• Arctic Monkeys @ 3Arena, Dublin

    The bitter nights may have crept in but a jam-packed Luas to The Point Depot keeps makes it a cosy spin. This is the first of two sold-out Arctic Monkeys shows in Dublin’s 3Arena. A lush stage setup resembling a hotel lounge illuminates at 9 o’clock as the house lights go down. The now packed venue explodes as the Sheffield heroes walk on stage dressed in tailor made suits and shiny leather shoes. Alex Turner, sporting a tight new haircut, has developed a hybrid aesthetic of a skin head and Nick Cave. They launch into ‘4 out of 5’, the lead single…

  • Roger Waters @ 3Arena, Dublin

    A lone figure sits on a sand dune on the domineering backdrop screen, facing the waves as the ambient clamour of seascape sounds permeate the chatter and hum of 3arena; oh so gradually intensifying. “Come ye in from the bar”, it almost whispers, and crashes, until the air vibrates that bit more and a thrum of bass is joined by choir-like vocals. “Get in, ye bastards”, they seem to beckon in their serene siren voices. And the people come, pints in hand. He knows how to build an air of subtle expectation, does Roger Waters. Always did. There can’t be…

  • Being a Woman, Singer & Vocal Coach in the Music Industry by Nichola Hegarty

    I’m a 31 year old female singer and musician with 16 years’ experience performing music on stage and 5 years’ experience in vocal coachin, and like a lot of performers, I’ve been singing from a very early age. My father was a musician, lead guitarist and lead singer in numerous showbands back in the 60s and 70s. At the time when my dad was in the height of gigging, there were no iPads, iPhones or laptops to look up lyrics to a song, so you had to rely on your memory, a well-inked pen with plenty of paper to write…

  • Bob Dylan @ 3Arena, Dublin

    Some things never change. There are still people streaming towards the exits long before the end of a Bob Dylan show and tonight is no different. Despite the availability of decades of set lists and live reviews online, the expectation of an acoustic-driven evening of hits prevails among many of the audience sprawled around the cavernous 3 Arena. Here is a Nobel Laureate who can perform at the White House without saying a word to the President of the United States, yet people are disappointed that he fails to acknowledge the audience or the occasion with as much as a…