GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO step in to help support smaller, independent music festivals in Ireland, according to Philip Meagher, founder of music festival Forest Fest. 

The festival, which returns to Emo, Co. Laois for its fourth year this weekend, will see Franz Ferdinand, the Manic Street Preachers, Travis and Orbital headline the main stage, while many up-and-coming Irish acts will be supporting. 

“A lot of people in the music industry are literally on their knees because of the spiralling costs involved. Without the proper support structure in place, it’s hard to see a future for the smaller, independent festivals going forward,” said Meagher. 

His comments come as other music festival organisers in Ireland have said that mounting costs are making it harder for them to keep going each year. 

There has been calls for the Department of Culture to roll out a “more transparent” funding model for grants which many organisers say would help to safeguard the future of smaller festivals. 

Earlier this month there was confusion about whether major player Beyond The Pale would go ahead, while a number of beloved smaller festivals are not going ahead this summer, including Sea Sessions, Body and Soul, and Wild Roots. 

‘Extremely challenging’

“It is extremely challenging and the costs associated with putting on an event of this type and size are astronomical,” Meagher told The Journal.

It is time now for the government to “look at supporting smaller festivals around the country to assist with that cost”, he said, adding that these festivals give opportunities for young bands in the country.

“It gives them an outlet to perform in front of large audiences. Without the independent festivals, there isn’t that route for bands because the more established, bigger festivals don’t seem to curate their events around the younger, up-and-coming acts. So we’d like to think we play an important part in that,” he said. 

“It would be money very well invested by the government, because they get a huge return from the point of view of tourism, from the point of view of the catering industries [and from] the music industry itself,” he added. 

Earlier this year, the government announced a Small Scale Local Festivals grant of €5,000. 

“That wouldn’t even pay for a water tanker,” commented Meagher, who believes the government need to dig deeper. 

Concert goers at Forest Fest in Laois

Over-35s not hanging up their festival wellies just yet

Meagher explains that unlike some of the larger festivals in Ireland this summer, Forest Fest is geared towards an “older demographic”. 

In the era of “day-clubbing” events, where those in their mid-thirties and above are hitting the nightclubs during daylight hours, Meagher said that the older generation is not hanging up its festival wellies just yet either. 

“The whole idea is to provide a top end festival for an older demographic. I just found that a lot of festivals are geared more towards the 20 to 35 bracket, that there wasn’t really a particularly designed event for the 35 and up demographic.

“So we basically set about raising an offering based on music of a particular generation, going back to the 80s, 90s, and also the best of the up-and-coming acts as well,” he said. 

Meagher said when people reach a “certain age”, where they might have had their families, they might have some free time now.

“They want to relive their youth and they’re more than able to do it, they’re well able to party and have a great time,” he said. 

RTÉ should broadcast from music festivals

Showcasing Irish festivals by the national broadcaster is something Meagher said should also be considered, stating it would be a “great idea” if RTÉ could broadcast from independent music festivals during the summer months.

“I’ve been watching the BBC coverage over the last number of years [of Glastonbury], it always makes for great television. And certainly I’d be very, very open to the national broadcaster visiting us and setting up on site.

“I think people would be very, very interested to be able to see behind the scenes at a festival and what exactly goes on and then to hear some live performances. I think it would be a wonderful idea,” said Meagher.