Spollen stressed though that festival-goers will have access to the main arena and concession areas where a selection of ‘matinee’ films will run.
“Belvedere is adjacent to Mullingar Golf Club,” says the MCD man. “They have an annual ‘scratch’ cup, which I believe is an amateur competition, that attracts up to 200 people and I guess until Hi-Fi was the biggest event on Mullingar’s calendar. They tried to object to our licence, and this is the County Council’s effort to keep everybody happy.
“To put it into perspective, we’ve got a later licence than any other festival in the country – that’s a 2 am close. That’s 21 hours of music over two days, which is actually longer than Oxegen. We’re starting at 2 o’clock on the Saturday (August 5), so this isn’t a downer.
“Another thing that’s been said is there’s no campsite entertainment – there will be. There’ll be big screens, performance art, a whole bunch of druids doing something around the ring fort that’s in the middle of the campsite, and other fun things.”
Spollen also confirmed that a drinks licence has yet to be granted, although he expects that to change today, Thursday, when the matter comes before the local courts.
“I expect it to go through,” he states. “It’s a short-term transfer of a licence that happens every day of the week.”