people go on so much about this. i wish i knew nothing about the rivalry, i don't give a s**t anymore. i have no loyalty to either, i will pay (reasonably) to see decent acts and a decent festival....

but the garden party was organised by aiken, not mcd... is that what you meant?... because it seems blatantly obvious that the organisation and understanding at garden party / electric picnic / midlands music festival is far superior to oxegen and (guessing here) hi-fi... either way, they're both in it for a bit too much money...

All 3 - MCD, Aikens and POD - are in the business of making money. However, u tend to find a better atmosphere at Aiken/POD shows (ie Electric Picnic) rather than MCD ones (Hi-Fi, Oxegen). I think this comes down to the people they have working for them - MCD tend to go in for complete arsehole security men, whereas i've never seen any sort of trouble with Aiken/POD security. I'm sure theres just as many bad apples there but they seem to be out-numbered by the good guys, which is the opposite to what u get at MCD events. that said, it often comes down to the acts they get and MCD are the tops here because they can afford to pay out the biggest fees for every band around. but, while oxegen is tempting cos of the line-up, i'd still say the picnic will rock because of the atmosphere and good vibes.

I think the rivalry is overplayed. They both target different audiences. Most of those at EP won't be at Oxegen and vice versa and same goes for Garden Party and HiFi. Either way, they both could charge a lot less than they currently do

Is it just me or is EP ridiculously expensive? €175, more than likely if you buy by Credit Card it works out at a whopping €181!!!!, not much left out of 200 lids.

Pitchfork's Intonation Music Festival - $35 for a two day pass. Rip-off for what we pay here. Okay, i know we're an island out-post so it's gonna cost a wee bit more to get good bands to play. Not a bad line up though: http://www.intonationmusicfest.com/lineup.php

Yeah the main thing they have in common is their greed when it comes to the actual gig, but then again we could blame a whole lot of stuff for causing this like licensing, ticketmaster bastards,paying security, local crew & stage managers, cleaners; who gets the food licensing who then charge an exorbitant fee for food regardless of its 'boutiqueness'; renting stages, sound & light systems for various stages; paying bands to play, catering for crew, alcohol for musicians (and non-alcoholic intoxicating substances), paying for artist transportation. anything else I'm missing? By the way do not interpret this as some sort of list to defend the promotion companies!

without the Big 3 promoters, we wouldnt have the bigger shows in this country, Fact. do u really think indie promoters could put on a huge festival like Oxegen or Download without it descending into chaos, bands not getting paid, fans getting hurt etc etc? We may bitch and moan about ticket prices but look at your wages and the cost of EVERYTHING in this land and then go similar compare and contrast excercises with other european countries. people may say "oh well festivals are cheaper in poland" so u wont get paid as much and the cost of everything is a lot lower by comparison, rant over. sorry, its something that really annoys me about irish people in recent years - all this moaning about the cost of everything. things cost a certain price for a reason.

Check out 'Your Festival' - as far as i can its tell a wholey independent festival and altho it might not be quite as big as EP or Oxegen - its still a 2day camping event. The line up is all Irish too and some seriously great ones at that - Aleko/Channel One/Betamax Format/Straglers/Noise Control amongst a rake of others. And all for a good cause! Worth checkin out - I however am playing a gig that day. Ah well duty calls! www.myspace.com/yourfestival Cheap as pie too!

Also, http://www.castlepalooza.com/index.html

I worked on that last year, can't say much bout the line up or turn out since it was promoted in about two weeks before it went on but it has brilliant potential. But I still don't think there's a ghost there...

The Mor festival was really good a few years back, but it got squeezed out by all these new malarkeys in Charleville Castle. oh well.

I'm one of the organisers of Your Festival in Charleville Castle on June 24th and I can tell ya that we are 100% independent. Infact we are paying for the festival out of our SSIA's! We don't want any corporate sponsership or rip offs. Just an organic music festival with some of the best bands and DJ's in Ireland. There's power in numbers so lets prove a point. Bantermageesto (roughly translated as: magic of the banter or banterful magic!) Your Ritchie.