A feeling of Déjà Vu

Listening to the debate ongoing at the moment about the fate of Inis Fest brings me back 20 years to the arrival of Moondance and the sad fate it suffered.
I was President of the rugby club that year ,and was surprised to get a call from Oliver Barry’s PA asking that I meet him at the club grounds that very evening.Now I knew of Oliver Barry and his successes with Siamse Cois Lee and his promotion of Michael Jackson shows in Ireland ,but that was the extent of my knowledge and I was a bit skeptical that he would be looking to meet me at our club grounds.Anyway I went down at the appointed time ,and my doubts seemed to be confirmed when a Toyota Starlet drove in.But out stepped the man himself,and he acknowledged my surprise by telling me he had flown to Shannon and that was the only car available to hire.
He wasn’t great on the soft talk,or maybe that was me,and he quickly got down to the purpose of his visit.His partner and himself had come up with this idea to run a moving festival travelling around Ireland using clubs to host what was in effect a traditional carnival but with all the modern trappings ,a bar(which is where we came in), a food franchise ,luxury marquees and bands and DJs.He had assembled a huge bar with a 120 ft counter,his own security team( which had policed the Michael Jackson concerts,he undertook to carpet the entire area of the pitch they were using,and he had security fencing to enclose the entire area.Fir the use of our facilities on the first weekend of June he was prepared to give us a substantial fee and wanted a 3year agreement .well I can tell you I nearly took off his hand I was so keen to make the agreement.
Now I’ve often said that the idea didn’t make a lot of sense and seemed to be based more on sentimentality for an Ireland that no longer existed but be that as it may it seemed a relatively harmless project that could bring people into town.The projected numbers were 800 Friday and Sunday ,with a peak crowd of 2000 on Saturday.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly ,everything was as he promised and the Rugby Club was transformed.The one regret I have is that cameras weren’t as prevalent as they are now and to the best of my knowledge no photographic record exists.All I can say is the place was magnificent.
But sadly the storm clouds were gathering.To this day I have never encountered so much obstruction to a what was essentially a carnival as occurred in every rural village in Ireland all through the 60s and 70s.We were called to meeting after meeting with bodies I never knew existed and more and more demands were made of the organisers .Extra Gardai up to the rank of Inspector,a drugs incident room,increased security.And there were no residents objecting.By the time the exemptions were granted in the courts the Moondance festival was 7 hours away.When Barry and his partners should have been engaged in promoting their festival they were tied up in meetings about events that were never going to happen,and the festival closed after one night.And like the promoters of the Inis Fest Oliver Barry and his partners left Ennis hugely out of pocket.And they were honourable men and honoured that years commitment to us.
The last comment Oliver Barry made to me “I have been involved in promoting events all over Ireland,huge affairs catering for crowds of 50000 people but I’ve never come across anywhere like Ennis,and I won’t be back.”
So now you know why I feel it’s 1995 all over again.