Last October the dedicated followers of the city's somewhat stunted live music scene were spoilt for choice. There was Harbour Fest, a critical and commercial failure that was more Goliath than Glastonbury. And for those who didn't fancy seeing big names such as Santana and Neil Young playing to big, empty spaces there was the Rockit Festival, an altogether edgier proposition featuring left-field talents like Japan's Electric Eel Shock and Britain's DJ Suv.
Predictably, it was a case of major disaster versus minor success, but Rockit organisers Nimal Jayawardena and Didier Li are preparing themselves for a second attempt.
'Financially it killed us,' says Jayawardena of the Tamar
site travesty. 'We had no hope of making any impact, which was unfortunate, because critically Rockit was a lot better received.'
After all, despite having a lineup that was picked from 'some old corporate guy's CD collection', Harbour Fest had the financial backing of the taxpayer, a vast advertising budget and, crucially, the option of giving away free tickets at the last moment.
'We lost almost enough money to finish us off,' says Jayawardena, unwilling to reveal the exact figures. 'But we've really stuck it out for the past couple of months to put us back in the position where we can do it again.'
He must be a glutton for punishment. Not only did last year's festival draw only 3,000 people to the 20,000-capacity enclosure in Victoria Park, Jayawardena also had to deal with Supergrass, the nominal headliners, cancelling at the last moment and Tomoharu 'Gian' Ito of Electric Eel Shock being arrested for his revealing onstage antics. Still, he argues: 'Now that we've done the first one and put everything into it we know that things are going to get easier.
