Chatting to Forest Fest Founder about Festival’s growth

In conversation with Forest Fest Founder and Director Philip Meagher

John: The big changes would be, obviously, the move up to Bee’s Wing Farm, and then of course, (the) Kicking Up Dust Arena. Would you like to tell the listeners and viewers what was behind those two big moves?

Philip: Well, basically, John, we had, I suppose, outgrown the space that we had in the centre of the village. It’s been a wonderful home for the last four years, but we just got to a point where we needed a bit more space, and we were anxious as well to have a home where people campervanning and glamping and camping and caravanning and so forth, that everybody could be on the one footprint, whereas before, as you’ll be familiar with from attending previous years, there were fields kind of scattered around, and some people could have been up to a kilometre away. So look, in a nutshell, we wanted to have a bigger home and a more comfortable and more exciting venue.

Philip: So we found Bee’s Wing Farm, it’s over 100 acres of land that has been put together, and the work has already commenced on the site for the last week or so, it’s really beginning to take shape. I’ve seen some of the photos, it’s exciting. Yeah, very, very, very exciting.

Philip: So it should lend itself to a much more comfortable and dynamic kind of experience for the weekend of the 24th of July, so really looking forward to it.

John: Yeah, so would it be fair to say the Bee’s Wing Farm much more self-contained?

Philip: Absolutely, absolutely. The people that are glamping and camping and so forth will literally get out of their tent or get out of their campervan, and they are two minutes, and they’re at a food vendor or a bar or at a stage or whatever, so the people staying on site will be in the heart of everything.

Philip: So it’ll be a really, really wonderful experience, but it’s still exactly on the edge of Emo Village, so we have the benefit of the beautiful village of Emo. Yes. We have the benefit of the backdrop of Emo Forest beside Emo Court, and at the back we have over to the Heath and over to the Rock of Dunamase and everything, so it’s just an absolutely beautiful, gorgeous venue.

John: And, Philip, if the fancy takes you, you can stroll down to the pub in the village.

Philip: You can stroll down to the pub, or we’re going to have a shuttle bus. We’re going to have a little shuttle bus doing a loop constantly, so if you want to go for a pint and sit up and have your pint again or whatever, and go for breakfast in Batoni’s or whatever, the full Irish, you can do that, or you can stay put up in the venue, but it’s only literally three quarters of a kilometre anyway, so it’s a 10-minute walk, if even.

John: Yes, and the Kicking Up Dust arena, would it be fair to say a more country kind of slant, or a more country tone to it, with Nathan (Carter) and obviously Michael English?

Philip: It’s popular demand, really. A lot of people contacted us, particularly last year, and just, I suppose, with the upsurge again in country music, when you see the likes of Luke Combs doing Slane Castle and all these guys being so popular, and then our very own legends, you know, Mike Denver and Nathan Carter and Michael English and Robert Mizzell and all the guys and girls, Cline Hagan and Claudia Buckley and so forth, there’s just a huge demand for country music, and I think the Irish acts have also kind of seen that the contemporary American style is kind of really becoming popular with the slightly younger audience as well, so you can see a lot of their shows mixing the more modern mix of music with the more traditional mix, and that’s what we’re hoping for at Kicking Up Dust.

Philip: So, you know, we have all the great guys, but we also have kind of combined it with some different acts like Key West, Dave Lofts from Waterford is a hugely exciting talent. If there’s a better voice in Ireland at the moment, I don’t know who it is.

John: Yeah, his voice is powerful. He’s like an opera singer almost singing country music.

Philip: Yeah, actually, that’s a really good way of describing it. He’s (got) an incredible range. So, yeah, we’ve really kind of mixed it up in that venue, and in the same arena we have the Top of the Crops disco that people might be familiar with from Electric Picnic and the Big Barn with the windmill and the Rubik’s Cube and the lovely installations that(‘s lit) up really, really coolly at night, and that’s going to be a really cool arena in itself, so people that want to just go to the Kicking Up Dust arena can go onto our website, forestfest.ie, and just purchase tickets for that area, or if you buy a Forest Fest ticket, the normal Forest Fest ticket, you can go into all areas, so there are options there from a ticketing point of view as to what you want to do.

Philip: Yeah, and what I liked, actually, the campers have the option Thursday evening of going into the Kicking Up Dust arena. So if they come early, a lot of people want to come early and get their pitch. Yeah, and we’re really encouraging that.

Philip: People that are camping, campervanning, glamping, caravanning and so forth, we’re anxious to try and get those in on Thursday evening and avoid any bottlenecking on the Friday, which sometimes happens at festivals. So we’re activating the Kicking Up Dust arena from 6 o’clock on the Thursday evening. People can arrive from 3 o’clock, and we have a great lineup on the Kicking Up Dust stage, headlined by Hermitage Green, of all people.

Philip: So it’s a really, really top-end offering, and we’re going to have lots of music, lots of craic. All the food vendors, bars, et cetera, will be open. And that’s a free night for locals.

Philip: So if anybody that is living in the locality wants to come in and have a look, they’re more than welcome. We want to show them around and let them see. So that’s free of charge for locals that night as well.

John: Well, that’s fabulous. It makes sense as well, because obviously you need the buy-in of the locals. You need that goodwill as well.

Philip: It just makes sense on every level, doesn’t it? Yeah, absolutely, and we have a huge buy-in. As you know, John, you’ve been at the event many times. I know.

John: I’ve seen it grow, Philip. It’s amazing. It’s amazing.

John: Did you ever think on day one of year one that you’d be here now, obviously with a much bigger footprint?

Philip: No, absolutely not. When I sat on the edge of a pool on holidays about six years ago with a laptop on my lap contacting Steve Wall and Tom Dunne and so forth for setting up a little festival based on Irish acts, little did I know I would be welcoming James and Madness and Echo and the Bunnymen and all of these amazing international acts to Emo, but it just seemed to snowball, and obviously there’s a market for it. Yeah, so it’s fair to say there was no master plan.

Philip: Well, it kind of got up and running. Once we did year one and we saw the attraction and the demand, then there became a master plan, and it was always a five-year plan to see where we go, and this is year five. So we just obviously we really want to put on a fantastic show for everybody this year and see where we go from there.

John: Yeah, well, Philip, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t think it would get as big so quickly, but looking back and the acts that you’ve lined up, I’m not a bit surprised now, looking back with hindsight goggles. Yeah, well done to you and the team there.

John: Philip, ….any particular acts yourself that you’re looking forward to?

Philip: Just from the point of view of the big acts, I’m really looking forward to Deacon Blue. They’re playing out of their skin at the moment, and they’re going to be a great act on this Saturday night. James, I’ve always loved, another great act.

Philip: Madness, fantastic. At some of the smaller stages, that guy Dave Lofts, I’m really looking forward to seeing him. I’ve seen him a couple of times, but he is just an amazing voice and well worth catching.

Philip: And Kerbdog, I’ve always loved Kerbdog, so I’ll definitely be bopping around the place at the front with them. There’s just too many to mention. Coronas are always fantastic.

Philip: The whole village is buzzing. When you see all the workers coming down to the pub, after their long, hard day, and people asking questions and stuff, it’s a great hype around the place. Of course, hype, and it’s great for local businesses as well. Yeah, exactly. There isn’t a hotel room to be had between here and Dublin, basically. Yeah, that’s good.

John: That’s a sign you’re doing a lot of things really, really well.

John: Well done to all the team and you Philip.