Wild Youth have slammed claims they were “too intoxicated” to perform at a festival in Galway over the weekend.
The Irish band, who represented Ireland at the Eurovision this year, were booked to perform at the Ballygar Carnival on Saturday night.
But after the gig, attendees took to social media to complain about their performance, claiming the band arrived late and acted “unprofessional”.
Shocking attitude from @bandwildyouth who who booked to perform at the Ballygar Carnival this weekend. Arrived over an hour late, so drunk the lead singer could barely perform the songs and didn’t they even play for an hour! Serious disrespect to all those who attended
— Mayv (@Happygilmore223) August 8, 2023
One attendee tweeted: “Shocking attitude from @bandwildyouth who who booked to perform at the Ballygar Carnival this weekend. Arrived over an hour late, so drunk the lead singer could barely perform the songs and didn’t they even play for an hour! Serious disrespect to all those who attended.”
Other attendees also alleged the band appeared “intoxicated” on stage, claiming it was the “worst experience”.
In response to the backlash, the Ballygar Carnival released a statement defending Wild Youth on Twitter.
They wrote: “Wild Youth, who were scheduled to take to the stage at the Mattie McDonagh Centre at 12.30am, arrived into Ballygar very late after an evening gig in Cork. Wild Youth were booked to play a performance of a minimum of 90 minutes, however they took to the stage at 1.18am and finished at 2.08am.”
“The committee were very disappointed that the stage time & set-length were not adhered to by the band as per their pre-agreed contract. We the committee understand the frustration of those who attended on the night.
“The Ballygar Carnival committee would like to acknowledge the courteous and polite behaviour of the band towards the committee and stewards when they arrived into the building. We also accept that we, the committee, did not do enough to ensure a secure and safe stage area during setup and performance.
“Following on from countless media articles, we would also like to confirm that no member of the committee had reason to believe that members of Wild Youth were too intoxicated to perform, and for the duration that Wild Youth were on stage, the committee were satisfied with their performance.
“After professional negotiation with the band and their management agency, we wish to confirm that we have reached a settlement regarding the matter. Wild Youth have also offered to perform a free event in Ballygar as a gesture of goodwill but unfortunately it was agreed that it is not logistically possible to make that happen.”
“Ballygar Carnival would like to thank the community for their continued support of the festival. We would also like to acknowledge and appreciate the amount of kind messages the committee has received over the past few days.
“We are already looking forward to the 80th annual Ballygar Carnival in 2024 and will announce at a further date the plans to utilize the financial settlement that was reached.”
Wild Youth shared the festival’s statement on Twitter, and added: “It’s always very important to remember that just because something is tweeted does not mean it’s always true. It’s not right that what’s put on twitter is becoming gospel nowadays.”
“The press will report on a tweet without fact checking of proof reading anything. Anyway, Thank you to the Ballygar community for clearing up the untrue accusations against us. Love, WY.”
It’s always very important to remember that just because something is tweeted does not mean it’s always true. It’s not right that what’s put on twitter is becoming gospel nowadays 1/2 https://t.co/oqYSSFJbP0
— Wild Youth (@bandwildyouth) August 10, 2023
