Aiken lines up acts for next year’s Marquee
More than 70,000 people watched 17 acts at this year’s series of gigs, which was on a par with last year’s figures.
Mr Aiken said he already had a couple of acts booked for next year, but was remaining tight-lipped on who they were.
He said he thought one of the most successful concerts this year was The Boomtown Rats.
“I didn’t really know how it was going to go because it’s 30 years on from their big hits, but it went great. There were 4,200 tickets sold for it and the atmosphere was electric. Geldof was brilliant and the band were good, too, and the crowd were brilliant,” Mr Aiken said.
He said in his opinion Sting was also particularly good. “He came to Cork the night before and sang in a local pub which also made it a bit special.”
Old favourite Christy Moore has performed at all nine annual events and is likely to be on next year’s list as well.
Imelda May’s concert wasn’t the only 5,00 seater sell-out.
“The National sold out in around 20 minutes, which was similar to Passenger,” Mr Aiken said.
The Coronas did the best of all, packing in 8,500 fans when they performed two gigs.
Mr Aiken said he hoped that series would go on for several more years, but in the meantime he’s preparing for the 10th anniversary gigs.
“We’re already planning for that and we actually have a couple of act already booked for 2014.”
