• Fall Out Boy @ 3Arena, Dublin

    October 2, 2015 - By 

    All bands like to surprise people a little to some extent, Fall Out Boy for one have never shied away from it. That being said, when they announced that Professor Green was supporting them, there was a pretty overwhelming sense of confusion. As he arrives on stage he, more than anyone else tonight, has the job of convincing everyone he was a good choice. To be fair, he kind of did it. Still a very random choice but he puts on a decent show. Professor Green is joined by Dream McClean and Katie Holmes, the latter who impresses particularly with…

  • Sara Pascoe w/ Diane Morgan @ Mandela Hall, Belfast

    October 1, 2015 - By 

    The Comedy Club at Mandela Hall is a fairly popular event, regardless of who is performing, but it seemed a testament of sorts to the forward-thinking nature of the NI comedy crowd that the place was packed and the bill consisted of two female comedians. One better known than the other but neither household names. Colin Murphy did his usual shtick, and while it’s not to my taste much of the audience seemed to enjoy. I was considering forgiving him his broadness, and then he fell at the only  hurdle a compere really must not fall at: he got Diane…

  • Girl Band @ Bar Sub, Belfast

    October 1, 2015 - By 

    Most of the recent reviews for their full length debut Holding Hands With Jamie have said the same thing: no other band sounds like Girl Band. And it’s true. Sure, there are echoes of noise-rock, post-punk, krautrock and techno but they’re mixed together in such a way that no label can accurately capture the enthralling racket this Dublin quartet makes, while frontman Dara Kiely sings, speaks, shouts and screams surreal non-sequiturs over the top, sounding like the Irish lovechild of Steve Albini and Mark E Smith. While Kiely’s lyrics, when audible, initially appear to be hilariously odd – packed full…

  • Blank Realm @ Workman’s Club, Dublin

    October 1, 2015 - By 

    It’s fair to say that Australian four piece Blank Realm may not be a name that rings a bell to most folk on this side of the world right now. The band began its life in the Brisbane suburb of Westlake in 2005 and is made up of siblings Daniel, Sarah and Luke Spencer, with Luke Walsh completing the line-up. In recent years the UK based independent label Fire Records has been distributing the band’s last few albums, including 2014’s well-received Grassed Inn and this year’s storming follow up Illegals in Heaven. Having started off as more of an experimental,…

  • Two Sore Legs @ Lyric Theatre, Belfast

    September 30, 2015 - By 

    A contradictory life gets a compelling presentation in Brenda Murphy’s uniquely intricate tribute to her mother, Two Sore Legs. Performed as a one-act, one-woman show by local actress Maria Connolly and directed by Martin Lynch, the production arrives at Belfast’s Lyric in the wake of rave reviews at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival and a successful tour of Northern Ireland and Monaghan. Little wonder, then, that the relatively full auditorium is alive with excitable chatter and anticipation before the show has even begun. And the prominence of light brown wood on stage, in the coffin and chair that lie there, hints at…

  • A Band Called Wanda w/ New Pope & Liam Doherty @ Roisin Dubh, Galway

    September 29, 2015 - By 

    Thursday the 24th of September saw the first of a new monthly event being held in the upstairs venue of Galway’s Roisín Dubh. Run by local songwriter and musical institution Steven Sharpe, the first installment – “What’s Dubh Got To Do With It?” – aimed to create an atmosphere of cosiness, warmth, friendliness and ease and succeeded in doing so with what seemed like total ease. The room is warmed by warm candlelight and the seats are already nearly filled by the time the first act of the night, local songwriter Liam Doherty (below). Being this his first solo show,…

  • Stonemasons – Lost Letters EP

    September 28, 2015 - By 

    There is a strange significance to this idea of an artist belonging to somewhere; Joyce belongs to Ireland, Martin Scorsese belongs to New York and NWA belong to Compton. Is it that there is this collective longing to, in someway, be involved in something bigger than ourselves? That, by virtue of having been in Dublin in the early 20th Century, 1970s New York or 1980s Compton, we can somehow feel as though part of something great? Maybe it’s the idea of being heard; that by having a voice that belongs to our home, we can all band together and feel…

  • The Wood Burning Savages w/ Son of the Hound & Fabric @ Sandino’s Bar, Derry

    September 28, 2015 - By 

    These are exciting times for The Wood Burning Savages. Since forming four years ago, the Derry quartet have kicked up something of a storm in the local and even national music scene, with an appearance at Glastonbury 2014 and a glowing tribute from BBC 6 Music’s Tom Robinson among the highlights of their constantly evolving careers. Their latest journey home, in the middle of an Irish tour that has also seen them descend upon Belfast’s Oh Yeah! Centre for Culture Night 2015, is a rather entertaining affair where the talented foursome and their two support acts fully flex their musical…

  • Leon Bridges @ Olympia, Dublin

    September 29, 2015 - By 

    Texan soul man Leon Bridges trades in the sort of classic soul you might expect to hear over the hiss and crackle of an AM radio as well as the sweet blend of rhythm and blues with pop sensibilities that put Berry Gordy’s Motown Records on the map back in the early ‘60s. Despite the fact that he is still only 26, Bridges sounds like he’s been around for a long time. The show marks the second time that the singer-songwriter has performed on Irish shores this year following his performance at Longitude back in July. On that occasion, he…

  • Best Boy Grip – Best Boy Grip

    September 23, 2015 - By 

    “You’ve been getting it on with the boys in the neighbourhood, and now it seems you’re all alone, living in shame…” As he sings those words on signature tune ‘Barbara’, a crafty, catchy ditty about a promiscuous woman, Derry-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and piano man Eoin O’Callaghan AKA Best Boy Grip, is making a powerful statement, not just in the song itself, but for the gist and wit of his written word in his self-titled debut album. His lyrics come across as a mixture of the mildly satirical and the genuinely sorrowful. Along with numerous memorable melodies, sometimes merry, sometimes miserable, they…