• Cirque De Soleil – Dralion @ The 02

    Dralion, the groundbreaking show from legendary production company Cique De Soleil, celebrates its fifteenth anniversary and will stop off at Dublin’s 02 from Wednesday, May 28 to Sunday, June 1 Fusing the 3000 year-old tradition of Chinese acrobatic arts with the multidisciplinary approach of Cirque du Soleil, Dralion (pronounced “Dra-lee-on”) draws its inspiration from Eastern philosophy and its never-ending quest for harmony between humans and nature. The show’s name is derived from its two emblematic creatures: the dragon, symbolizing the East, and the lion, symbolizing the West. Dralion tickets for the general public are on sale now via Ticketmaster priced from…

  • Gig(s) of the week: La Dispute, Cloud Nothings, Hospitality

    With summer festival announcements dropping left, right and center, the proverbial purse strings are undoubtedly a little tighter than usual for most of us. That said, as ever, there’s just some one-off shows on the horizon that fall directly under the downright “unmissable” category. Here’s our picks of a handful of gigs happening across the country over the next few days that we think warrant popping along to. Cloud Nothings, Princess – The Button Factory, Dublin, May 24 With the April release of their third studio album, Here and Nowhere Else, Ohio indie rock three-piece Cloud Nothings  (pictured) all but confirmed their status as…

  • David O’Doherty @ Mandela Hall

    Irish comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright David O’Doherty returns to Belfast on Friday, May 9 with a follow-up performance of his new show, Will Try To Fix Everything. We were considered coming up with our main blurb but O’Doherty’s own words more than suffice: “David O’Doherty, the Ryanair James Bond, the Kevin McCloud of the tiny keyboard, former Miss Ireland, the offspring of Shannon/Pete Doherty, his new look is ‘Jaws era Steven Spielberg’, recipient of the 2008 Edinburgh Comedy Award and inventor of the last remaining swimming stroke ‘the squid’ (on back, feet first), has written a new comedy show with…

  • Gig(s) of the week: Le Galaxie, Ceephax Acid Crew, De La Soul

    With several new line-up announcements for Irish festivals being made over the last couple of days – Longitude, Sunflower Fest, Culture Tech – we are well and truly looking forward to the coming Irish summer here at the Thin Air towers (I say “towers”, I mean Caffe Nero on Donegall Square West, Belfast). Ahead of that cider-soaked maelstrom of mini-buses and crap tents however we have another installment of our Gig(s) of the week, featuring hopefully something for everyone, North and South, over the next seven days. Le Galaxie present Love System – The Academy, Dublin Friday, May 9 Our outright…

  • The Thin Air/CQAF Hüsker Dü night @ Voodoo

    As part of this year’s The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, we’re very happy to present a special celebration of boundlessly influential U.S. three-piece Hüsker Dü at Voodoo Belfast on Monday, May 5. As well as hosting a one-off screening of Every Everything: The Life, Times and Music of Grant Hart, Hüsker Dü drummer, songwriter and visionary, Belfast-based punk and rock n’ roll bands, No Matter, The Groundlings (headliners) and alt-rock three-piece, Abandcalledboy will play three sets balanced between original material and their very own takes on classic Hüsker Dü material. In Every Everything, The Life, Times and Music of Grant Hart,…

  • The Thin Air 1st Birthday/No Tomorrow #2: We Cut Corners, Liza Flume & Deadman’s Ghost @ Voodoo Belfast

    Twelve most excellent months in, we celebrate our very first birthday – to the day, no less – on Saturday, May 3 at Belfast’s Voodoo at the second ever outing of our gig/club night, No Tomorrow. Headlining on the night are We Cut Corners (pictured), the Dublin indie-rock duo whose new second album, Think Nothing, is set to see them elevated to the highest echelons of worship-worthy fanboyery (and, indeed, -girlery). Brilliantly urgent and idiosyncratic in equal proportion, recent singles ‘YKK’, ‘Best Friend’ and ‘Every Thief’ are go-to tracks to heed their mastery. Main support on the night comes from Australian…

  • Gig(s) of the week: Wallis Bird, Hornets EP Launch & Come On Live Long

    Having wisely branched out to more than one must-see gig in our weekly preview of shows happening across Ireland each week, this week there was no shortage of gigs to choose from. Alas, we must still be in some ways selective, otherwise we’d be saying, “Go to everything”. And who has the money or time for that? So, looking towards the next few days, we figured the following three shows are more than worth checking out: Having released her debut album, Architect, back in 2012, Wexford folk-pop musician Wallis Bird returns to Dublin on Friday night (April 25) for a show at…

  • Output #5 @ The Stiff Kitten

    Seeing its Belfast debut on Wednesday, April 23, at the Stiff Kitten, creative panel event Output will host a discourse amongst an array of electronic and dance music professionals. Presented by Generator NI, the organisers behind the event – featuring speakers including Rob Booth of Fabric/Houndstooth, Gary Curran of Japanese Popstars and Paul Hamill AKA Psycatron – stated, “Whether you’re a DJ looking for tips on your live set, or a bedroom producer wanting to build your network, this is your opportunity to find out from the experts how it’s done.” Sound like something you might be interested in checking out?…

  • Gig(s) of the week: Desert Hearts, Record Store Day & More

    A year into our existence – hey, it’s been fun – we’ve decided that it’s both wise and opportune that we started expanding out horizons when it comes to our regular “gig of the week”. Ireland is a relatively big-ass country (the technical description for you, there), after all; one single show, exceptional as it might be, is simply not worth singling out at the expense of similarly awesome prospects in different areas across the city. And it is upon which note that we arrive, rather comfortably, at this week’s gig(s) of the week. The return of Desert Hearts Standing just…

  • Gig of the week: Farriers, Anthony Toner & more @ Empire Music Hall

    Headlined by alt-rock band The Farriers, our Gig of the Week for this is a special fundraising show for disaster relief in Syria at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on Friday, April 11. Not merely totally laudable for the great cause – aiding the afflicted caught up on the Syrian crisis – the line-up has all the makings of one of those all-too-rare “I was there” shows, with Anthony Toner, Master & Dog and Seven Summits (pictured) also amongst the acts set to perform. Tickets are £5 and it’s £6 at the door. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page.