• Foals w/ Yak @ Trinity Summer Series, Dublin

    Spirits are high on the grounds of Dublin’s Trinity College, as British psychedelic outfit Yak perform for a sizeable crowd of early punters. With a sound that blends elements similar to contemporaries Boy Azooga and Ireland’s Girl Band, the Wolverhampton natives have done well for an early Tuesday evening timeslot. Despite this, the crowd grows quite noticeably larger as they polish off their set with ‘Harbour the Feeling’ from debut album Alas Salvation. As people begin to filter into the surprisingly intimate surroundings of Trinity’s Summer Series arena, it can be noted that the clientele is somewhat eclectic. Lads in…

  • Beauty Sleep – Be Kind Album Launch @ The MAC, Belfast

    A burst of unseasonable warm weather (for June) grips Belfast, spending an evening in the MAC’s windowless theatre space to listen to Beauty Sleep officially launch the launch of their album ‘Be Kind’ feels a touch counter-intuitive. We’ve seen precious little of the big yellow ball in the sky of late and perversely fate has decided place two of the summeriest things to happen to the city all year in direct competition. Pathetic fallacy is all well and good when it’s pissing down outside but on days like this it’s just annoying. In spite of the glorious showing outside a…

  • Emma Langford w/ Nathan O’Regan @ The Duncairn, Belfast

    It’s almost a little too warm this evening in the Duncairn Centre’s beautiful theatre space. It’s also possible everyone is a little hot under the collar from rushing to the venue, some seasonal marching to the north of Belfast has made getting here on time a challenging proposition and people are still arriving as our host welcomes the crowd and introduces the evening’s support, Nathan O’Regan. Once the Cork-born singer-songwriter takes to the stage it becomes clear his songs are a lesson in measured restraint; it’s obvious he could push his voice harder, that he is more than capable of…

  • Scullion @ Lost Lane, Dublin

    The pre-show murmur before the second of Scullion’s sequence of three “Down in the City” shows at Lost Lane is somewhat muted but polite and convivial. Critically it is dry. Just prior to doors opening the heavens did the same and most of our audience seem to have been caught in the deluge at some point en route to the venue. The mild drenching seems to have brought out an “us-against-the-world” attitude in the attendees, which always makes conversation a little easier and it’s clear everyone is very happy to be safely ensconced in Lost Lane’s cozy space. Scullion are…

  • Louis Cole w/ Cidot @ The Sugar Club, Dublin

    As The Sugar Club fills with a homogenous mix of stereotypical Music nerds and the types you can imagine spend many an evening on Reddit, the cosy red room is cloaked in a warm ambiance that is characteristic of the venue. Although the show is running slightly behind, the crowd seems to be in high spirits, with audience members nestling into their plush red seats with cocktails and pizza in hand. As the crowd gets comfortable, support act Cidot take to the stage. A two-piece Jazz infused electronic act made up of Cian Hanley on drums and Cathal McKenna manning…

  • Naoise Roo & Special Guests @ Project Arts Centre, Dublin

    In a small room known as The Cube within Temple Bar’s Project Art Centre, a small, excited audience has gathered for a live preview of a new EP from singer-songwriter Naoise Roo. Having taken a break from performing, this is the first performance the Dublin native has given in quite some time. There is no grand entrance, no spectacle, Roo and co. simply and quite humbly walk on stage. There is a round of applause, copious whoops, hollers and howls before the crowd settles and Roo begins the show with a short introduction. Even during this introduction, Roo’s charisma shines.…

  • Jason Lytle w/ Malojian @ 1st Presbyterian Church, Belfast

    Kudos to Malojian (below) for amassing such a considerable array of achievements in a relatively short period of time: touring all over the shop, winning over a legion of fans and recording four albums of hushed reverie – most notably, with big kahuna producer Steve Albini, whose sparse recoding style is fitting for Malojian’s meticulously thought out arrangements. Then, as we are told, there is the forthcoming record with Jason Lytle on which he has been working this past week. The omens and the muses are both very good, it seems. It is easy to see why. Malojian writes clever, engaging…

  • John Cooper Clarke @ Ulster Hall, Belfast

    “It’s let’s see who’s still alive in Belfast night”, the fifty-something-year-old man said, entering the foyer of the Ulster Hall. For the city’s former punks any gig by the movement’s old guard is reason to turn out, even it if is for a poetry night. John Cooper Clarke, to be fair, is no ordinary poet. Since the 1970s, Salford’s punk-poet extraordinaire has surfed the highs and lows of an unfashionable business, rhyming and riffing on everything from sperm tests and inner-city poverty to the crumbling NHS, metrosexuals and Bono’s stolen trousers. At seventy, this great satirist is perhaps more relevant…

  • Junior Brother and PowPig @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    The outside of Dublin’s Grand Social is littered with both local and foreign football fans, the downstairs bar is a flood of jerseys and half-spilled pints, but upstairs in the smoking area of the bar, a semi-orderly queue is forming. A few strays weasel their way to the front and mutter something about spare tickets, but to no avail. The rest, stand patiently, smoking, drinking and chatting, waiting to enter the venue. One guy bursts in red as a baboon’s hole and takes three maybe four puffs from an inhaler before joining the line. All of these people are here…