopes that this year s event will break even and set things on track for next year.
Once initial local fears were countered there s been nothing but support from the good people of Cross. In fact, one local elder, reported to be in his eighties, was most enthusiastic of all, claiming that the event would create more excitement in the village than anything since the arrival of Cromwell!
Getting to Cross is not the trek many people would suspect either, O Gorman explains, Getting to Ennis from anywhere is easy by bus or train. Ennis is only 45 miles away from Cross, so we re laying on a fleet of shuttle buses from the Old Ground in Ennis from about 2 pm on the Friday to take people right up to the site. Ticket Line can provide all the necessary details regarding bed and breakfast facilities and the 40 acre campsite will have full lighting and water facilities and first aid.
For those arriving in Cross on the Friday night before the festival proper there are plans to put on some impromptu music in the marquee from mid-evening onwards, so visitors will have an ideal opportunity to sample the various local music styles in their own habitat. The village also boasts two fine pubs in Danny Boland s own place and Pat Foley s, both likely to be hot spots for the duration.
O Gorman has been effusive in his praise for local radio stations, with Clare FM and Susan Shannon from Galway Bay having been most generous with their support in publicising the event. Even the cops have been helpful, even to the point that they re arranging a garda escort for Picture House to help them get from Mitchelstown in time , he said.
All in all it seems like all the ingredients will be in place for what should be a festival full of fun and great music in a beautiful part of the country. As for recapturing the spirit of Lisdoonvarna, one can only suspect that Christy Moore is working on that song already. n