User blog:Timebomb192potato/Luke Rewi: "Hello... Wherever"


 * Hello... Wherever
 * - Report by Luke Rewi, March 5, 2015


 * "So, I'm in Ireland at the debut stop of the new This Is The Last International Pop Festival in Europe tour. All is going well, and we're all hyped for festival founders Rinava to take the stage... and then Ryu Judoku shouts "HELLO DUBLIN!"


 * Um, we aren't in Dublin, we're actually 152 kilometres (thanks, U.K/Irish math) to the southwest in the city of Thurles in rural County Tipperary, a locality most non-Irishmen forget even exists. Later in the day, Cocteau Twins' permanent fill-in singer Sharon Romer mentioned how happy they were to be in Dublin in the middle of their set on the main stage, but then corrected herself after a roadie shouted the correct location to her. Hair metal gods Thundercrash were the next act to screw up, with Derek O'Conor saying "Sing it Dublin!" at least twice. Later, it got worse when Polysics' Hiroyuki Hayashi greeted the crowd with "Konnichiwa Dublin!".


 * There was a certain theme of this stop, and that was artists repeatedly making the geographical screwup of saying "Hello Dublin!" on a stage on a horse track in the middle of rural Ireland, many miles away. Other artists who made the mistake included Nintendocore legends Horse the Band (who referenced being in Dublin at least 12 times), The Proclaimers (who famously created a song about walking 500 miles, for crying out loud), and Vanessa Carlton (who said how happy she was to be in Dublin before beginning her set).


 * I believe "Hello Ireland" would suffice better. Many would think this is comparable to an artist greeting a New York crowd outside of NYC (like in Buffalo or Rochester) or a crowd in Newark, New Jersey with "Hello New York City!". Hell, some at the Thurles stop of This Is The Last International Pop Festival in Europe tried to start a "You're in Thurles" chant!


 * Social media took notice. One said "Maybe they could have a roadie stand up on an audio tower with a cue card reading "YOU'RE IN THURLES, STUPID!" and hope that the performers get the hint." Another said "Cocteau Twins can't tell if it's Heaven or Las Vegas, and they also can't tell if it's Dublin or Thurles." Others said "I'll give a couple hundred euros to the one TiTLIPF in Europe act that doesn't greet the crowd with Hello Dublin", "Can somebody please tell Vanessa Carlton that Thurles is not in Dublin", and "Every time Rinava said "Dublin" I grew less proud of living in Thurles."


 * It's great that they took notice, because the artists really need a hint."