Almost certain to be their breakthrough year, Belfast indie rock slackers Hot Cops return to play our Tuesday Thowdown at Lavery’s Belfast for the launch of their stellar new single ‘Passive Passive‘ on Tuesday, February 9. Support comes from Belfast-based pianist/singer-songwriter Katharine Philippa, easily one of the most thrilling live prospects in the country right now. Check out her Soundcloud. Admission is free. Doors are at 9.30pm. The Thin Air DJs before and after.
One of the country’s most reliably consistent and forward-thinking jazz festivals, Brilliant Corners will return to various venues in Belfast from March 5 to March 12. As expected, the bill for this year’s festival – hosted by Moving on Music – is as delightfully idiosyncratic as expected; Vein Trio will bring Latin Rhythms to the Belfast Parge, recently-passed jazz legend Ornette Coleman will receive due tribute, the synth-soaked free jazz of OKO and Tim Berne will illuminate the Black Box, whilst Dinosaur and Alarmist will team up for what’s set to be a highlight of the festival. Elsewhere, artist-in-residence David Lyttle will co-ordinate…
Premiered at the Beckett International Season at London’s Barbican in June before being presented at the Galway International Arts festival, Dublin’s Project Arts Centre will play host to a four-night night run of the Irish playwright’s 1969 short story Lessness from January 27 to January 30. Set within a vast desert landscape, the performance features Olwen Fouéré, a beguiling physical presence with a phenomenal vocal technique, who invites the audience to reflect upon the many refractions of this profoundly evocative Beckett text. Tickets for Lessness range from €15 to €22 and can be purchased here.
Along with Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre and Independent Venue Week, we’ll co-host a genre-spanning showcase as part of this year’s Out To Lunch Festival at the Oh Yeah Centre on Saturday, January 30. Derry act PORTS are preparing for the release of their debut album, Devil Is A Songbird. Expect harmonies that are full of glory and songs that drill into the chambers of the heart. Robyn G Shiels is ready to unwrap the follow-up to his award-winning album Blood Of The Innocents. His line is intensity, terse yarns plus banjo. Strength have a lineage back to Derry’s Red Organ Serpent Sound…
Currently in the studio working on new material, Derry quartet The Wood Burning Savages have steadily built up their reputation as one of the country’s finest and most frenetic live outfits over the last couple of years. Ahead of what’s set to be a breakthrough year for the band, the Paul Connolly-fronted four-piece will play our next Tuesday Throwdown live show in the Back Bar of Lavery’s Belfast on Tuesday, January 26. Admission is free, doors are at 9.30pm. The Thin Air DJs before and after.
One of a number of special fundraisers spawned in the wake of his passing last week, Belfast’s Limelight 1 will celebrate the legacy of David Bowie with a special one-off event to raise money for the NI Cancer Fund for Children. Featuring Rebel Rebel – “Ireland’s premier Bowie tribute” – performing after a screening of Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell To Earth, the night will also feature host and DJ for the night Joe Lindsay, who will play the hits, obscurities, remixes, influences and influenced. Tickets go on sale on Friday, January 22 at 9am via here and here,…
With all money raised going to the Irish Cancer Society, Dublin’s Whelan’s will host I Heart Bowie on Wednesday, January 27, a night of celebration and song in which “friends of Whelan’s” will get together to perform some of Bowie’s best loved songs. Speaking of the line-up, Whelan’s said, “We’re finalising the line up at the moment but we have Choice Music Prize nominees, a really slick houseband and some very special treats planned! If you’re a Bowie fan (who isn’t) it’s unmissable.” Our curiosity is certainly piqued. Tickets are €15 and are available here.
The eighth outing of IMRO’s Live Music Venue of the Year awards are set to take place at their HQ in Dublin on Tuesday, February 16. With two new awards being added to this year’s proceedings – the IMRO Outstanding Contribution to Live Music 2015 and Best Venue/Technical Crew 2015 – the annual awards celebrates the dedication and passion of those who work in Ireland’s live music venues. More than 11,000 IMRO members considered hundreds of venues across the country for the shortlist and venues were judged “on their commitment to providing the core elements that make for a great…
Set to take place from January 16 to February 18, Dublin barbershop Abner Brown’s will host a month-long celebration of women in Irish music. Supported by Musicmaker and Canalaphonic, the showcase will feature shows from some of the best independent female musicians in Ireland including Naoise Roo, Mongoose, Sinead White, Grainne Hunt, I am Niamh, Katie Laffen and Carron, as well as well as legendary Pogues’ bassist and musician Cait O Riordan, TXFM’s Claire Beck and promoter/manager Una Molloy talking of their experiences and careers in the industry. All shows are free but there will be donations each night from The Women’s…
If there’s three better consecutive words than Dublin Bowie Festival we haven’t heard them. Making its inaugural outing at The Grand Social on Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10, it will celebrate Davy Jones’ musical towering legacy via “live performances, banter, movies, table quiz, collectors merch and more.” With Bowie’s highly-anticipated twenty-fifth album Blackstar set for release the day before the festival’s launch, this is a perfectly-timed opportunity to revisit a bona fide music legend. Go here for more info.