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.LIMF 2016.
Part 1 of our coverage
Photos by
Patrick Trollope
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THIS year’s Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF)
is a withering shadow of what the Mathew Street Festival but sadly, gone are the
days when we could afford to run such big events like that. Also with recent
world events taking place, putting on such big events runs even higher risks
than the likes of the Mathew Street Festival did in the past. Saying that we
cannot knock
LIMF
too hard, as it might be far smaller and it might not have the international
appeal and draw that the Matthew Street Festival had, this is still a free music
event, which is provided yearly for locals, and the few tourists who find it.
The event is now in its 4th year, in Sefton Park, but is sadly still struggling
to attract attention from non-locals. Most people we met at the event were from
South or North Liverpool, making it a fantastic event for local adults and kids,
but to say ‘International’ might be a push. It’s not often we are
negative about a Liverpool event, but other issues, like not putting the correct
date on the website, have not helped. The weather also was not the best, as with
previous years, thus dampening what could be an even more fantastic event. But
the biggest problem for LIMF is its location. It is a fantastic park, but travel
to and from it, for non locals, is a headache, with lack of sign posting from
the City Centre, lack of parking and no easy transport links, combining to make
it hard for non locals to visit. One idea that has been suggested a few years on
the run, is to have a shuttle bus service from the railway station and also a
park and ride system. This could be done, like the system used for Light Nights,
or up the road in Southport, for the Southport Flower Festival. Other issues
which have been raised over the last few years similarly seem not to have been
acted on. We could be wrong, but unlike most Liverpool events, this event seems
to have not progressed. We have to say that it’s amazing that a free show is
being put on, as not many places would do an event like that for nothing, but
the economic value of an event like this is lost, when held at a location like
this, without ways to feed those visiting in to the local businesses, An
attribute that the Mathew Street Festival was well known for. Once again, we
found the main stage very off putting, with the most interesting acts and most
enjoyable performances taking place on the band stand and on the It’s Liverpool
stage. Those locations, along with the side events for young children, were
fantastic and really enjoyable. The academy stage and the silent disco were also
fantastic, but the Red Bull DJ vehicle was hard to appreciate, as it was located
within an area that had competing sound from the It’s Liverpool Stage and the
Main Stage. This could have been a very nice feature for one of the other
locations to have had. In summary, we do not want to knock the event, as it is
still well attending, but more thought needs to go into it, as it’s just not
reaching its potential. These small issues in our view, both behind the scenes,
and in sight and sound, do need addressing. 4 years on, this event still has the
potential to be really amazing, as all the other Liverpool events tend to be...
but alas, this just misses that Liverpool sparkle. Well done to all who took
part and put the considerable efforts into putting the event on. This year the
stewards were again exceptionally helpful and friendly, as too were the stage
staff and Liverpool Council’s internal PR staff. Let’s hope you get more backing
for the future, as we keep stressing, with a few changes, this event could be
one of the best events music festivals for Liverpool this century and might even
dwarf Mathew Street! These are some of the photographs we took at this year’s
event. Please let us know what you thought of it, via emailing our newsroom to:-
News24@SouthportReporter.com and let us know your thoughts....
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