No light on the horizon for Garth Brooks fans

Following a meeting of Dublin City Council tonight, City Manager Owen Keegan seemed to close the door on any possibility that the five Garth Brooks gigs will go ahead as planned when he repeated the Council’s position that the original decision could not be reversed. However, as yet, no final decision has been reached in relation to the planned shows. It appears that only a high-level political intervention, changing the laws, could now save the day.
In response, Aiken Promotions have issued another detailed statement. In it, they reveal that other sites such as the Phoenix Park have been considered, but ruled out due to the ten-week licensing process.

“Aiken Promotions welcomes the decision of the City Council to support the motion to ask the City Manager to reconsider his position on granting permission for five Garth Brooks concerts,” say the promoters. “However we would like to make the following points:
 
·         At all times Aiken Promotions followed the process as laid down under the event licencing procedure.
 
·         While Council Officials may have followed a proper process, we believe that the decision was not correct.
 
·         The demand for tickets for The Garth Brooks Comeback Special Event was unprecedented, selling almost one entire show to audiences from outside Ireland.
 
·         If Aiken Promotions have been ‘reckless’, then the process itself is ‘reckless’ and any perceived ‘recklessness’ by Aiken Promotions must equally apply to a Council that did not advise Aiken Promotions not to proceed with the five concerts when they were informed. Comments such as ‘reckless behaviour’ besmirch the reputation of a company that for 53 years have made a significant contribution to the culture and economy of Ireland.
 
·         All of the discussions with Council Officials in relation to the five concerts was about how the impact of the five concerts might be mitigated.  Therefore the decision was a complete shock.
 
·         Aiken Promotions has always acknowledged that five concerts would have an impact on the community. In our experience this impact is always reflected in the conditions applying to the licence, as it is in every event.
 
·         Immediately after the licence decision Aiken Promotions sought alternatives that might facilitate the two cancelled shows. However this show has been specifically designed for Croke Park and it was unsuitable to any other venue. We also looked at sites such as Phoenix Park but these sites were not feasible because of the 10 week requirement for the licencing process.
 
·         Garth Brooks response to the licence for the three rather than the five concerts was not an ultimatum, it was simply an expression of genuine concern for his fans.
 
·         The complete misrepresentation of Garth Brooks as a person and as an artist is ill informed and is scandalous.
 
·         We have responded to a range of facilitators and politicians in an attempt to find a way of presenting the five concerts. These approaches have not been encouraged by Council Officials.”