• CQAF: Josh Rouse @ Black Box, Belfast

    May 6, 2015 - By 

    “Och wise up!” chimes a female voice from a few rows back. Josh Rouse – smartly dressed in double denim and a dapper hat, gifted with a sweet, sleepy voice – has just announced that he is about to play his last song, and has been roundly chastised in the most affectionate way possible. The fact that the end of Rouse’s gig has been met with such a fine example of the Northern Irish vernacular should indicate how warmly his performance has been received. There is, to reach for that hoary cliché, a lot of love in the room –…

  • Belfast Film Festival Presents: Spaced

    March 24, 2015 - By 

    Plan 9 Film Club, as part of the Belfast Film Festival, host a night at the Black Box on April 22 dedicated to cult UK sitcom Spaced. Running for two seasons from 1999-2001 on Channel 4, it was the big breakthrough for creative minds Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson & Edgar Wright, who, as we all know, have went on to write, direct and star in some of the finest comedies in recent years. It also gave early exposure to the likes of sitcom favourites Mark Heap, Nick Frost, Julia Deakin and NI comedian & actor Michael Smiley. Tickets are available from the Film Festival for £5. Doors open at 7pm, with…

  • Young Fathers @ Black Box, Belfast

    January 19, 2015 - By 

    Edinburgh trio Young Fathers play to a sold out Black Box as part of the tenth annual Out To Lunch Festival, and as one of the more highly anticipated acts in the programme, we can assure you that they do not disappoint. They open nearly in darkness with a single drum beat which slowly builds into a battle march and bleeds into the electrifying ‘No Way’. It’s menacing and theatrical and immediately sets up the extraordinary atmosphere spectacularly. Young Fathers have clearly approached their Belfast show with an attack mentality which by the end of their first track leaves many…

  • The White Mansions – The Crossing

    August 7, 2014 - By 

    Having had a busy summer month of touring festivals, The White Mansions have just released their debut album The Crossing, available from iTunes, Amazon & to stream on Spotify. The six-piece country & bluegrass act launch their album with a to-be-confirmed show at the Ulster American Folk Park and a Black Box gig alongside rockabilly quartet The Sabrejets at the Black Box for the Belfast American Folk & Roots Club on September 27. Check out a live performance of ‘3 Point Link‘ at the Black Box Green Room. Stream The Crossing on Spotify below:

  • CQAF: Yuck & Bouts @ Black Box

    May 3, 2014 - By 

    Just over a year since their founding member – and central songwriting force – Daniel Blumberg jumped ship to focus on his own music, English indie rock darlings Yuck make their highly-anticipated return to Belfast tonight something of a wounded but defiant soldier. Indeed, with a new EP, Southern Skies, getting a mixed reaction from critics and aficionados alike, there is an unspoken feeling in the air that the band have both reputation to uphold and repertoire to deliver. One wonders: whether they care to confront the question or not, are they able and set to confound the likely ill-founded theories of the detractors? With the Black Box…

  • Gig of the Week: The Sabrejets, The Groundlings & More @ The Black Box

    February 4, 2014 - By 

    On Saturday, February 8 at Belfast’s Black Box, Northern Irish rockabilly legends The Sabrejets (pictured) will headline our Gig of the Week – Last of the Voodoo Idols, the Brian Young-fronted quartet’s fifth annual tribute night to seminal U.S. punk rock band The Cramps. Culminating in a special Cramps tribute set from Sunglasses After Dark DJ Ryan Fitzsimmons, Belfast-based rock n’roll band The Groundlings, Los Reyez and special guests Thee Flash Guns will also perform on the night. A free EP will be available to the first 200 people through the door, featuring specially-recorded Cramps tribute tracks by the four performing bands. Doors are at 8.30pm, admission…

  • Gig of the week: Protex, Start Stop Start Again and more @ Black Box, Belfast

    December 2, 2013 - By 

    Presented by three Belfast independent record labels – Time To Be Proud, Punkerama and Scarred For Life Records – our gig of the week this is week is a special charity show at Black Box on Saturday, November December 7 headlined by legendary Belfast punk band Protex. With all proceeds going to children with cancer, the show will also feature sets from Stop Stop Start Again, Shock Treatment, 3D Shark and Mohican Jack. Ryan Fitzimmons from Sunglasses After Dark will also be performing a DJ set. at the show, which doubles up as the official release of the Punkerama Charity Single for…

  • Bhi Bhiman – Black Box, Belfast

    June 26, 2013 - By 

    The Black Box’s Green Room with curtains closed and candles lit is the intimate setting as Bhi Bhiman takes to the stage looking casual, sporting the confidence of a guy enjoying plenty of praise at the moment. His first song, ‘Kimchee Line,’ gives you a pretty good idea of what Bhi is about; a sound plucked straight from his native San Francisco’s cherished old blues, and lyrics which paint a picture of destinations from around the world – in this case North Korea. Bhi has said in interviews before that he tries not to sound like someone impersonating others, at…

  • Lau – Black Box, Belfast

    June 11, 2013 - By 

    A packed Black Box awaits the arrival of Lau, the atmosphere imbued with excitement and a sort of jovial expectancy. The band’s growing faithful are very much out in force tonight, as fervent applause greets them and the lights fade. Before long they burst into some stern, accordion laden folk. Approving glances go left and right from the guitarist at his band mates as they work their way through a pulsating opening number. The band have a good rapport with the crowd, sharing carefree quips in-between songs which are met with plenty of ironic claps and hearty giggles – particularly…