• First Acts Announced for Another Love Story 2016

    Another Love Story returns to Killyon Manor for its third Summer Festival outing this August. Organised by Happenings and Homebeat the almost otherworldly festival promises terrific Irish and International live music and DJ sets, colourful instalments and plenty of room to explore. Today, the first round of acts have been announced for the weekend including Meltybrains? SlowPlaceLikeHome, Talos, Saint Sister, J.Cowhie, Beach, Variant Sea and more. Outside of music there will be talks, walks, cinema, theatre, yoga, Ching Gong, and a myriad of other elements aside from the music to lure you in. There will be more Irish and International live acts and DJs added…

  • Brilliant Corners To Return in March

    One of the country’s most reliably consistent and forward-thinking jazz festivals, it’s been announced that 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…

  • Celtronic Festival 2015

    Rightly calling itself Ireland’s leading electronic festival, Derry’s Celtronic has built up an extremely strong reputation over the last couple of years, having put the likes of Jon Hopkins, Ulrich Schnauss, Erol Alkan, John Talabot and Nina Kraviz. Set to take place across in various venues across the city from Wednesday, June 24 to Sunday, June 28, this year’s outing will include shows from Fort Romeau, Mano Le Tough, Clark, Derrick May, local acts The Cyclist and Space Dimension Controller. Check out the full line-up as it stands here and go here to buy tickets.  

  • Belfast Photo Festival 2015

    Presenting one of the leading International Festivals of photography in the UK and the Visual Arts Festival of Northern Ireland, Belfast Photo Festival will return to the city from June 4-30 with an extraordinarily varied programme. With a whole host of exhibitions, workshops, masterclasses, talks, tours, screenings and portfolio reviews on the cards over the four weeks, the festival – which has been two years in the making – will include work by major international photographers alongside Northern Ireland’s finest photographic talent. Highlights from this year’s outing for the festival include To Camera, a group exhibition at the Golden Thread Gallery,…

  • BARE in the Woods

    June is traditionally a stacked month in terms of live excursions around the country, but following its acclaimed debut last year, one-day festival B.A.R.E. in the Woods looks set to stake its place in the Irish festival calendar with an-already impressive line-out of music, and a brand-new comedy stage in the woods of Garrynahinch, Co. Laois. The music line-up is an exciting one to say the least, headlined by returning UK hip-hop legend Roots Manuva. The brutally-honest South Londoner is renowned for his multi-layered lyrics and rich vein of cultural references throughout his music, delivered in his inimitable style, a…

  • Insert Coin: iDig International Games Music Festival

    In the first of a new feature called Insert Coin, we discuss video games and people who make them possible. To kick things off, we attended the inaugural iDig International Games Music Festival at the convention centre in Dublin for plenty of gaming and a concert by Video Games Live. Photos by Isabel Thomas. It’s old hat now that video games are big business. We all know that they compete with films, music, theater, TV and pornography as the preeminent form of entertainment for the 21st century. There’s no sense arguing anymore whether video games are just for children now…