Well, we’re knackered! We’ve just finished the Music Show 2010 and you can see the effect of it everywhere you turn in Hot Press central. People shuffle up and down the stairs like extras in a George Romero movie. Pale faces abound. Everyone is on automatic. People dream of sleep, sweet sleep. When this issue is finally put to bed they will get it. But not before then!

Well, this is the last act in the drama. The editor’s word. Get it done quickly. Move on. Before the mispsellgins creep in. We have to start planning for next year. Note to self: get those letters out now confirming the big names who have already promised they’ll be here in 2011!
The Music Show is a huge undertaking. Beginning the campaign for the first show three years ago, one thing’s for sure: we had no inkling whatsoever of the devastating economic conditions that would prevail come October 2010. And so you could say that we started out in innocence. The first year was good and the crowds came and we felt what people tend to feel in circumstances like that: ‘Okay, we’ve got a proper feel of the ball. Now we can start playing football’.
Three years on, the landscape in which the show is set has been transformed. We’ve all had it up to here with stories of economic doom and gloom and I don’t intend to bang on about it here, but there is no escaping the stark truth that Ireland has been hit by a financial tsunami. All across the country, ordinary people in every area of society have been devastated by the impact. Companies are collapsing. Jobs are dying on the vine. Graduates are finding it impossible to get work. Emigration is back with a vengeance. Mortgages are in arrears. The sense of social exclusion is spreading. A pall of apprehension hangs over everything, which has been dragging our collective spirit down.
There is no point in burying our heads in the sand. Still, we wanted The Music Show 2010 to be an antidote to all of those negative vibes – one very good reason to have the iconic Damien Dempsey wrap things up for us on Sunday. No one in rock’n’roll captures the spirit of ordinary Irish people better. Nor does anyone embody more effectively the way in which music can liberate us from hard and sometimes bitter circumstance. Drawing equally on Irish tunes and on the ballad tradition, melding those influences with elements of world music and songwriting of a superb literary bent, and expressing it all through a wonderfully unique and powerful voice, Dempsey is the real deal. If you want to know just how good we can be, look no further.
Better than good: I feel no inhibitions about saying that Ireland is one of the great music nations. The magical, creative process of turning mathematics into sound, of transforming noise into aural poetry, is an essential part of what we are. And as a result we have produced a hugely disproportionate number of major international stars, seminal rock moments, brilliant artists, extraordinary records, genius musicians and great live performers. But, especially in an era when all of the old assumptions about how music is disseminated are being laid waste, it is crucial that this extraordinary national resource, this motherlode, is nurtured, encouraged and supported, from the grass roots to the very apex of musical creativity.
Which is what The Music Show is all about: creating a great event – the best of its kind in Europe – at which people can get the feel of the instruments and equipment first hand; connecting that to a live stage showcase featuring brilliant Irish bands and artists; including masterclasses and workshops with inspirational musicians; bringing together professionals and experts to talk, network and forge new friendships and bonds; and, to complete the picture, gathering a carefully selected cross-section of the leading lights from the international industry (including key Irish figures) to share their knowledge and insights, debate the big issues of the moment, and get a fix on where the industry is going. Add in exhibitions, displays, competitions and other fun elements and you have what we believe is a genuinely inclusive, democratic event – which can act as both a driving force in the wider international industry and a crucial forum for Irish musicians.
At the heart of the mission we set ourselves for The Music Show is to connect Irish people to the idea of making music, of listening and learning and playing and participating. The more you listen the more you need to know. The more you know the better you play. The better you play, the deeper your listening goes. It is a virtuous circle, which as it happens, is good for every aspect of the music industry. But it is also good for our collective soul (in the Otis Redding sense!). And good for the cause of music, in its competition with – or battle against – all of the other competing forces in a increasingly technologically-
charged world...
That’s the ambition. And so – reflecting on the wonderful melting pot which the RDS turned into over the weekend just past – it is fitting for me now to say a big thanks to everyone who enabled us to realise so many of the elements of that vision this year by just saying ‘Yes’. Big music brands and the leading Irish and international distributors jumped on board in the exhibition area. Important and hugely influential figures in the industry accepted our invitation to come to the RDS to talk: the BBC’s Mark Cooper, U2 producer Steve Lillywhite, Warner Music Europe CEO John Reid, DJ and producer Sasha, Killing Bono director Nick Hamm, The Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, Marc Marot, Malcolm Gerrie, Ossie Kilkenny, Louis Walsh, Paul Brady – the list of illustrious names is a long one, far too long to recite in full here. Leading musicians – the likes of Bob Geldof, who of course has achieved so much outside music too, Newton Faulkner and Carlos Hercules – flew in for public interviews and masterclasses. The Irish Music Intellectual Rights group lent their support. RTE 2fm played their part.
With 18 Irish acts featured, the quality of the music on the live stage was stunning. The debates, discussions and panels were of international as well as national significance. It was, in so many ways, an inspiring weekend. And the crowds turned up in vast numbers, with over 12,000 people passing through the venue over the weekend.
The Hot Press team was brilliant throughout. As they stagger around the office in fantastic disrepair – especially the production crew, the marketing and promotions posse and the core editorial team – I want to say to them, and to Hilary and Suzanne and all the others who are our Music Show specialists, a heartfelt thanks and a big congratulations. Everyone did supremely well.
I believe The Music Show reflects brilliantly on Ireland and on Irish music. It copperfastens our place on the international musical map. And it provides otherwise unattainable opportunities for advancing the cause of Irish musicians at every level.
I know that we can go on and develop it further. And we will. But right now I just want to say: everything that all of you did over the course of making the show happen – from the guys at the cutting edge of kicking it into shape to the reps who were so important to making the weekend work in the magical and often wondrous way that unfolded – is hugely appreciated.
Here’s to 2011...