The River festival in Conwy has been the highlight of the year for as long as I can remember and to me it was always about the bands mostly local bands too. This year I have to say the advertising has been abysmal, practically non existent, hardly anyone I've asked knew what weekend it was on. Usually there's banners everywhere and everyone you talk to is buzzing. Maybe the lack of interest has been because as a rule local bands promote themselves on Facebook etc and this year if the following statement taken from a mate on Facebook is right it could be why nobody knows whats going on? I think the organisers have made a very costly mistake. I think the majority of people on the Quay were there to support local bands and enjoyed the diversity of music. I don't think the boats were the big draw.
This statement was written on face book earlier
conw quay....this sucks....good old n.wales does it again.....feel sorry for Chris n Roger.
As a lot of u have been asking whats going on with the bands on the quay this yr it is only fair that we should fill you in on the info that we know,
The river festival 'committee' of volunteers invited roger and I to one of their meetings a while back to discuss this yrs event. to tell us that it is a festival about boats and sailing (not a music festival) and that the entertainment is just a part of it (sorry but we were already aware of this!). they also informed us that there was no money to pay for the organisation/promo, p.a. or to pay the bands.
They didn't want it to finish at 11pm when it normally does, blaming litter, unruly crowds, fighting/vomiting! attracting undesirables, noise, the type of music (what do they know!), people buying their beer from the local spar and bring it down to the quay, etc etc. they want it to be more family orientated, so instead of the music running from 5pm till 11pm for one wkend as it has done for like 20yrs or something, they have decided, in their 'wisdom' to have 'entertainment' (which will be some sort of cover band, bringing their own equipment at whatever cost that involves) from 5pm-8pm sat, sun, mon, tue, wed, thurs, fri, sat, sun!
They did ask us if this was something we would be willing to sort out for them, but we declined as we do not want to be involved with such a preposterous idea doomed to failure! as it still requires the p.a. to be set up/taken down more often for less hrs so therefore costs will be tripled and audiences will be very small during the wk, and finishing as 8pm! 'what planet' instantly came to mind!
We did tell them that we have in the past tried to put on gigs during the week and have learnt that it does not work. but add to that the bright idea of finishing at 8pm when most people dont finish work till 5-6 and dont go out till 8 or 9pm, they will have local uproar on their hands and as we will be the ones on the ground doing the bands we do not want to be taking the flak for it.
So roger and I have unfortunately after many years of hard work organising and promoting the bands, doing the sound, dancing with the crowd and generally promoting a good time down on the quay have had to bow out of this 1! we hope it goes well for whatever they have put in its its place, but I for one will not be gracing the quay with my presence as i do not like to attend poorly organised music events.
Backdrop events are sorry that there will be no music event to speak of down on the quay this year. it really was a labour of love for us, it was the only annual free music event of any quality in the area. we, as i'm sure many of u did to, looked forward to it every year. it was an event to be proud of, it was run by musicians for musicians, which involved the best local bands and musicians of all types and a few from all over Great Britain.
As a side note we have asked the Liverpool arms if we could run a little free music fest for another wkend and disassociate from the river fest. but unfortunately they cannot afford the insurance and stewarding costs as so far they say they have had a bad year. so there u go it doesn't look like its gonna happen. which is a sad day for the town and all local music enthusiasts and tourists alike.
hopefully next year will bring better things!
Thanks Chris n Roger.