• Sting and Blondie at Belsonic 2024

    June 21, 2024 - By 

    I decided last year that if any more vintage artists played Belsonic I was going. It’s a short walk from my house and when I hear Nile Rodgers or Lionel Richie, and the cheers of their excited fans, I think you never know the hour nor the minute, and determine to grab the bull by the horns in future and make sure I’m not left with a lifetime of regret at missing my chance to see someone big while I still can. So when Belsonic announced a double bill of late 70s/early 80s royalty in Blondie and Sting I thought…

  • Slash and Tiësto Set For Belsonic

    November 27, 2018 - By 

    Two more big names have been announced to play next year’s Belsonic. With the likes of Hozier and Stormzy already revealed to play the annual series of concerts in Belfast’s Ormeau Park, Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, with support from Blackberry Smoke and Screaming Eagles, will play on Wednesday, June 12. The globetrotting Tiësto, meanwhile, will play the festival on Friday, June 28. Tickets for both events for on sale on Friday, November 30 at 10am, priced £30+ including booking fee. Go here for full info for Belsonic 2019.

  • Irish Tour: Arcade Fire

    June 16, 2017 - By 

    Canadian indie trailblazers Arcade Fire live at Belfast’s Belsonic and Dublin’s Malahide Castle. Words by Jonny Currie and Robert Higgins; photos by Colm Laverty and Aaron Corr. Belsonic, Belfast Photos by Colm Laverty After previous failed attempts to attract Arcade Fire to Belfast, the Montreal nine-piece kick-off this year’s Belsonic line-up ahead of the release of fifth album Everything Now. The long-overdue visit is acknowledged by frontman Win Butler, revealing that they have chosen to spend the last three days in Northern Ireland. Landfill indie trailblazers The Kooks resurface this evening in support, gurning and yelping through an hour of turgid…

  • Big Beats and Broad Strokes: An Interview with The Chemical Brothers’ Ed Simons

    May 31, 2016 - By 

    Whether you’re into dance, rock, indie or have miraculously found yourself sequestered in a brit-pop niche over the past twenty five years, you’ll know that The Chemical Brothers have spent much of that time making some of the most recognisable and respected music ever committed to stereo. A duo of immense creative breadth, their early work frenetically soundtracked a new wave of genre-crossover experimentation that would quickly become a go-to production style for their contemporaries. Fusing hip hop, techno, house and whatever remnants of UK hardcore that were still holding on for dear life, the influence of Ed Simons and…

  • Belsonic Reveal First Acts, New Location

    February 26, 2016 - By 

    Attributing it to a higher demand for tickets in recent years, it’s been announced that Belfast multi-night festival Belsonic will relocate to the Titanic Building for its 9th outing this June. Launched at Katy Daly’s last night, Foals (frontman Yannis Philippakis, pictured) Biffy Clyro and Faithless were amongst the first headliners revealed to play the festival, taking place two months prior to its usual August slow. See below for the full line-up as it stands. Tickets for Belsonic 2016 go on sale on Friday, March 4 at 9am, priced from £29.50 (and booking fee).

  • Hozier w/ Little Green Cars @ Belsonic, Belfast

    August 25, 2015 - By 

    A sell-out crowd at Belsonic witnesses a solid performance from an artist who has transcended initial industry buzz to become a genuine star. This is the world we live in now. Once the final support act Little Green Cars (frontwoman Faye O’Rourke pictured below) finishes their set it becomes “selfie-stick” time in the crowd. Andrew Hozier expressed dismay in an interview earlier this year at, “the very fact that an instrument (the selfie-stick) exists at a music festival so that you can take pictures of just yourself … the whole point of live music is to enjoy the experience and you take…