Everyone knows about the Big Two music festivals, but what about the Little Two: Castle Palooza and Indiependence? JIM CARROLLprofiles these lower-priced alternatives

THE fields are a-calling. For the next couple of weeks, music fans will abandon dive bars and large venues with roofs in favour of moshing in the open-air.

The number of Irish music festivals and outdoor shows every summer has grown dramatically this decade, to the point where there were over 70 such events last summer. While the recession will mean a reduction in that number this year, there are still a host of smaller multi-act festivals vying for your attention up and down the land.

One of these is Castle Palooza, which takes place in Charleville Castle in Tullamore, Co Offaly over the August bank holiday weekend. Its first run-out was in 2006, and promoter Cillian Stewart has a significant reason to remember the festival’s debut outing.

“It was coming up to my 30th birthday and I figured I needed to do something to mark the occasion, so I decided to run a festival in Tullamore,” he says. “I suppose I was getting a bit freaked out coming up to my 30th and wanted to do something other than just the usual bash.

“It went very well. We lost a lot of money, but everyone who turned up had a great time so it was well worth doing. We had 1,000 people and it has grown organically since then. Word of mouth has been the best advertising for us. People like the idea of going to a small festival because they know they will be looked after. We don’t see it getting too big and it will never have more than 2,500 people at it.”

Concentrating largely on home-grown talent, this year’s bill includes Dark Room Notes, David Kitt, R.S.A.G., The Lost Brothers and Channel One.

“We’ve always gone for something different to what other Irish festivals are offering,” says Stewart. “Traditionally, it has always been up-and-coming Irish acts. But this year, we’ve changed and gone for more established acts.

“We’ve always encountered problems booking the bigger acts because of the other festivals. That competition and those bigger players mean we have to do something different, and that’s fine because it is a small festival.”

Stewart says ticket sales “should be OK” this year. “The price is very reasonable, it’s €89 for two days with camping, which is cheaper than the other ones around. The people who go like the extra add-ons we have, like hot showers and flushing toilets.

“People also have access inside the castle, so they can go and check out art exhibitions, attend a dance workshop or have a massage. You don’t get those little add-ons at the other festivals.”

The August bank holiday weekend will also see the Indiependence festival at full pelt in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Organiser Shane Dunne explains that Indiependence grew out of an annual music festival which ran in the town from the early 1990s to 2004.

“It used to have a real mish-mash of acts, the likes of Dannii Minogue and Coolio and Eamon as well as local Cork acts. It didn’t work because the ticket prices were too high for what were low-quality acts.”

Dunne and some friends persuaded the organisers to let them have a go with a free festival in 2006. “The bills have got stronger year by year. Last year, we had 10,000 people watching The Blizzards on the Sunday night.

“But we knew at that stage that the festival had got too big and it had to progress to the next level. This year, we have moved to a greenfield site and are doing it as a proper festival with a reasonable ticket price and 60 or so acts playing multiple stages over a couple of days.”

This year’s bill is headlined by Ocean Colour Scene and Super Furry Animals, with a large number of Irish acts playing including Messiah J & The Expert, The Blizzards, Delorentos, Mundy, The Frank & Walters, The Chapters and Director.

“It’s a cheap weekend,” Dunne points out. “Tickets are €59 online, but there are 1,000 special offer tickets on sale locally for €39, which is very good value when you consider you have acts like Ocean Colour Scene and Super Furry Animals on the bill.

“The value-for-money aspect is very important. You go to a lot of festivals with massive line-ups and you could be looking at €500 for a weekend away by the time you’ve paid for your ticket and everything else you need.

“Our ticket prices are low and we’ve also capped all our prices for food and drink. No-one is ripped off on the site because the prices are at much the same level as they are in the town.”

Given all this, Dunne expects the festival to do the business. “The capacity is 4,500 and, judging by the way things have gone so far, I’m confident we’ll get 3,500 to 4,000, close enough to sold-out. If the weather is good in the week leading up to it, we might sell it out.

“Ticket sales were slow to begin with, but that was our own fault because we were late getting going with advertising and marketing.”

Dunne and his accomplices are already thinking about what comes next. “The site is 10 acres in size and is capable of taking 20,000 people, so we’re only using half of it this year. But once you go over 5,000 people, you’re in a whole new ball game with licences, so we decided to cap it at 4,500 this year and see how we get on.

“We’ve already had a the chat with the local gards and the authorities. We’ve said ‘look, if this goes well, we might push it to seven or eight or 10 thousand next year’. They’re OK with that, provided it goes well this year.

“And if that happens, I’ve a list of about 70 or 80 other things we’d like to do with the festival too.”

• Further information on Castle Palooza at www.castlepalooza.com and on Indiependence at www.mitchelstownfest.com

Three more to try: Disco al fresco

KnockanStockan

More than 100 homegrown acts, including The Mighty Stef, Sickboy and The Hot Sprockets, at play by the Blessington Lakes.

• Blessington, Co Wicklow; July 24-26; weekend tickets €65 including camping, www.knockanstockan.ie

Glasgowbury

Fighting With Wire, In Case Of Fire, General Fiasco, Cashier No 9 and dozens more turning it up to 11 in the Sperrin mountains.

• Eagle's Rock, Draperstown, Co Derry; July 25; £30 with camping/£25 without; www.glasgowbury.com)

Le Cheile

The 12th music and arts fest will feature Lisa Hannigan, Fight Like Apes, Mundy, Declan O’Rourke, Delorentos and many more.

• Oldcastle, Co Meath; July 28-August 3; weekend tickets 100 euro; www.lecheile.ie