Peel Bay Festival

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The Villa not a decent venue?

 

I think they want the Royal Albert Hall or something similar. The Villa is good enough for what we get, i.e. a decent band maybe once a year and a handful of comedians. It's pointless getting anything bigger or better because it wouldn't get the use to justify its existance. The PBF has been called off because the organisers don't think the tent will be full to capacity enough of the time and the're having a tantrum because the gov won't underwrite the loss they'll inevitably make.

 

I said big initially and then changed to decent in the next sentence. What I was meaning was that we do not have a decent big venue capable of taking say 4 or 5,000 for a decent gig, with toilets, bars etc. That is really all the PBF was offering that was different i.e. a tent to host enough people to cover the costs of a "big" name.

 

I would not argue for such a venue as I doubt we have enough need to justifty the cost and expense.

[ai_Droid]

For choirs and orchestras maybe but not poop music concerts, no. (says she who has not ever been to one there since it was done up) I heard you arent allowed to dance, how very strange.

 

You heard wrong. Been to loads of gigs at teh villa, and it's fine. It's just got a bit of an odd 'feel' as even sold out gigs that are standing only half fill the hall due to some bollocks fire regs.

[sarahc]

It is odd if your tickets are for seats (and sometimes we have no choice!). But if you get standing tickets and get in the middle of it all, you wouldn't know it wasn't a 'normal' venue.

 

Sometimes the seated area is handy if you need a breather! And of course you're near the door so you can exit quickly to the bar during the ballads.

[Lonan3]

For choirs and orchestras maybe but not poop music concerts

Quite a lot of today's music falls into this category.

 

P.S. My kids say that I'm not allowed to dance.

Anywhere.

Especially if they're with me.

And even if there's a slight chance that someone might recognise me and make the connection to them.

[Alias]

Fuck compensating a festival based on a loose coalition of bands/artists -- it's not really a line-up that would appeal to any one group (except for the diehards to see one or two artists). If they want to throw that amount of cash around I'd rather they buy the tent, rent it out cheapish and let companies/entrepreneurs sort the lineup/marketing (music, car shows, that sort of thing) and see how it goes.

[Twitch]

I heard Irving on the radio today...Christ I think he's got a nerve.

 

Fair play to the Govt for telling him to f**k off.

[WTF]

Probably because he can see the benefits to the people of the IOM?!

 

Around 20,000 IOM residents attended last years festival, this is something positive for our island.

 

Isle of White has a music festival? Why not us?

and how many of the 20,000 that went actually paid the asking price on the ticket?? i know quite a few people who got 2 for1 deals last minute because the tickets were not selling at the asking price. and many of those only went because it was then priced about right.

[Fossils]

The Department of Tourism and Leisure has refused to support one of the greatest private initiatives in the leisure industry that the Island has ever known. Not only that, but they seem to have scuppered PBF plans by refusing to talk about it for over 4 months. Isn't this what sealed the fate of the MMCC's involvement in running the TT too? On the evidence of these showings Mr Earnshaw certainly doesn't appear to be a Minister of Fun.

 

Also, let's consider this figure of £250,000 to underwrite the PBF. How does this compare with tens of millions over-budget (or what Government promised the taxpayer that projects would cost) squandered on the MEA, the Hospital, the Incinerator, Iris, Mount Murray, etc.?

 

It seems that the DTL wants the PBF to move to Douglas, along with the Queen's Pier. This is a small island and we can ill afford this parochial discrimination from government. The PBF organisers did a brilliant job first time, under extremely difficult circumstances, in providing very good traffic routes that enabled easy access to the venue. Compare that with the gridlock that exists in Douglas at TT if you want to get to the Fireworks or Stock Cars. How could Douglas cope with a few thousand trying to get in and park?

............and who pays for the fireworks? If the DTL do, I'm afraid that I'm not getting a very good return for my tax investment.

[oldmanxfella]

The Department of Tourism and Leisure has refused to support one of the greatest private initiatives in the leisure that the Island has ever known. Not only that, but they seem to have scuppered PBF plans by refusing to talk about it for over 4 months. Isn't this what sealed the fate of the MMCC's involvement in running the TT too? On the evidence of these showings Mr Earnshaw certainly doesn't appear to be a Minister of Fun.

 

The problem is that any event of this size is always going to need some sort of underwrite. Its too costly to get here, and we simply don't have a reliable ferry or plane service so any promoter that puts their faith in thousands of people coming here to take part just because its advertised as the most fantastic thing going would be completely mad.

 

You could advertise it everywhere and get loads of interest, but every ticket buyer would still have to book on the Steam Packet or Flybe and will instantly be put off because of the cost, inconvienient times, lack of hotels etc.

 

I can see why Irving wants to hedge his bets - it was almost a dead cert last year that their would be buckets of interest in TT 100 - more people were coming here and more locals were staying for the festival because of the atmosphere - and yet it still only broke even. But 2008? Its anyone's guess and I would not be putting a couple of million on the line in that environment.

[ans]

and yet it still only broke even.

 

I think you need to go back and re-read the part where it was stated that the PBF lost in the region of £750,000 last year.

[oldmanxfella]

and yet it still only broke even.

 

I think you need to go back and re-read the part where it was stated that the PBF lost in the region of £750,000 last year.

 

Thanks Ans. It backs by train of thought up even more. If you can turn a loss of £750k in the best year for tourism we've had in over 20 years then you'd have to be totally mental to do it again without government support - unless of course you like setting fire to bundles of £50 notes for no real reason.

[lfc84]

The Villa not a decent venue?

I heard you arent allowed to dance, how very strange.

 

Danced all the way through Snow Patrol............no problem

[Declan]

For it to be a worthwhile investment for the Government's money it would need to attract significant numbers, certainly more than the 4,000 quoted. In any case I don't see 4,000 traveling for what was on last year. Thebees, I think, mentioned people traveling to Bestival on the Isle of Wight but I don't see the parallel. Bestival has a niche, it puts on an event where you can see lots of bands in a short period of time and offers a distinct atmosphere that appears different to what is on at other festivals.

 

PBF isn't really a festival it is a series of gigs in a tent spread over a number of days with very different artists - you might want to see The Who but you're not going to wait around for a few days to see Ronan Keeting. Let's take the Who as an example since they were probably the biggest band playing. They'd toured the UK last year and played festivals like T-In-The-Park, Oxygene, Hyde Park Calling and Glastonbury, at these festivals they played alongside a whole host of well known bands, here they had support from Back Door Slam. Even if you were a mad Who fan, why would you travel here? The way PBF was set up the best it could hope for was if it tipped the balance for a few bikers who were umming an ahhing about coming to the TT but decided to come because of the added experience of pbf.

 

People would travel to the Island for a fully-fledged festival, but only if it was distinctive, as All Tomorrow's Party's, Green Man and Bestival prove. It doesn't have to be particularly well-known artists either, had the Island secured the return of My Bloody Valentine, say, after years away from the live scene it would have attracted more visitors than a date in the middle of a long Who tour. What might work would be to do something like SXSW or Iceland Airwaves where lots of bands play smaller venues around town in an extended period - do it the week after TT leave the tents up on the Prom, use them, the Villa, the Gaiety, get the pubs and clubs in on it. Get someone with vision to organise it, choose bands that are compatible with each other (heck it works on a smaller scale in Laxey). Get everyone to buy into it, get an atmosphere going in town, get the place buzzing. And it might work.

[ai_Droid]

Also, let's consider this figure of £250,000 to underwrite the PBF. How does this compare with tens of millions over-budget (or what Government promised the taxpayer that projects would cost) squandered on the MEA, the Hospital, the Incinerator, Iris, Mount Murray, etc.?

 

Good comparrision. Would I rather have electricity, healtchare, waste disposal or would I rather have The Bootleg Beatles. Hmm....

 

The report in the examiner says he was offered the Villla, a 5500 capacity venue, but he said it was too small. His best night at peel took 6,500. I'd be interested to know what his average attendance was over the week, and how many of those 6,500 were full tickets. Seems to me like he wouldn't compromise, and pretty much wanted everything his way plush cash.

[Lost Login]

The report in the examiner says he was offered the Villla, a 5500 capacity venue, but he said it was too small. His best night at peel took 6,500. I'd be interested to know what his average attendance was over the week, and how many of those 6,500 were full tickets. Seems to me like he wouldn't compromise, and pretty much wanted everything his way plush cash.

 

Irvine's statement on the street heritage web site says that they need 6,500 a night to break even with the government guarantee or 8,000 without. As the best night by his own admission was 6,500 then it does look speculative to say the least.

 

It also gives you an idea of the expected prices as an extra 1,500 over 3 nights is 4,500 to cover the £250,000 dofference. This makes an average ticket price a shade over £55.