To be quite frank, your writer is still recovering from an excellent few bouts of sleep deprivation on the trot, so a short one it is this week, before another gig-news binge next week. Deal? Okay.
Saturday night saw about five or six majorly important shows happening in town at once. That hasn’t happened in a really long time. To be quite frank, the gig-going public was a little small until recently to be pulling in multiple directions, and if you’d told your writer this time last year that five shows in one night would do well, he’d have told you to take a running jump. But there it is. The injection of vitality into the Cork scene administered by the Quarter Block Party and Noisefest last month is staying in the city’s system, and Meltybrains? at the Triskel, Hornets at Bradley’s, the Cork metal expo at Fredz and the Rory Gallagher fest at Ziggy’s, as well as Kidnap Kid at Cyprus Avenue and the Forte Festival around town, all did exceedingly well by all accounts, and we can certainly vouch for the success of our own Leeside launch at the Crane Lane (a full feature on which is coming this week).
That each show drew full or near-full houses speaks now to how things are coming along. The Block Party and all its good vibes could have been a flash in the pan. Noisefest could have been just that. But again, that awareness of what we have at our doorsteps is real and tangible. The upswing is here. There’s an absolute rake more stuff happening over the coming weeks. The town’s current line-up of promoters is putting together its own brace of shows to contribute to the overall picture we’ve painting here in this column.
CIT’s Music Soc has round 3 of its Battle of the Bands tomorrow night, a proposition that has shook off the negative connotations of its format and showcased the range and depth of our city’s younger outfits. Southern Hospitality Board have SISSY on Saturday at Mother Jones’. This Thursday sees a load of gigs around the gaff as mentioned in last week’s column, including the continued return of Cork music sandbox Playground of Dreamss at the Roundy and a visit from German pop-punkers City Kids Feel the Beat at Fredz.
Friday sees All We Are hit Cyprus Avenue and Bradley’s become a ska and reggae spot for the night with The Moonstomp, a selecter’s night with Cork punk mainstay Wah Healy manning the decks. All that weekend sees Fred Zeppelin’s knock out a quality pre-Paddy’s lineout of shows, including the Room 101 fundraiser on the 16th. Pyre Pro, mother of Jaysus, they keep throwing the exciting announcements out.
The 21st sees No Spill Blood (pictured up top) at the Triskel, the Treesleepers at Fredz, and Exploding Eyes at the Crane, courtesy of Alliance Promotions. And the best part is: all three will do really well, because people with passion and soul are getting behind each, and pushing onward, promoting and working hard.
The momentum is starting to build. You know what to do. Get involved. Any way you can/want. Even if it’s just a few quid at the door and a few pints at the venue, it’s making all the difference.
Want your gig or other public venture here? Well just do the e-scribblings to mike (at) thethinair (dot) net! If it’s happening in Cork, it belongs here, and all things are considered.
