There are great, skull-searing garage-rock throwdowns, then there’s On The Edge – the breakneck and blown-out masterclass from Hypnic Jerk, aka Derry/Donegal’s Philip Wallace. A one-man powerhouse of demon grooves and bombastic stomp, Wallace doesn’t just summon the primal spirit of the genre – he contorts, then fully distorts it into something supremely his own. With On The Edge, out this Saturday, he delivers a fresh blueprint of garage rock at its most unwavering. And then there’s ‘Emotional Hijack’ A serious contender for one of finest blasts of blistering, groove-heavy garage noise you’re likely to hear all year, it distils…

Melvins – probably the greatest band in the world – return to Dublin this summer. The Buzz Osborne-fronted titans are hitting the road with the equally legendary Redd Kross for a UK/EU tour, stopping at the Button Factory on 18th August. Brought to you by the island’s most unfailingly reliable promoters, Foggy Notions and U:Mack, tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 AM. Don’t sleep.

Rumours have been swirling for a while and now it’s official: Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts are set to play Malahide Castle on 26 June as part of their newly announced Love Earth World Tour. With Van Morrison as a special guest, the show marks Young’s first performance in Ireland in several years. The tour kicks off on 18 June in Sweden before making its way across Europe and the UK, with a North American leg following in August. Young’s latest live band includes long-time collaborators Spooner Oldham, Micah Nelson, Corey McCormick and Anthony LoGerfo. Tickets, priced from €89.90,…

Without Alan Duggan Borges, the shape of contemporary Irish guitar music would be very different indeed. If you’ve even slightly followed Irish music over the last decade, you’ve heard Alan Duggan Borges. His work in Gilla Band hasn’t just pushed the boundaries of noise and post-punk (a term that has of course been curiously appropriated left, right and centre in recent times): it redrew the map entirely. Without him, the current wave of young Irish guitar bands simply wouldn’t exist in the same way. But with The Null Club, his new project, Borges steps away from six-string obliteration and into…

The Cúirt International Festival of Literature returns to Galway this April for its 40th edition – and what a programme it is. Since its beginnings as a three-day poetry festival in 1985, Cúirt has grown into an essential fixture in the literary calendar, a meeting ground for world-class writers and new voices alike. This year, the festival honours its past while celebrating the future of literature from April 8th-13th. Kicking things off in fitting style, Paul Muldoon and Sally Rooney will open proceedings at the Town Hall Theatre, setting the tone for a week of remarkable conversations, readings and performances.…

Kim Deal has announced her long-awaited solo Dublin headliner. Having played the city numerous times over the years with The Breeders and Pixies, the legendary Ohio musician will play Vicar Street on 16th June 2025. Tickets go on sale next Friday, 27th February at 10am, priced at €45. The news comes a year after the release of Deal’s long-awaited – and truly wonderful – solo debut album, Nobody Loves You More. Some jerk Brian Coney reviewed it for The Quietus if you fancy a read. Photo Alex Da Corte

Belfast City Council is considering bringing back Culture Night Belfast – but what shape it takes is up to you. When we were starting as a publication, Culture Night wasn’t just another date in the city’s calendar – it was essential. The streets pulsed with music, art and performance, pulling 100,000 people into the heart of something bigger than themselves. More than just an event, it always felt like a moment – a collision of creativity, community and possibility – something that, elsewhere, Output Belfast reliably taps into, year in and year out for music. But is that enough? Now, the…

A year after casting a two-night spell over Vicar Street, Patti Smith returns to Dublin this autumn for a special show marking the 50th anniversary of Horses. Joined by her band, she’ll take over 3Arena on Monday, 6th October for what promises to be a landmark performance celebrating her revered 1975 debut. By our count, this will be her 14th time playing the city, and it’s set to go down as one of the most memorable. Presented by Foggy Notions, tickets go on sale this Monday, 6th October.

Open Ear, Ireland’s best and easily most consistently forward-pushing summer festival, returns from 29 May to 1 June with its strongest line-up to date. Big words, we know, but very well earned. After another standout edition last summer, the Sherkin Island institution returns to the beloved and forever blessed Banger Cliff, along with various other venues speckled across the haven just off the coast of West Cork, this June Bank Holiday. This year’s highlights are plenty, with performances from RÓIS, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Trá Pháidín, Natalia Beylis & Willie Stewart, Sunil Sharpe, I Dreamed I Dream, Elaine Malone, Péist, Anodyne and Americhord.…

In one way or another, we say it every year: AVA Festival just keeps levelling up. Hands down one of the island’s very best summer festivals – and an electronic institution in Belfast – AVA returns to take over the Titanic Slipways across 30-31st May. With a new, arts-focused initiative to be announced in the coming weeks, this year’s line-up is more than enough to get us excited. For edition number 11, organisers have brought together headliners including Underworld and Overmono, and countless big hitters, among them VTSS, KI/KI, 999999999, Job Jobse, Sally C and Tommy Holohan. A slew of…