Jim Carroll: When road disruptions (and musicians) come to town

The residents are revolting and you can probably understand why. If you owned a gaff within a roar of a big field or park used for outdoor shows every summer, you too might have reasons for unhappiness about the annual arrival of live music yahoos in the neighbourhood.

Even live music fans themselves may want to shout stop about what’s going on at the bottom of their road.

2014 really was a summer of discontent when it came to residents and live music, with the well-publicised events around Garth Brooks’s attempt to play some shows in Dublin’s Croke Park. Meanwhile, those living around Marlay Park across the city were also kicking off.

Last year, Marlay Park hosted five one-day concerts plus the three-day Longitude festival, which lead to a huge number of complaints to local public representatives and the local council from residents.

It’s a different story this summer: the park’s only musical visitors have been Avicii and Paolo Nutini, with Longitude kicking off Friday featuring Hozier, Chemical Brothers and dozens of other acts.

Last summer was definitely the busiest year for big concerts in the park in some time, as previous years usually involved either a handful of shows or lower-capacity shows in a tent. The current contract between Dún Laoghaire Rathdown-County Council (DLR) and promoters MCD Concerts relating to the use of the park for concerts ends in September.

The council will argue that the live shows bring in much-needed revenue (the rental fee for 2014’s shows is believed to be around €600,000), which is then used to fund recreational projects in the area. But the residents will point out that this is not enough to compensate them for the noise, disruption, traffic problems and loss of amenities which they suffer while the concerts are on.

There’s certainly a sense that 2014 was a step too far. Residents may be willing to put up with an odd show here or there, but it’s the level of disruption caused by a long run of shows that irks the most, no matter how much work the promoter puts in to offset this.

Yet there are some venues which seem quite happy to welcome the circus to town. With the exception of an attempt to stop a Madonna concert on a Sunday in 2004, Slane residents seem okay with the annual invasion. Likewise, it seems that the relationship between Stradbally residents and the Electric Picnic has worked well for both sides to date, though it will be interesting to note the effect on the town of this year’s bump in capacity.

Naturally, there will always be towns and villages who’ll enthusiastically welcome concerts for the economic bonanza they bring.

But as residents who put up with shows summer after summer in other parts of the country have found out, it often turns out to be a case of be careful what you wish for.

You’ve got to hear this

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ETC

With The Hateful Eight set for release next winter, it's going to be all Quentin Tarantino in the coming months. You can catch up on the director's back catalogue at Dublin's Sugar Club from August 1, with Kill Bill, Django Unchained, True Romance, Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown set to be screened over a week. See thesugarclub.com.