Fairyhouse Racecourse in Meath is being converted into a music venue for the two day Witnness festival.
Construction at Fairyhouse Racecourse in County Meath is near completion ahead of the inaugural Witnness festival taking place on 5 and 6 August 2000. The unusual spelling is explained by the Guinness sponsorship behind the £2.5 million festival.
For the price of £59, some 40,000 festival goers will have the chance to see more than 70 acts across four stages, Witnness Main, Witnness More, Witnness Dance and Witnness Rising. Among the acts appearing are Travis, Beck, David Gray, All Saints, Paul Weller, Asian Dub Foundation and Ocean Colour Scene.
Witnness is the first major outdoor festival since the demise of Féile. Justin Green of promoters MCD says since Féile, not only the music, but the quality of festival facilities and sound systems have changed. He is confident,
Witnness will actually go beyond where Féile ever went.
Witnness ran for four summers from 2000 to 2003. In its final year, it moved from Fairyhouse to Punchestown Racecourse in County Kildare. In 2004 Heineken took over as sponsors and the festival continued at Punchestown as Oxegen.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 2 August 2000. The reporter is Anthony Murnane.
