Monday 20 May, 2013
THE GOVERNMENT’S year-long tourism drive, ‘The Gathering’, kicked off with a bang last night as thousands turned out to enjoy a fireworks display and concert in central Dublin.
Imelda May, Bell X1 and Ham Sandwich performed at College Green, while a fireworks display was held at St Stephen’s Green to ring in the New Year.
Here’s a few photos to show how the whole thing went down.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It actually looked awesome , well for us anyway !
Hi Ryan oneill
Not sure how to contact you , but you might find this an interesting piece
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255506/Monumental-deceit-How-politicians-lied-lied-true-purpose-European-behemoth.html
On topic: Imelda May stole the show and I was happy to see the Dubliners too . I believe it was one of their last performances. But where were the fire works ?
@Aaron
Why pay bondholders? Seriously it doesn’t cost millions to hold a decent show. And IMO it would have been a gift back to the people of Ireland for all their ‘hard work’ getting this country back on its feet. I certainly wouldn’t mind my tax to go on such events, especially since it was supposed to be the kick start of a major world wide tourism campaign. Instead people got charged to attend a mediocre event. A total let down but sure drink yourself into oblivion and any crap party looks good! If this is the content if ‘the gathering’ were truly buggered because it was tripe. Ooohh sparklers yayyyy 2013 the gathering. No thanks I’d rather go to London and pay to see something decent, but keep the faith and continue with the bland!
Very interesting article there Eileen. With out jumping off topic I can see the UK holding the EZ to ransom this year, possibly even a jump from the ship. Who knows, one thing for sure, Cameron et al are looking out for their country best interest……unlike ours! Happy new year to you
Folks, please. There’s no need to use the comments section of the site to talk about other users and their own preferences for how the site is used.
If someone’s using it inappropriately, you can flag their comments and we’ll consider deleting them. Otherwise, please try to discuss the matters discussed in the main article.
Some events looked good, but the concert itself and the countdown were decidely second rate. No reason Ireland could not have featured on sky,cnn etc. its just some fireworks well timed to music – not something we’ve not done before. To kick off a major tourism campaign it was lacklustre and lacked any ambition. Then again, the usual moaners would have had a field day had the money required been spent (despite what return we might have got).
Time we started thinking a bit bigger in Ireland and f*** the begrudgers.
Who’s idea was it to charge for the countdown. The city was packed last night, but no one had tickets, so crowds gathered elsewhere. Greatly over priced for what amounts to a short personal appearance set list.
Great idea, poor location. Why college green? only a around a quarter of Dame St. can view the stage direct on with the rest to the right of the stage. Plenty of street options on the south side that would have allowed the gig goers to get a good view. Looking at it on tv last night, the crowd looked stail and uninterested until it went past midnight. The projection on Trinity was well done.
Was a great night however the fireworks should of being at midnight not 8pm the 2-3 fireworks let off over college green at midnight were poor. Also like bellx1 and imelda but they could of had a bigger headliner for this inaugural event of the gathering
rte didn’t fail to disappoint in its coverage last night what test thinks on new year eve people want to listen to half wits talking about the year and what they think of the gattering had the change to show 90min of live music the place was dead at midnight
What a wonderful atmosphere in the City last night with riotous colours , musical sounds and laughter suggesting that everyone was having a great time. Imelda May truly came home last night , headlining the evening a few hundred yards from where she was born. Well done lady , you have a fabulous voice.
Great start for the Gathering with plenty of visitors on the streets from all over the world.
If we continue to keep settling for second best and that’s been kind to what was organized last night. Two acts that no one outside of Ireland would have know to attract tourist in. Like most of the event for the Gathering they have been hijacked and rename for grant purposes only. Like the Cork Jazz ,Paddy Day Parades that are held every year but they are now gathering events so the government can say it was a success. Very few new events got funding only established events that have been running fir years.
Headed down to this last night with my four month old baby girl and was told that children weren’t aloud. I’m disgusted that a public event, on a public street and funded with public money can discriminate against children and families in such a blatant way. The anti-child culture in this country has got to change!!
Sound wasn’t great on the telly anyway. And the chat was beyond inane.
Imelda seems vastly overrated to me. A few rockabilly covers is hardly heralding a new dawn of Irish music talent.
The “procession of light” was just a copy of what Edinburgh has been doing for years
http://www.edinburghguide.com/events/edinburghshogmanaytorchlightprocession
I think we can expect a year of cobbled together half baked last minute events. The Gathering website is already mainly full of every tinpot town festival in the country. It’s a real shame there isn’t a sign of irish creativity being engaged in all this marketing spin cheque writing.
Marko Burns, do a bit of research on Imelda. She’s collaborated with Jeff Back and Lou Reed. She’s performed live on Conan, Jay Leno and Jools Holland. Have you any idea how well respected someone has to be within the music industry before they achieve any of these things? You may not like her music, but give credit where it’s due. She has achieved more than most Irish singers ever will. Plus, she wrote and composed 12 of the 14 songs on her most recent album Mayhem – not exactly what you’d call “a few rockabilly covers”!
The government aims to generate €150 million from The Gathering in 2013 by getting 325,000 members of The Diaspora to visit here. That’s about 0.4 per cent of the estimated 80 million members worldwide. 39 million of these are on-line. They are only a click away from shopping in Ireland and they don’t even have to get up from their seats to do so. If 10 million spent an average €100 each, a billion euro could be generated for The Irish Economy. Imagine the difference that would make.
Man even in the NEW YEAR people find things to complain – AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately I do not live in DUB but I followed it on TV with my Aldi Champagne…. loved it!! WHATS SYNDEY to IRELAND!!!! :-)
All the lads in the pub enjoyed the concert but some can’t remember,it was great to see own Imelda May toping the show,one of our own.2013 is looking good Happy new year.
In a crowded Irish pub on a big screen on NYE was RTE’s live transmission of the celebrations. It looked awesome….even 6000 miles away at the Auld Dubliner Irish Pub in Long Beach, California at 4 p.m. Embrace and have some fun with The Gathering. Everyone benefits from tourism.
I wasn’t in College Green for the event but watched most of it (I do admit to jumping to Jools a few times) and it looked pretty good actually but (and maybe it was more a TV thing than a stage/live thing) the sound was pretty awful – I think Imelda had a problem with her vocal sound/monitor! Maybe it was just my tele… Ha ha!
Is this a kind of magic? There can be only one.
No, that’s the quickening isn’t it?
#Gutted.
|
1
|
Parents had to console garda sent to the scene of their son’s suicide |
|
2
|
Georgian cellars to be filled in during Luas Cross City construction |
|
3
|
Is it summer yet? Well, not quite… |
|
1
|
What can Facebook tell us about the battle of the sexes? |
|
2
|
Ireland’s banks are borrowing less and less from the ECB |
|
3
|
€569 million – Ryanair’s profit for last year up 13% |
Please note that TheJournal.ie uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide services and advertising. For more information on cookies please refer to our cookies policy.
News images provided by Press Association and Photocall Ireland unless otherwise stated. Irish sport images provided by Inpho Photography unless otherwise stated. Wire service provided by Associated Press.
Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for user created content, posts, comments, submissions or preferences. Users are reminded that they are fully responsible for their own created content and their own posts, comments and submissions and fully and effectively warrant and indemnify Journal Media in relation to such content and their ability to make such content, posts, comments and submissions available. Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Sites: TheJournal.ie | BusinessETC.ie | TheScore.ie | DailyEdge.ie | Boards.ie | Adverts.ie | Daft.ie
Alternatively, you can email us at: tips@thejournal.ie
Comments (65 Comments)