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Post by Steve Price on Aug 9, 2007 8:42:54 GMT
From Thundeground Festival organiser Daren Salter -
"Hi all, It hurts me to say this but due to matters beyond my control and the total lack of support this show has received from the so-called fans; Thunderground is no more. We left it as long as we could to allow for the late starters to buy their tickets but sadly this has not been the case. Full refunds will be given to the fantastic people that supported this event and help with travel insurance and flight refunds will be freely given if people had booked flights and now need to cancel.
On a personal note; I'm totally done with this scene; after getting a line-up like this together and literally hemorrhaging money in order to bring this kind of show to the UK shores I am disgusted at the lukewarm response these bands have received. This was a once in a lifetime DREAM line-up.
My thanks go out to ARFM and AOR Heaven who helped out way beyond the call of duty – I will be forever in your debt.
Again, my sincere apologies go out to those that supported this event. I also hope this serves as a wake up call to those that think these shows will always be around. Please go buy tickets to either Firefest or MelodicRockFest if you haven't done so already. Support those shows. Good luck to everyone.
Regards, Daren." L&D Promotions
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Post by Lightninjackcane on Aug 9, 2007 12:21:21 GMT
I find this news absolutley incredible , i`m totally shocked, Wig Wam alone should have made this a must see after their excellent performance at Firefest last year add to that two of the biggest names in Melodic Rock today (The Poodles & Brother Firetribe) & you have as Daren says a Dream Line Up , i know all about the apathy in the rock scene, especially here in Hull , but i just find this astounding, what does it take for people to realise that if they don`t support these type of events they will die out , I feel so sorry for the Daren who put in all the hard work & money behind the scenes, this really could be the death knell for similar events in the UK
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by littlelenny65 on Aug 9, 2007 17:53:58 GMT
I think in general people do attend these events I do not think it has anything to do with apathy,unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world, and people have budgets to live by, and holiday leave to take from work. And the day of working Mon to Friday has gone it's a 24/7 world we live in, and these are all factors amongst many others that mean you can only get to so many events in a year. If you go to one you can't go to another. Simple as , and unfortunately that is the sad fact of the matter. IMO
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Post by Woody on Aug 9, 2007 17:57:25 GMT
gutted, was really looking forward to this........
Woody
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Post by Lee on Aug 9, 2007 18:00:29 GMT
gutted, was really looking forward to this........ Woody Ditto, mate. A real sorry state of affairs
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Post by Nick from Cheshire on Aug 9, 2007 18:58:52 GMT
From what I've read elsewhere this evening, all may not be lost.....
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Post by scottee on Aug 9, 2007 19:54:39 GMT
I Think Little lenny Has Hit The Nail On The Head
People Can Only Afford To Go To So Many Gigs
In A Perfect World We Could All Go To Everyone
And The Scene Is So Piss Poor In This Country We Need Major Players To Market, ADVERTISE And Get To The The Young People,But To Be Honest Its Non Excistent.How Many People In The Street Could Name Any Of The Bands We All Listen To.
We All Need To Spread The Word As Much As We Can Through The Internet. etc and keep buying the records,I Dont Think We All Do A Bad Job But There Is So Few Of Us In The UK.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.
SCOTT
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Post by Alison on Aug 9, 2007 20:41:40 GMT
I think in general people do attend these events I do not think it has anything to do with apathy,unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world, and people have budgets to live by, and holiday leave to take from work. And the day of working Mon to Friday has gone it's a 24/7 world we live in, and these are all factors amongst many others that mean you can only get to so many events in a year. If you go to one you can't go to another. Simple as , and unfortunately that is the sad fact of the matter. IMO I agree Lenny. I also appreciate that a lot of hard work goes into organising a gig of this size and calibre. Successful marketing requires the right product, at the right price, in the right place, with the right promotion. A product (or in this case a gig) may not sell for lots of reasons but it certainly isn't right for the organisers to blame the customers!
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Post by Lee on Aug 9, 2007 21:18:46 GMT
A product (or in this case a gig) may not sell for lots of reasons but it certainly isn't right for the organisers to blame the customers! Why not. We're the ones that always moan that we don't get to see these bands play the UK, so, when they do put a show on, nobody buys tickets
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Post by Alison on Aug 9, 2007 22:48:05 GMT
A product (or in this case a gig) may not sell for lots of reasons but it certainly isn't right for the organisers to blame the customers! Why not. We're the ones that always moan that we don't get to see these bands play the UK, so, when they do put a show on, nobody buys tickets Do Sainsbury's blame their customers if nobody buys their washing powder? No, they produce a better washing powder or sell it cheaper, or sell it at a different store. Whatever the product (washing powder, cars, vacuum cleaners, CD's or concert tickets) the principle is the same. It's a simple fact, if Thunderground tickets didn't sell, there was something wrong with some aspect of the "product" (and by that, I am not questioning the quality of the bands!) Am I right in thinking that up until April, details of this gig were somewhat sketchy? That's four months before the gig, well at that point I had already bought my FF tickets and booked my hotel six months ahead. Perhaps people in general like to have more time to plan and budget? It was taking place at a time of year when there are other big-ish gigs taking place, maybe people were already "over-comitted" financially or time-wise? Maybe organisers mis-judged the level of interest in those bands? I don't know....I had only decided this week that I would go, and was going to sort it out this weekend. In my case I was late deciding due to a bereavement and not being sure if the budget would stretch that far straight after my holiday. So a matter of 24 hours was the difference in my being a "Fantastic Person" and a "So called fan"......sorry!!!
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Post by littlelenny65 on Aug 10, 2007 6:49:02 GMT
Why not. We're the ones that always moan that we don't get to see these bands play the UK, so, when they do put a show on, nobody buys tickets Am I right in thinking that up until April, details of this gig were somewhat sketchy? That's four months before the gig, well at that point I had already bought my FF tickets and booked my hotel six months ahead. Perhaps people in general like to have more time to plan and budget? It was taking place at a time of year when there are other big-ish gigs taking place, maybe people were already "over-comitted" financially or time-wise? Yes Alison, this is exactly my point, people tend to plan events, holidays, so on and so forth around 1.Budget 2.Work commitments 3.Family Life 4. unforeseen emergencies/occurences so they tend to do it well in advance. I think the problem with promoters etc, is that they (obviously) think along different lines, they will it's their Job. But it cannot be helped if people cannot attend every single event. I still maintain APATHY is the not the issue here, that is just an excuse, for the difference in approach between Joe public and the promoters of such events. Also I do believe the 'Press Gangs' died out a century or two back. In answer to Lee, yes I agree people do complain about the fact that we never get to see these bands etc, and it must be so disheartening when a thing like this happens for the promoters, as well as the people who have managed to get tickets and be available for such an event. However, in reality if you offset that against the fact that it wasn't really confirmed until well into the spring of this year, and the fact that people, as Alison states, have already planned to do what they can afford and are able to do well in advance then really it cannot be the customer that is to blame, and as they say the customer is always right. Alison your analogy of Thunderground and Sainsbury was very good, and as I have just stated about the customer is always right, we wouldn't accept it, none of us, if a general store manager blamed us for the drop in sales of a particular product...in fact it just wouldn't happen. Basically I think it's just a case of mathematics, or should I say probability, demographics and lifestyle that dictates. Some you win , some you lose. And unfortunately for Thunderground it was the latter. Thats the world of any business venture I'm afraid, harsh as it may seem.
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Post by Woody on Aug 10, 2007 13:14:36 GMT
Alison, don't take some of the comments made, blaming the fans to heart or personally. I believe these comments to be born out of frustration and disappointment at the event folding, obviously a lot of Daren's own money has been sunk into this as well as a lot of time and effort and his father has been seriously ill recently. I'm sure Daren did not mean to offend anyone.
I am Very shocked at the piss-poor pre-sale of the tickets for Thunderground. But obviously a lot of factors that other people have mentioned including yourself contribute to reasons why. Going to Firefest or any gig that means staying away from home is money wise like a holiday. Most points people are making as reasons why people aren't going to thunderground or haven't gotten tickets sooner i agree with or Understand.
Having said that i can't believe in general people are dis-interested in this line up. I think Daren thought he was creating a "Fans dream line up" a give the people what they want festival. He, like has already been mentioned totally misjudged the demand for these bands to play live, and has payed for it very heavily financially. I thought these bands had a better following than is in fact the truth. I'm totally gutted as i was looking forward to this far more than Firefest.
Woody
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Post by littlelenny65 on Aug 10, 2007 16:21:02 GMT
Having said that i can't believe in general people are dis-interested in this line up. I think Daren thought he was creating a "Fans dream line up" a give the people what they want festival. He, like has already been mentioned totally misjudged the demand for these bands to play live, and has payed for it very heavily financially. I thought these bands had a better following than is in fact the truth. I'm totally gutted as i was looking forward to this far more than Firefest. Woody I Don't believe people are disinterested, that is to say the people who know of the newer bands ,not in the least. The plain matter of the fact is that is was confirmed too late in the day, and people do have commitments as well as other gigs such as Journey, Scorpions, and festivals they had already planned for. Coupled with the fact that most people are stuck in the past and by that I mean the 80's ( which really annoys me cause rock did actually exist before that!! ), so those people won't go to an event where they do not know the names. However, I still think Apathy is an excuse, it was just unfortunate that it never took off, it happens. There is a very strong Rock fraternity, but it is just stuck in the past....another cold hard fact.
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Post by Woody on Aug 10, 2007 16:40:17 GMT
I don't think Daren is stupid, i believe when he organized Thunderground he took in to consideration it been the summer (are not most festivals during the summer its V next weekend and thats got over 50k!), peoples finances and commitments to other gigs. But he thought he could still gather a decent turn out regardless because he thought people wanted to see these bands which was wrong, only 200 people were interested!
I know the point your trying to make their just isn't enough fans and money to cater for another gig which entails a night away from home! I agree were a dying breed unfortunately for Daren he found out the hard way.....
Woody
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Post by Lightninjackcane on Aug 10, 2007 16:55:44 GMT
This Gig was announced way back in April ( i believe) , IF people had wanted to go they had ample chance to plan ahead, Obviously Wig Wam, The Poodles & Brother Firetribe are not the draw i thought they were
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