Search Results for: Chris Flack

  • A Problem Shared: How The Irish Music Community is Navigating Self-Isolation

    March 25, 2020 - By 

    A wise man once said, “The country’s cowped”. And you know what? He wasn’t wrong. But in strange, unprecedented times – in totally unchartered territory such as this – it doesn’t take long for the best of us to come together. Even now, as we’re all adapting to being cooped up in our own liminal little worlds, a sense of solidarity in numbers grows stronger by the day. For many of us self-isolating like it’s nobody’s business, the last week-and-a-bit has felt more than a little dream-like. And yet, loitering in the forefront of my mind, demanding to be heeded, is…

  • Ben Folds @ Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast

    May 14, 2018 - By 

    Ben Folds is a consummate master of contrast. Equally adept at playing plaintive ballads as he is at belting out looney tunes rock and roll, he comes across as a younger, only slightly less grizzled Randy Newman. Folds’ lyrics certainly have the same bite, and are similarly coupled with ear-worm melodies that belie the sardonic nature of the subject matter hiding in plain sight. So, during this evening’s lengthy set the audience is treated to particularly poetic versions of ‘Still Fighting It’, a beautiful tableau of a father-son relationship, and ‘Fred Jones Part 2’, another of Folds’ character studies whose…

  • Joshua Burnside w/ Ports & Little Rivers @ Studio2, Liverpool

    October 6, 2017 - By 

    Liverpool’s Studio2 is an odd sort of a place. It’s on the backstreet of a backstreet, far away from Concert Square, the main strip and the horror of the bottled Beatles, 80s bars and fake paddywhackery of Matthew St. For the non-scousers among you, don’t Google Concert Square – it’s not what you think it is. In fact, if you ever get to Liverpool avoid the place like the bloody plague. And yet here we are, among the carparks, mechanics and those kinds of places that can just afford the rent around here. This little oasis in the middle of…

  • Atlantic Sessions 2016

    January 10, 2017 - By 

    In a slightly delayed review we take a look back at Atlantic Sessions 2016 and look forward to the next session. Words and Images by Chris Flack, additional images by Tim Swart courtesy of Atlantic Sessions. With waves crashing against the shoreline, a relentless Atlantic wind, a canopy of snow on the hills and a decidedly vicious chill in the air, Atlantic Sessions rolled into the North Coast in November for its 8th year. And what a year it was, a near-perfect way to see out the shitstorm that was 2016. Hosting over 50 artists in 20 venues across the…

  • Mick Flannery w/ Lee Southall & Only Child @ Leaf Tea Shop, Liverpool

    March 18, 2016 - By 

      Only Child, in the form of Alan O’Hare brings me a great deal of joy. There’s nothing in the world like a scouse lad getting angry about the state of the world, inept politicians and the deep divide between people and cultures. Alan brings all that and more with a healthy dose of sentimentality and love, the true talent of a poet brought to bear. The number 86 bus from Penny Lane is not a spectacular journey but one that sparked memories of countless trips into town for Alan, such a trip your reviewer took not half an hour…

  • Jack O’Rourke: Comfort in Melancholy

    February 19, 2016 - By 

    Set to play Dublin’s Whelan’s tonight (Friday, February 19) we chat to Cork baroque-pop singer-songwriter Jack O’Rourke about influence and inspiration, soundtracking the Yes campaign, the thin line between joy and melancholy, as well as the writing and recording of his forthcoming debut album. First up: for those not in the know, when and how did you first start writing and playing your own music? I was four and doodling at the piano. It chilled me out and excited me simultaneously. I discovered Kate Bush and Tom Waits when I was 15 and the rest is history. I sometimes wish I…

  • Hozier, Wyvern Lingo @ Liverpool Empire Theatre

    January 14, 2016 - By 

    There are many grand theaters in Liverpool, a city where they come ten to the penny. With a dozen or so within spitting distance that would work, tonight is about the splendour of a proper neoclassical master. Bathed in tons of marble and acres of velvet The Empire sets the scene for the 2400 odd that have packed in to a sold out show. Sandwiched between the Panto and Priscilla Queen of the desert, tonight’s show has a very Wicklow bent. I say this as I was asked on numerous occasions if there was a local support act, there wasn’t……

  • Sea Legs w/ Little Rivers @ LEAF Cafe, Liverpool

    October 19, 2015 - By 

    Near the top of Bold Street as you amble uphill toward the bombed out church; beyond the spot where less intrepid travellers pause, is a place of rest and recuperation; a place of beauty, chocolate wonderment, amazing brews and some of the finest music in the City.  A tea room in the 20’s, a cinema in the 60’s and home of the original Microzine clothes shop in the 00’s, LEAF stands proudly in this beautiful art deco building.  It is fortunate to have maintained above its main tea emporium a triple height acoustically beautiful performance space, filled with an impressive…

  • Liverpool Sound City 2015

    May 29, 2015 - By 

    Thanks to the likes of Emerald Armada, Raglans, Pat Dam Smyth (above), The Clameens, His New Atlas and others, there was yet another strong Irish presence at this year’s Liverpool Sound City. Photos by Christopher Flack. Thanks to the generous, becoming chaps at Getintothis.