• Arborist at First Presbyterian Church, Belfast

    May 2, 2022 - By 

    On any day, Belfast First Presbyterian Church offers a quite spectacular setting for a concert. It’s even more so the case when the event organiser, namely Arthur Magee, decides to use the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival to honor the memory of former parishioner Thomas McCabe, who opposed the formation of the Belfast Slave Ship Company in 1786. In lieu of the usual opening band, the audience was offered an excerpt of the forthcoming play Sugar! by actor/writer Cillian Lenaghan. In his play, Lenaghan imagines Thomas McCabe’s visit to his church on the day after he prevented the formation of the…

  • Bob Vylan w/ Problem Patterns at The Deer’s Head, Belfast

    April 9, 2022 - By 

    Right in the middle of their “More Irish, More Blacks, More Dogs” tour of Ireland with Bob Vylan, Belfast represented a special date for Problem Patterns, a homecoming gig to show off their new strengths to a familiar audience. As mentioned during the set, the band just finished recording their debut and it showed. Opening straight away with their furious new single ‘Y.A.W (for Yes All Women)’, Problem Patterns left no doubt: they were on a warpath and they were well-prepared. Punk always relies on an unstable balance between unbridled rage and tight sound. You can excuse when one takes…