• Villagers w/ Aldous Harding @ Iveagh Gardens, Dublin

    July 15, 2019 - By 

    It’s an overcast but stiflingly warm evening as concert-goers begin to filter into Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens. Amongst this crowd is a varied mix of personnel. Business types still clad in their work attire, pensioners dressed like pensioners and a select few younger audience members that either appear to have been dragged along by their parents or are decked out in tola vintage streetwear. An eclectic crowd, to say the least. As a decent amount of punters settle in on the grass, New Zealand-born singer-songwriter Aldous Harding takes to the stage with her band. There has been a lot of buzz…

  • Foals w/ Yak @ Trinity Summer Series, Dublin

    July 3, 2019 - By 

    Spirits are high on the grounds of Dublin’s Trinity College, as British psychedelic outfit Yak perform for a sizeable crowd of early punters. With a sound that blends elements similar to contemporaries Boy Azooga and Ireland’s Girl Band, the Wolverhampton natives have done well for an early Tuesday evening timeslot. Despite this, the crowd grows quite noticeably larger as they polish off their set with ‘Harbour the Feeling’ from debut album Alas Salvation. As people begin to filter into the surprisingly intimate surroundings of Trinity’s Summer Series arena, it can be noted that the clientele is somewhat eclectic. Lads in…

  • Beauty Sleep – Be Kind Album Launch @ The MAC, Belfast

    July 2, 2019 - By 

    A burst of unseasonable warm weather (for June) grips Belfast, spending an evening in the MAC’s windowless theatre space to listen to Beauty Sleep officially launch the launch of their album ‘Be Kind’ feels a touch counter-intuitive. We’ve seen precious little of the big yellow ball in the sky of late and perversely fate has decided place two of the summeriest things to happen to the city all year in direct competition. Pathetic fallacy is all well and good when it’s pissing down outside but on days like this it’s just annoying. In spite of the glorious showing outside a…

  • Emma Langford w/ Nathan O’Regan @ The Duncairn, Belfast

    June 26, 2019 - By 

    It’s almost a little too warm this evening in the Duncairn Centre’s beautiful theatre space. It’s also possible everyone is a little hot under the collar from rushing to the venue, some seasonal marching to the north of Belfast has made getting here on time a challenging proposition and people are still arriving as our host welcomes the crowd and introduces the evening’s support, Nathan O’Regan. Once the Cork-born singer-songwriter takes to the stage it becomes clear his songs are a lesson in measured restraint; it’s obvious he could push his voice harder, that he is more than capable of…

  • Body & Soul 2019 (Sunday)

    June 26, 2019 - By 

    There is a chill in the air as drops of rain pitter-patter down on the tents that litter the grounds of Ballinlough Castle, County Westmeath. The final day of Body and Soul is upon the hordes of punters that have gathered here and for a few, their time is up. Several parts of the campsites now lie vacant, leaving only flattened squares of grass and tiny metal canisters in their place. For those that have stayed there is still a whole slew of acts to be seen. Many early risers linger around the Midnight Circus tent, popping in for shelter…

  • Body & Soul 2019 (Friday)

    June 24, 2019 - By 

    Underneath a blazing sun and azure blue sky hoards of punters are flooding into the fields and woodlands of Westmeath for Body and Soul 2019. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the festival is set to be a weekend rich in arts, culture and music. Across the sprawling fields festival goers begin to settle into their surroundings, consisting of metal fencing, sustainable vegan food vendors and “BRING YOUR TENTS HOME” posters. The sustainability-driven ethos of the festival is omnipresent. For the first few hours, it’s the usual beginning of the festival humdrum: people struggling to set up their tents, eating overpriced hotdogs…

  • Body & Soul 2019 (Saturday)

    June 25, 2019 - By 

    It’s early Saturday morning and the first few fragile souls have emerged from their tents to grab those precious few start of the day necessities: water, a greasy sandwich and a cup of tea. At the same time, there are a few not so fragile souls that have yet to sleep stood in a circle listening to Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. The classic ‘morning after’ feeling of festival season looms over the campsites of Body and Soul. For those that have managed to pull themselves together in the early hours of the day…

  • Billy Corgan @ Olympia Theatre, Dublin

    June 23, 2019 - By 

    Billy Corgan (or William Patrick Corgan as he formally likes to be known as these days) has taken an unprecedented opportunity to perform a short tour of Europe alone, airing out new work and well trodden, decades old tunes. It’s a brief sojourn from the Smashing Pumpkins who are in the middle of a somewhat renaissance tour with three of the four original members which he’ll return to in a couple of weeks. Tonight we’re dispensed with a rare intimate show from the magmatic frontman and anticipation as to what facet of his personality we’ll be presented with is palpable.…

  • Scullion @ Lost Lane, Dublin

    June 20, 2019 - By 

    The pre-show murmur before the second of Scullion’s sequence of three “Down in the City” shows at Lost Lane is somewhat muted but polite and convivial. Critically it is dry. Just prior to doors opening the heavens did the same and most of our audience seem to have been caught in the deluge at some point en route to the venue. The mild drenching seems to have brought out an “us-against-the-world” attitude in the attendees, which always makes conversation a little easier and it’s clear everyone is very happy to be safely ensconced in Lost Lane’s cozy space. Scullion are…