Wild Youth have responded to claims on social media that they were “too intoxicated to perform” at the Ballygar Carnival in Co Galway.
The band, who represented Ireland in the Eurovision this year, shared a statement from Ballygar Carnival regarding their performance at the event and stated that “just because something is tweeted does not mean it’s always true.”
It comes following a tweet from an attendee who claimed that the band members arrived an hour late to the carnival and were drunk while performing.
Statement regarding Wild Youth performance at Ballygar Carnival - Sunday, August 6th 2023. pic.twitter.com/jExHkPXkX0
— Ballygar Carnival (@bgarcarnival) August 10, 2023
According to the statement from Ballygar Carnival, Wild Youth were scheduled to take to the stage at 12.30am but arrived into Ballygar “very late” after a 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 statement read.
“The committee were very disappointed that the stage time [and] set-length were not adhered to by the band as per their pre-agreed contract.”
The statement went on to acknowledge the “courteous and polite behaviour of the band towards the committee and stewards when they arrived”.
Addressing the claims made on social media about the members being drunk, the Carnival committee said 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.”
In a separate tweet on Friday morning, the band apologised to those who attended the Ballygar Carnival.
"Things ran over throughout the day and we are deeply sorry to anyone who bought a ticket and felt let down," they said.
