About us
The Great Friday Festival
Five years of very serious partying by the people of Limerick caused the Great Friday House Party to burst at the seams and in 2008 the move came from house to field. Partygoers cried for more entertainment, and that they got. the cream of Limericks music scene came out to entertain and the legendary atmosphere of Great Friday survived the transition.
The result: The Great Friday Festival. Coming April 10th 2009. – Buy your tickets online through paypal at www.greatfriday.ie
The Great Friday Festival started in 2003 as a rather sad and ‘under the radar’ house party. Five delinquents, ranging in age from 20 to 25, lacking anything else to do on Good Friday, fuelled up on alcohol and, well, went crazy in the small suburban house they shared in Limerick City. The following day, as heads were rubbed and attempts were made to piece together random memories, one Lisa Pierce coined the phrase ‘No that wasn’t Good Friday, that was Great Friday!’. Armed with a name, the first five had a reference to extoll the greatness of this day to other people.
The following year is and forever shall be, shrouded in mystery.
In 2005, the original five found they had a huge problem in their lives. In the spirit of barter and trade they had been given 70 bottles of wine to make up for an old debt. Great as it may sound it had become a burden, feeling obliged to open a bottle or even case of wine at every oppurtunity and to finish it before a weary head hit a pillow. With Great Friday coming up this was the perfect chance to ‘declare war’ on the wine that caused them so much strife.So cam the first themed Great Friday. Some photos still remain of some forty or so guests covered in army camouflage and fatigues: whether they arrived so attired or not!!
The talk continued and the legend grew, 2006 came around and the epic levels this party was growing to was not lost on those involved. It was decided that the wine had acted as something of a catalyst and to that end, a trip was made to Cherbourg in advance of the festivities to procure some 120 bottles of wine. The Heaven and Hell theme of the day is well documented and the 120 or so guests brought into being a new ritual: head (sometimes eyebrow) shaving. The following day one attendee could easily spot another walking down the street!
2007. Mafia theme. 250 bottles of foreign plonk. Maciej and Verfield on stage in the back garden. 280 guests Dj Lego in the sitting room. A monkey, a mexican wrestler. 7 police complaints, 9 police visits. Breaking point.
In 2008 the decision came to move the event into a field and to place more emphasis on the live music. The reaction from Limericks rock community is staggering and twelve of the finest bands the county has to offer are arranged on stage. The local media lend their support and push the Great Friday mystery bus. We Should Be Dead, Walter Mitty, The Fewer The better, Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters and Idle Hands are just a few of the choice bands who lend their support to Limericks FIRST rock music festival. Some 350 guests brave the now famously cold weather. In ten years time, you’ll meet 3,000 people who’ll tell you they were there!
So here we are, standing on the brink of Great Friday 2009, knowing we’ve been able to survive the transition from house to field. We’ve got new rituals: Whoever thought we’d see a skate ramp!? And old ones: Who’s bringing the razor this year??
Great Friday has also become more than a music festival, it’s a year round exhibition of the Irish music scene. When we stood back, and let the dust clear on last years event, we certainly didn’t think that in a years time we would be working with bands on gigs and Band Competitions in Limerick.
Nor did we think we’d be promoting a brand new venue, ‘The Great Friday Cellar’ in Dublin. The world knows the music scene is changing, digital distribution and financial downturn are going to irrevocably change the dynamic in the industry. What they don’t know yet is that change is going to start in a small field in the outskirts of Limerick, and that in five years time, when get talking to a backpacker on a dirt trail in the Australian bush and tell them you were at Great Friday 2009 they’ll stand back and say ‘Wow, you were there?’
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The Fall Prom
The Fall Prom 08 has been and gone! What a night!
Thanks to Willie O’Dea, all our sponsors, the Limerick Independant, Leader and Post and everyone who turned out to make it a fantastically classy night!
Check out bebo.com/worthycause to see how the €3,500 is to be spent.
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Great Friday runs a number of annual promotions for Limerick based charity Worthy Cause. Check out http://www.bebo.com/worthycause for more info!
Check out Great Friday accross the Web:
http://www.greatfriday.ie
http://www.myspace.com/greatfriday
http://www.bebo.com/greatfriday
http://www.last.fm/event/812348
