[Alisso]

Given that most of the shows haven't actually sent in their attendance and profit figures, all this stuff about a loss has to be based on festival events, or else it's basically a guess. And just from the state of the festival club, I could tell they weren't doing so well. Everyone I spoke to about it (including various staff) agreed that the management of the festival club was a debacle this year. Even on the days when they DID have a good line-up, they couldn't draw a crowd. And as for superband, I saw people leave the queue before going in when they were told there wasn't going to be any comedy before the band.

So far, the most successful formula I've seen for the festival club has been new comics night early in the week, then gradually bigger acts culminating in a massive Saturday night with Superband, followed by a quieter Sunday. And when there's an alternative (like Spinning Wheel) on the Sunday, that's even better, because then there's somewhere else available on the final Sunday.

I know Trades was going off this year (except whenever I got up there we'd already missed all the fun), but the location doesn't do it any favours. The tent's nice and close, and Laugha is only two nights a week, a similar late night show thing there would do well, as was demonstrated by the Anzac Day Eve thing there which had a great crowd, especially given that it was a Monday and it was only really announced on the day.

But I was somewhat disappointed by Laugha this year (ooh, segue!). While I'm not one of them, Chopper does have his fans, but I saw them at Laugha some nights when he was on, and I'm not sure if they were quite the right crowd for musical comedy. They were certainly happy to see Chopper, but then they didn't quite get into the spirit of the rest of the show.

It's tempting to assume that the major change in Laugha was the frequent absence of Tim and Eddie, but even on the nights they were on, the crowds seemed a bit lacking compared to last year...then again, last year was absolutely phenomenal at times, packed solid, and people all around the walls. And last year's line-ups were pretty spectacular too, most of the time. Of course, the weather worked against the tent at times...presumably because the festival was later in the year, we had a lot more rain, and there's not a lot of shelter around the tent.

But the main thing I couldn't get over was the state of the festival club. Comedy Bingo? "Karaoke" which wasn't really karaoke? And without Adam Richard and Meshel Laurie's hilariously bitchy comments? *G* And while Lounging with the Scardies was a good concept on it's own, it can't compare to, and shouldn't replace, the Superband. I wonder if there's anyone else who would be up to the challenge of taking on the actual Superband on Saturdays, leaving the Scardies to do a more laid-back, earlier lounge set on Sunday nights?

Martin Martini did seem very popular, and I was impressed, but it didn't have quite the same impact as superband. There were a few live bands on after the comedy in 2005, Martin Martini could take Friday nights *g*

The other big fuck up at the hifi was the Lock-In. Part of the reason for that being changed from 20 hours to midnight-to-dawn was a lack of acts. If you're going to put together a show that runs for twenty hours, it really helps to have lined up some acts who are prepared to do that very difficult 9am-12am bracket when everyone's buggered, and half the audience won't laugh at anything, and half are laughing at things that aren't actually funny. Advertising a show like that without any big names to back it up was a big risk, and they had to back down, which doesn't look good.

And midnight to dawn in the hifi is not that big a deal for some of us *g* Midnight to dawn with actual comedy is pretty impressive *G* and if that had been the intention from the start, and they'd advertised that properly, it could have been a bit more spectacular. Not that it wasn't fun, it was great to see people bring back some classic stuff (the abridged version of Boiling Point was absolutely fucking brilliant) and I gained a bit of respect for Daniel Kitson after seeing him MC a seven hour show *G*


The interesting thing I've heard is that, while the actual FESTIVAL has lost money this year, the independant acts have mostly done really well. I know I've never seen quite so many sold out signs on the board every night. Half the big names had sold out before the festival had even started, because the tickets went on sale so early, and a lot of people who left booking till later took the attitude of "well, we might as well see SOMETHING", which did wonders for the less well known acts.

The advertising budget probably did make a big dent in the profit margin of the festival, but if they'd managed to get the usual sort of crowds at the hifi, they might have done a bit better. You know there's something wrong when even the participants, who can get into the hifi for free, can't be bothered going.