Welsh rock band Stereophonics have been announced as another headline act for Trinity’s Summer Series this year.
The Welsh rock band will play at College Park on July 6th, as part of a series of concerts hosted by MCD. The band has enjoyed many successes, including ten top-10 singles such as “Dakota” in 2005. Their compilation album, Decade in the Sun, reached number two on the charts in the UK in 2008. Scream above the Sounds, the group’s latest album, was released in 2017.
Tickets for the gig go on sale this Friday at 9am, and will cost €52.
Today’s announcement comes after the unveiling of British band Foals for a headline slot on July 2nd. Foals are due to release a double album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, later this year.
Other artists scheduled to play the Summer Series are Paul Weller, who will play on July 4th, and Janelle Monáe, who will appear on July 3rd.
New Order will feature on July 7th.
This is the third year in which Trinity has decided to host the Summer Series. After attracting over 25,000 people last year, with notable acts such as Grace Jones and Rag’n’Bone Man, Trinity will be hoping to repeat this success.
In an email statement to The University Times in September, the Director of Trinity’s Commercial Revenue Unit, Adrian Neilan, said the Summer Series was “another great success” and that “with the support of many Trinity Stakeholders we look forward to this series returning to College Park for its third year next July”.
Neilan said the money from the festival is a key funding stream for a new scholarship program. Ticket prices ranged from €45 to €60 this year including a booking fee, marking a significant increase on last year’s prices. At the first Summer Series in 2016, Two Door Cinema Club, James Vincent McMorrow, Pixies, Gregory Porter and Alt-j drew large crowds to College Park.
Speaking to The University Times in 2017, Provost Patrick Prendergast said: “When we have an opportunity to make money from events, we need to do it. Every university is doing it … and this is generating revenue we can use for academic purposes.”
Over the last number of years, Trinity has been placing an increased focus on commercialisation, as well as exploiting its potential as a visitor attraction. In 2016, in an address to mark the mid-point of his tenure, Prendergast warned that “fees, philanthropy and commercialisation” would be central to the funding future of third-level education.
