You lost your wellies in the mud at Oxegen, your high heels (and blood pressure) haven't been the same since Barbra Streisand took the money and ran, and you left your Stetson behind at the Midlands Music Festival.
The Irish festival season and the Irish summer have taken their toll on you, but you still want more of those festival experiences, albeit with better weather and value for money. So what do you? For more and more Irish music fans, the answer is to travel one of the hundreds of festivals which take place every summer throughout Europe. Why put up with Irish weather - and Irish prices - when you can escape to festivals such as Benicàssim (Spain), Eurockéennes (France) and Italia Wave (Italy)?
Such foreign trips are hugely appealing for lots of reasons. By flying abroad, you can combine a holiday with a music festival and see the same bands you were planning to see in Ireland at a fraction of the cost. After all, a huge number of the acts who will be arriving in Stradbally for the Electric Picnic in a few weeks will have spent this summer on the European festival circuit.
Take, for instance, The Good, the Bad and the Queen, the supergroup featuring Blur/Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn (below), iconic Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and ex-Verve guitarist Simon Tong. Before arriving in Co Laois at the end of the month, they will have played at 15 festivals throughout Europe since June. You could have caught them everywhere from the Latitude Festival in deepest Suffolk to Les Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon.
While many festivals have already run their course for 2007, there are still some August and September events for those who would like to take a last-minute jaunt. The monster Sziget Festival runs from August 8th to 15th on the Obudai island on the Danube near Budapest and will pull in 450,000 punters this year.
Headline acts on the 23 stages include The Killers, Tool, Chemical Brothers, Madness and Pink. The cost? €150, including camping, or €30 for a day ticket. Yes, you read those figures right.
Over 55,000 fans are expected at the three-day Lowlands festival in Biddinghuizen in the Netherlands from August 17th to 19th. Acts on the bill here include Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Basement Jaxx, Lily Allen, Damien Rice, Justice and dozens more. Ticket prices for this started at €115. Another Benelux fest worth investigating is Pukkelpop in Belgium which has been running since 1985. From August 16th to 18th, more than 135,000 people will experience Iggy and the Stooges, Fall Out Boy, CSS, Badly Drawn Boy, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Kaiser Chiefs and many more acts. Weekend tickets are €130 and a day pass will cost €69.
Those who fancy a city break as well as some music should check out Rock en Seine in Paris. Taking place from August 24th to 26th, it will feature Bjork, Arcade Fire, 2 Many DJs, Dizzee Rascal, Jarvis Cocker, Kings Of Leon, Mark Ronson and others. It's held in the Domaine National de St Cloud park just outside the city and weekend tickets are €98 euro.
Nearer home, more than 450 music festivals took place this summer in Britain. However, the weather played havoc with the likes of Womad, Glastonbury and the Truck festival (which had to be postponed due to flooding).
One promising UK fest still to be held is the End of the Road Festival, which will take place in Dorset from September 14th to 16th. Acts booked for this chilled weekend include Super Furry Animals, Midlake, Joan As Policewoman, Seasick Steve and Howe Gelb. Weekend tickets are £95.
It might well be an idea to start planning now for summer 2008. Our tips? Make a beeline for Italia Wave in Florence, check out Primavera in Barcelona or go north for the eco-friendly Øya Festival in Oslo. - Jim Carroll
