How can you suppose that equates to gagging? If they saw nothing then there’s not much else for them to say! They’ve got zip to do with the festival organisation other than turn up and play. They would have come in the back door in a limo, enjoyed the rider, stand on a stage and then go home.

Denis Desmond and Eamon Mc Cann are the directors of MCD , this information is a fact . Just as much as saying that Swedish House Mafia were playing the Park last saturday ! FACT . Why are you removing my post Journal .

Exactly! So why didn’t their statement say something just like that? Including of course, expressing their dismay at what happened, condolences to the dead and a wish for a successful recovery for the injured.

The whole response stinks of the corporate self interest that permeates the whole spectrum of the music industry.

Translation:”zip your lips and let our legal staff handle it..”

I’m so pleased to hear it was only “10 or 20 ” spoilers that caused all the trouble. They sure left a lot of empty liquor bottles in their wake.

@Eileen Gabbett Eamonn McCann isn’t a director of MCD.

ah so you have some sort if connection with MCD then Brian, that explains you’r support for them then…

Brian Daly
The company was founded by Eamonn McCann and Denis Desmond, the company name MCD is made up of their initials.[1]
Mr McCann worked as the public face of MCD organising indoor and outdoor events in Northern Ireland and in relation to bar sales at events throughout Ireland. Mr Desmond was the public face for outdoor events in the Republic of Ireland.[

Good point Sam..

Spot on Sam! This statement proves to me that while most of these bands like to promote an image of reckless abandon in terms of promotional gimmickry their concern for the welfare of fans is little better than the concert promoters and record labels they associate with.

THe promoters are afraid of being sued and if they express sympathy that could translate into being responsible ….. Just saying like .

I remember reading afew months ago when the young irish girl was murdered after the Nicki Minaj concert in Japan, that Minaj tweeted her condolences to the girls family and friends after hearing about it.. and that was AFTER her concert, it didn’t happen there… 3 people died at the concert in the Phoenix Park and SHM or MCD haven’t expressed their sympathies. MCD are more concerned with maintaining they are not responsible, it’s a little sickening…

The problem is squarely with the behaviour of the crowd and not the promoter. Take a trip into the city council office and read the gig application for all the safety and security arrangements.

Not to go too far off subject Brian. You could likewise visit the city council office and read the reams of documents submitted in application for Fire Certificates for developments like Priory Hall and then you could proceed to examine how the provisions set out in these documents were enforced and complied with!

So Brian you’re of the opinion is mcd don’t have responsibility for the safety and security of the patrons of their concerts from whom they make a fine profit from?

Ridiculous behaviour. I’m an avid trance music fan, been to manys the festival and gig without incident. However, I find that security at gigs in Ireland the UK lax in comparison to continental procedures. I agree with you fully Rónán, MCD are cutting corners here and are seriously putting people at risk by letting little sh*ts destroy a perfectly enjoyable event. I heard that there was little Garda presence at the gig, and that they were just confiscating knifes and letting people off as they went along. I also agree that PP isn’t the greatest spot for a gig…I once got a free ticket to Coldplay two years back (please, don’t judge me ha!!!) and felt that the walk into the site was fairly unsafe. I’m going to see SHM in Milton Keynes next week…let’s hope there’ll be no incidents.

“just confiscating knifes”

What?!.. I say bring in the Danish knife law. You carry a knife around with you = 7 days minimum mandatory jail time. There are NO reason for anyone to be running around with a knife anywhere.

Yeah sher that was what the security staff were doing…taking the knives off them and letting them away about their business. That to me indicates that they didn’t have enough guards around to detain people for carrying a weapon….which isn’t good enough imo. Not been a good weekend for festivals over here in England too…Bloc was cancelled because of overcrowding in the Pontoon Dock site near my house in London, with the cause linked to a glitch in their system which led them to oversell by 20,000 tickets. The people at the gates weren’t adequately scanning the barcodes on them either so it was hard to tell who had a genuine ticket and who didn’t. Was going to head to Wireless on Friday to see Deadmau5 but didn’t end up doing so in the end…heard Hyde Park was severely under pressure to keep things ticking over there aswell.

Don’t forget the Barbara Streisand Debacle !!! They have not learned a thing !

Maybe it’s time the government looked at the companies that are issued licences for these concerts and to assess their suitability to host such an event. While MCD themselves didn’t stab anyone, they clearly have an appalling record for running large events safely and efficiently.

Why was my comment removed?

Put it up again . Mine were removed when I mentioned the FACT that Denis O Brien and Eamon Mc Cann were directors of MCD ,But then when I reworded it and stated it as a fact they can not remove it .

@Eileen your comment was not removed for that reason. It was removed because it contravened our comments policy, as did John’s.

Not to worry Eileen. I communicated with Emer about my comment and she told me that it was removed because it might imply that the licence for this event could have been obtained under ‘suspicious’ circumstances. That is exactly the implication I was making and I am happy to have my comment removed on that basis as that is exactly the point I was making. If you get my drift!

Really well I have followed this music all over the world & yes there are clowns that mess it up for the rest of us but overall its great. So knack fest to you. ?Wheel out selector? for me. So as Im the one with more knowledge & experience of these events all I will say is educate yourself.

I’ve been to my fair share of these festivals following the same kind of music and would say that every single one of them has a bunch of shams knocking about trying to be knts.
Ireland is no exception.

Almost ‘unlucky’ how bad it turnout out here because of 10-20 nutcases, who probably all came from the same area!

Name the ones that give you that view of these events even the clubs?

It was a knackfest… I love this kind of music, i have been in techno & trance festivals in other countries as well, and it wasn’t my first SHM concert, but the most knacker one! I would like to share my observations: I took the 39A from the city. the bus was full of drunk teenagers, then we all got off somewhere on the Navan rd. From the round-a-bout to the concert entrance I saw broken glasses, half naked young girls and boys, vomit, rubbish etc and amazingly 4-5 Gardai. After a long walk, I arrived at the check point. I was checked by the security guys by a metal detector which couldn’t detect my keys with a penknife key-ring and coins. Then walked in… I saw the blood strains on the plastic ground on the way to the toilets, as I was an hour late i had no idea what happened there. anyways, at the place where I stayed for 1,5 hrs, there were 6 fights, 2 passed out people from drugs and/or alcohol and very busy paramedics. About the end of the night I have seen absolutely disgusting behaviours around the toilets area that I cannot write here… I think maybe I was so sober to see all these… so who will get the blame? Gardai, parents, media, social welfare system or education system?? Pick one!

@Olive
Pretty good comment – I wasn’t at this one myself so it’s good to hear from someone who can remember!
To answer your question, I think picking the education system or parents (or whatever else) as the fault of these people is just ignoring the situation and passing blame.

The blame is the current culture.
Simple as.
I have so many dole4lifer friends who couldn’t be bothered doing anything else on an average day than just get drink and smokes.

It’s a weird twisted world, and the weird thing is it’s not even an underworld in this country.
It’s in plain sight, for all of us to see and nothing’s being done about it.

A judge had to put a minimum price on shots in Bundoran a while back because the clubs were selling them to everyone for 50 cent a shot.

What kind of a society needs a judge to say that this is wrong?!

It’s a shame, the show they put on looks amazing, from sound to lights! I’m not into that genre but I have respect for it and the work that goes into it! it’s a Pity that it draws in the worst of our society but not all of their followers are bad… As I said, it’s a shame!

Like the concerts me self but wouldn’t put my body through the pain that” 6 or more”pints of watered down Shity Heineken gives you at these MCD controlled events..

I think limits on crowd size would help make it more manageable. Also crowds that large wreck an area that has had heavy rain. Weather cancellation and/or insurance policy requirements are necessary to prevent trashing the park.

Maybe I missed something but I too was at the Chillis a few years back in the Park and the atmosphere was anything but sinister! It was the most pointless gig I ever attended due to the woeful sound quality, astronomical number of people and distance needed to walk there and back. FAR FROM SINISTER. This post gets 138 likes, I really don’t know….

i was at that gig as well, i mustn’t have been in the sinister area. i do remember the toilets were complete mank though and overflowing, and some people were so drunk they didnt even know they were standing in it. we’re an odd country

Not enough Gardai employed ! Recruitment is non existent and a lot have retired …

My da was in town on Saturday afternoon and said the place was over run with half-naked slappers off their heads on all sorts.
I told him he’s just fierce old fashioned.
Sounds like he was right.
Gurriers all!!!

It was a failure of society i think… I’m 28 and i might be very conservative but i think young ppl are influenced by all these stupid shows like jersey shore etc. if there was a few misbehaving teenagers around, you may think that it’s a problem of their parents,but there were 1000s of them!

i didnt know snoop dog was playing as well, that makes a slight bit more sense knowing that

Not that I’ve anything against Snoop’s music or anything, he has a couple of really great albums.

I imagine you would need an awful lot of Gardaí to spot one or two lunatics in a crowd of 45,000.

45,000 drunks would require how many Gardai?

Filthbags and scroats are not dealt with harshly enough in this country. That’s the problem. You make this kind of behaviour totally unacceptable with harsh penalties it’ll take a lot of it away.

nope, not fair on all the younger (18-21) people who drink responsibly.

@Lauren, is there such a thing?

I was frisked, wasn’t metal detected though!