• Irish Tour: Brian Wilson

    July 27, 2017 - By 

    The downright legendary Brian Wilson and his band live in Galway and Dublin. Words by Steven Rainey and Aoife O’Donoghue, photos by Aaron Corr and Sean McCormack. Festival Big Top, Galway There’s a moment in the 2014 Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy where Brian – played by the wonderful Paul Dano – starts playing ‘God Only Knows’ for the first time on the piano. It’s probably one of my favourite scenes. It’s a quiet and poignant moment of the film, and I remember getting chills, awestruck at how such a simple melody was having such a hold on me.…

  • Alt-J @ Trinity College, Dublin

    July 13, 2017 - By 

    Alt-J return to Ireland having released their latest venture RELAXER, a somewhat submerged album in it’s approach and avoidance of the charts. Despite not having mass appeal, Alt-J continue to draw a young and devoted audience, most of which can be seen at Trinity College tonight. They begin their set with lead single from relaxer, ‘3WW’, and ‘Something good’ from debut An Awesome Wave, a reserved introduction if such a thing exists. There appears to be no hesitation from the crowd in joining the perpetually swaying atmosphere created by the onstage personas however, as the typical ‘warm up period’ for…

  • Irish Tour: Green Day & Rancid

    July 3, 2017 - By 

     “Belfast you get it – not many people understand, but Belfast does.” To be very honest, it’s very easy to be apprehensive about a Green Day gig in 2017. After the messy 2012 Uno… Dos… Tres! trilogy of albums, expectations weren’t too high for their 12th studio album, Revolution Radio, released last October. But the album was a pleasant – though somewhat basic – effort from the iconic punk trio, revealing a sense of maturity, if not some dubious album artwork. It’s easy to be apprehensive to see artists ‘after’ their moment in the sun (or the burning ball in…