• Astralnaut – Thieves, Beggars and Swine

    May 27, 2014 - By 

    Northern Irish stoner rock five-piece Astralnaut will launch their pummelling new EP, Thieves, Beggars and Swine, at Belfast’s Menagerie on Thursday, May 29. Supported by Bad Boat and Aquatamp, the show will mark the release of the band’s five-track follow-up to In The Gaze Of The Gods. Largely recorded by Alan Hanlon at Hi-Tone Studios and Clark Phillips (Great Northern Productions), Thieves, Beggars and Swine was mixed and mastered by the band and Clark Phillips over the last four months.   Stream the EP in full via Soundcloud below and hit up the Facebook event page for the launch here.   Thieves,…

  • Gigs of the week: Robyn G Shiels, Croupier, The Dudley Corporation

    May 27, 2014 - By 

    For some reason or other, this time of year is always heavy on the album and EP launch front. In Belfast, Derry, Dublin and Cork and throughout Ireland there’s a whole list of highly-anticipated releases from every shade and style of act. With that in mind, we look forward to the next week with one particularly long-awaited release topping our list of must-see shows… Robyn G Shiels, Jonny Black – Black Box, Belfast (Saturday, May 31) Having been something of an incubatory state from the last six years, the second studio album by Belfast-based singer-songwriter Robyn G Shiels (pictured) will be finally released…

  • Cirque De Soleil – Dralion @ The 02

    May 26, 2014 - By 

    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…

  • Wacken Open Air Festival 2014

    May 25, 2014 - By 

    Wacken Open Air 2014 will take place in Wacken, Germany on Thursday 31 July to Saturday, August 2 2014. Emperor, King Diamond and Amon Amarth (above) are amongst the bands that will perform at the annual German festival. Check out the full line-up below: A Pale Horse Named Death, Amon Amarth, Apocalyptica, Arch Enemy, August Burns Red, Avantasia, Behemoth, Bembers, Blechblosn, Bring Me The Horizon, Bülent Ceylan, C.O.P. UK, Carcass, Children Of Bodom, Chthonic, Crematory, Decapitated, Degradead, Der W.,Devin Townsend Project, Dunkelschön, Emperor, Endstille, Excrementory Grindfuckers,Firkin, Five Finger Death Punch, Fleshgod Apocalypse, For The Imperium, Godsized,HammerFall, Hatebreed, Heaven Shall Burn, Hellyeah, Iced Earth, Ics Vortex,…

  • With Full Force Festival 2014

    May 25, 2014 - By 

    It’s only a few days left until With Full Force festival, celebrating its 21st year, will take place at the Roitschjora airfield in Löbnitz near Leipzig, Germany. After a massive twentieth birthday bash last year, one of the loudest and hardest music festivals in Germany brings the very best of metal, punk and hardcore to your ears once more. From June 4 to June 6 2014 you can mosh to your favorite bands on two stages, get wasted on the camping site, spend your hard earned cash on t-shirts, posters, memorabilia and great food, or just kick back and soak up the…

  • Electric Picnic 2014

    May 23, 2014 - By 

    Hands down the country’s premier boutique music, culture and arts festival, Electric Picnic, will return this summer, headlined by trip-hop legends Portishead, rejuvenated U.S. hip-hop duo Outkast and Beck. Taking place at Stradbally Estate, Co. Laois from Friday, August 29 to Sunday, August 31, the likes of Chic, Mogwai, Slowdive, St. Vincent and Blondie have also been confirmed to play the annual festival, which celebrates its eleventh anniversary this year. Beginning as a one-day event in 2004, Electric Picnic expanded to a weekend-long festival within a year. Tickets for the festival are now available – starting from 90.00 for a Sunday day ticket – are available via the…

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

    May 21, 2014 - By 

    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…

  • Open House Festival 2014

    May 13, 2014 - By 

    We’re big fans of Open House Festival and how they do things here at the Thin Air. With an extraordinarily tasteful penchant for the very best in folk, roots and Americana, the team have brought us some unforgettable shows ranging from the likes of Bob Log III, Deer Tick, John Grant to Lower Dens, Cold Specs and Old Crowd Medicine Show. As well as one-off shows and happenings scattered across the years, Open House really flaunts its wares with its annual festival events. This summer they will present two festivals, a Belfast festival and a Bangor Festival. The former, taking place from June 18…

  • Longitude Festival 2014

    May 7, 2014 - By 

    Following the success of its inaugural year in 2013, Longitude will return to Dublin’s Marlay Park this summer with an extremely strong and varied line-up. As well as Irish acts including Tvvins, Le Galaxie, We Cut Corners and Adultrock, Ben Howard, Massive Attack, HAIM, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Afghan Whigs are amongst the many acts set to play over three days – from Friday, July 18 to Sunday, July 20 – this summer. See the current poster for Longitude 2014 below. Go here to buy tickets for this year’s Longitude festival and stream Longitude’s Spotify Playlist below!

  • David O’Doherty @ Mandela Hall

    May 7, 2014 - By 

    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…