Semple Stadium still interested hosting further Féile events

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Semple Stadium, Thurles continues to be interested in hosting the Féile in future years, despite the smaller than expected attendances last weekend.

The two night Féile revival last year was deemed a tremendous success with a real appetite for a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those who had attended the iconic festivals of the early- mid 1990's.

However, this years event seemed to be struggling with ticket sales from the outset, with the prices having jumped considerably. But, the late addition of Sinead O'Connor as a headline act on Friday evening, following her wonderful Late Late Show performance, boosted the attendance considerably.

Those who did attend really enjoyed the event and eventhough the heavy rain of Saturday evening made for a damp outing, the mood was still very upbeat.
The general feeling was that the music was as good as ever. Thurles town benefited greatly from the influx of people and there were many live music events throughout the town on Friday and Saturday evenings which went down a real treat.

An event review meeting is imminent when all aspects of Féile will be discussed and dissected. However, a spokesperson for Semple Stadium told The Tipperary Star that they are very interested in continuing to explore the Féile concept in years to come.

There may well be a change in format but organisers feel they have captured a mood and they want to continue pursuing Féile into the future.

Semple Stadium is being readied this week for club championship games

This week the clean-up operation continues in Semple Stadium and the ground staff are working hard to have the pitch ready for the concluding stages of the county championship.

“We are putting the stadium back together right now. We have been working on the pitch and will be continuing to do so over the next few days to get it right. The rain was a help in that regard and the lads are flat out making sure that the stadium is returning to normal again,” said David Morgan, Semple Stadium General Manager.

Semple Stadium is very interested in continuing to stage such events and the Feile concept is one which has been synonymous with Thurles. But, the format probably needs tweaking in order to make it more attractive for punters and this, and all of the other elements will be discussed in full when the post event review takes place in the next few days.

“We would always do a post event review when we sit down and discuss everything to do with whatever event we are hosting, whether it would be a championship game or a Féile concert. We will discuss it all and see what we could do better and what worked and what didn't work. That's all part of the learning process, but we would certainly be happy with the way things worked out. There was a lot right about what we did and we received a lot of positive feedback which is always nice to get,” David Morgan said this week.