Live at the Marquee success shows ‘need for permanent venue’
Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions, who launched his sixth Live at the Marquee series in the city’s docklands last night with legendary heavy metal group, Megadeth, said the city needs a 5,000-capacity venue to continue to attract top international music acts.
“The biggest venue in Cork is the Opera House – that’s just 900 people. There should be an events centre in every major city in Ireland. Castlebar has a 2,200-capacity venue and that can survive,” he said.
But he ruled out any personal involvement in the management of such a venue.
He also hinted that the Marquee series, which was launched in 2005, may come to an end within two years.
“That’s the cycle of these things. It would be great to get 10 years but things change,” he said.
“You take it year by year. But you have to ask ‘can you keep the appetite up?’ You don’t know how things are going to go from year to year.”
Mr Aiken said despite the recession, ticket sales for this year’s gigs are performing well.
He pointed out that the first Marquee series saw 11 gigs over three weeks.
This year, 20 shows will be staged over four weeks, before a five-day break as the venue is prepared for a two-week run of the West End hit Mama Mia.
Some 80,000 tickets will be sold for the gigs, with up to 50,000 expected to be sold for Mama Mia.
“That’s a lot of tickets,” he said.
The entire event is estimated to be worth at least €20 million to the local economy.
Some of the headline acts this year include Westlife, Christy Moore, Tony Bennett, Deep Purple, Blondie and Dara O Briain.
And a major security operation is being planned for the two sold-out JLS gigs on Wednesday and Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Mr Aiken also confirmed that Horslips, who were forced to cancel their gig after band-member Jim Lockhart suffered a heart attack, have already been lined up for next year’s Live at the Marquee.
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