Music and events organisers see 'huge pent-up demand' after two-year wait
Tickets for Longitude in July went on sale at 9am on Friday morning, and day tickets were already close to selling out by the evening.
As the last of pandemic restrictions are set to lift at the end of this month, festival planners are kicking back into gear, and say the buzz is building for a year jam-packed with real-life events.
Tickets for Longitude in July went on sale at 9am on Friday morning, and day tickets were already close to selling out by the evening. Body & Soul and Forbidden Fruit have both confirmed their comeback dates for June, while after a 2021 that didn't quite make it off the ground, Electric Picnickers will be returning to Stradbally in September.
Other music fans will be firmly focused on a parked Live at the Marquee calendar, and big gigs around the country from the likes of Westlife, Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran, as well as the small matter of a certain Garth Brooks in September.
For many, though, the focus is more immediate.
While the sudden lifting of restrictions last month means the status of some big Cork calendar fixtures is still unclear, the City Council have confirmed that we’ll see the return of the St Patrick’s Day Festival next month, as well as the Lifelong Learning Festival and International Choral Festival in April.
The 4th of June will see the return of the Ocean to City Rás Mór, one of over 50 events taking place in the city and harbour for the Cork Harbour Festival. Like many events, the all-inclusive rowing and paddling race had been replaced with a more remote and online version last year.
This summer, festival manager Joya Kuin says that participants are “raring to go” and race everything from currachs and longboats to canoes and paddle boards up the Lee for the return of the festival’s flagship event.
“People are coming from the UK, the Netherlands, the States - it’ll be really special to be back on the water after such a long time,” she said.
And after two years of postponements and uncertainty, music and arts festival Indiependence is making its return to Mitchelstown for the August bank holiday weekend (July 29 to 31), with headliners Fatboy Slim, Bastille and Rudimental already announced. Managing Director Shane Dunne said they are already well on the way to having a sell-out crowd of 15,000 in attendance.
“There's a huge pent-up demand for live music, you see that in any gig that has happened over the last couple of weeks, and I think we’ll see that even more come June when people start to get back into fields,” he said.
“Being at a gig with your mates and standing elbow to elbow with somebody, having a beer, that connection with a band or actor or artist, really it's very difficult to do that through a screen. It takes away that human element,” he added.
Cork City Council has said that Cork Midsummer Festival, Cork Craft Month and Heritage Week are all also in the calendar for this summer, with Culture Night, Cork Folk Festival, Cork Jazz Festival and Cork Film Festival going full steam ahead later in 2022.
