Wednesday night in Whelan’s main room and there’s an indie pop triple header to really whet the appetite on display. Frankie Cosmos arrive into town with Trust Fund and local favourites Squarehead in tow. An excellent opening solo set from Ellis Jones of the aforementioned Trust Fund sets the bar high. Whelan’s is close to […]
It occurs to me tonight, literally between the jigs and reels, that there’s a madness in the Irish, a wildness that inhabits our souls. We’re an island race, clinging to a rugged rock on the furthest Western shores of Europe. One coast facing an ancient friend and foe and the other shore looking out onto the […]
Chuck Prophet played the Real Music Club in Belfast’s Errigle Inn on 26th July as part of his Ireland/UK tour. He’s the Californian singer songwriter, guitarist and producer who first grabbed the music world’s attention back in the ’80s on joining American rock band Green On Red. They parted ways in ’92 and since then […]
It’s been ten years since the release of Kate Nash’s first album, Made of Bricks. To celebrate, her and her band are on tour playing the whole thing from start to finish, turning the Academy into a microcosm of noughties indie pop. Transporting us back to a time when buying albums was something akin to […]
The closing of the Trinity Summer Series sees us take in a sublime performance from alt-J. As the band perform a varied set of their back catalogue to the crowd at Trinity there’s been a constant ebb and flow of attention. The crowd chatter over the laid back introduction, ‘3WW’ off latest release RELAXER. But, […]
A Thursday night summer outdoor show is an opportunity for a good time, contingent on a number of factors. There’s the setting (impeccable), the weather (hanging in there), the performer (mostly excellent back catalogue spanning two decades) and (perhaps most importantly) the will of the artist to indulge the gathered masses with their set selection. […]
It’s a festival bill, but not as we know it. Longitude has always attracted young people from all over the country but over the last couple of years it’s definitely become a festival for the less weary of bone – the first two days peppered with the grade-A of Grime Stormzy and Skepta and some […]
Shortly after the release of 2010 debut Tourist History, you could barely move for the blasting of Two Door Cinema Club. The Bangor trio’s debut album made little sense on many levels: full of almost flippantly fast pop-rock singles, it was perfect quick-fire advertising fodder, released on a label based in France that had dedicated […]
Centre stage on the Trinity Sports grounds tonight, in every sense of the expression, stands James Vincent McMorrow. The man of the spine-chilling falsetto, the golden thread that winds down through each song and weaves in and out of genres with absolute ease. The five piece band kick off the set with a scintillating ‘Red […]
“We just want to thank everyone for being here”. Yadda yadda. Chris Martin is sat at his piano in the middle of Croke Park, offering what seems to be the usual platitudes to some 80,000 people. Sure he’s reminiscing about Coldplay coming here in their early days and playing to virtually nobody, but it’s the […]
When Sadie Dupuis released Slugger last year, it was a continuation of a productive creative period, through two Speedy Ortiz records (Major Arcana into Foil Deer) and the creation of an outlet for a slight tweak musically, with a focus on a pop aesthetic, made manifest by a greater dependence on keyboards and synths over […]
It’s not everyday a performer with Kamasi Washington’s presence breezes into town. Since the release of his debut album two short years ago, he has toured far and wide, wowing audiences with his stellar live act. Almost a year ago to the day I was lucky enough to catch Kamasi playing to a whopping 6000 […]
“Ya’ll don’t sound like a Sunday night crowd,” Caleb Followill announces in his Southern drawl about half way through the second of his band’s three nights at the 3 Arena. The man has a point. The atmosphere inside the venue is as boozy and loose limbed as any Nashville dive bar or honky-tonk in the […]
Having been around for nigh-on thirty years now, Green Day have completely mastered the art of crowd-pleasing. They arrive onstage to chorus of deafening explosions and pyrotechnics which shatter the veil of serenity normally found among the RHK surroundings. Billie Joe Armstrong is hyper and boyish as ever as he welcomes us all to join […]