• Goodbye Mandela @ Mandela Hall, Belfast

    July 30, 2018 - By 

    So, the last gig at Mandella Hall. Probably a pretty great venue when you sit and list off all the great gigs you saw there. But nostalgia is for later. WASPS are a pleasantly rambunctious start to the evening, playing in Bar Sub they strike excitable silhouettes adrift in a haze of dry ice and some slick, stark lighting. They find their groove somewhere between desert surf and mathy punk and mine it to death, littering it with nice interplay and clever fills, throwing in some swampy rock riffs every now and then, too. They give an energetic and warm…

  • Final Mandela Hall Show Announced

    June 18, 2018 - By 

    You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t forged a key memory in Mandela Hall since its 1986 naming, so the announcement of its closure – due to the development of the Student’s Union – came as a blow to many. Fortunately, the good people of the SU have invited And So I Watch You From Afar to headline and curate its final ever bill – a genre-spanning tapestry of some of the finest and fast-rising artists from here – taking place on Friday, July 27. On the bill are Mojo Fury, playing their first show in years, Robocobra Quartet – who’ve just put out one of the albums of…

  • EP Premiere: David C Clements – My Dear Mother

    November 6, 2015 - By 

    David C Clements has always had an air of the mythical about him. An artist of pace and a craftsman of all but peerless repute in these parts, he has never dabbled in the kneejerk or haphazard, not least in his recorded output. With his highly-anticipated debut album, The Longest Day in History, set for release in early 2016, Clements has released a sampler of sorts in the form of My Dear Mother, a four-track EP that captures him at his most resolute. Speaking of the release, Clements said, “The idea with the My Dear Mother EP is to start introducing the new material…

  • Line-up announced for inaugural Output showcase

    September 30, 2014 - By 

    With just over a fortnight to wait, the line-up for the inaugural Output have been announced. Northern Ireland’s largest ever one-day conference and showcasing event, taking place throughout Belfast’s city centre and Cathedral Quarter on Thursday, October 16, it will see a series of free talks, workshops and pop-up gigs, attending by around 350 artists, businesses and creative students. We’re very happy to be involved, too. Teaming up with tastemaker par excellence Niall Byrne AKA Nialler9, we will host a most awesome showcase in the Black Box main room with Cork psych rock five-piece Altered Hours (pictured), Dublin electronic duo Contour, Derry…

  • Gigs of the week: No Tomorrow, Marissa Nadler, David C Clements, Elastic Sleep

    September 2, 2014 - By 

    With Electric Picnic been and gone in a flash, the habitual final chapter of the (occasionally) great Irish summer begins. Things are still a bit quiet on the gig front but, as ever, here’s our pick of shows well worth checking out over the next days. No Tomorrow: SlowPlaceLikeHome, Somadrone, Documenta DJs – Voodoo, Belfast; Saturday, September 6 The next installment of our monthly gig/club night at Belfast’s Voodoo, No Tomorrow returns on Saturday night with a tremendous triad of cosmically-inclined acts from across the country. Just back from playing the Body & Soul stage at Electric Picnic at the…

  • The First Time: David C Clements

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of his appearance at the Belfast Music Week showcase at the Limelight tonight, alt-folk singer-songwriter David C Clements is the latest local artist to allow Belfast-based photographer Joe Laverty (responsible for the wonderful portrait photo above) insight into the “firsts” of their listening, loving and making lives. First album you bought? Bathroom floor by Booley First single you bought? ‘Spaceman’ by Babylon Zoo First live concert/gig? Phantom of the Opera in the Point, but my first actual gig was Stereophonics supported by Turin Brakes. First album you properly loved? Biffy Clyro – Blackened Sky   First artist/band to change your music-listening/making life?…

  • Line-up announced for Belfast Music Week showcase

    October 28, 2013 - By 

    Belfast indie-pop band Go Wolf, fast-rising Derry collective Little Bear and indie rock quartet Seven Summits (pictured) are amongst the twelve acts confirmed to play this year’s Belfast Music Week showcase at Belfast’s Limelight Complex on November 12. Set to be a showcase of this year’s proceedings, the line-up for the showcase was hand-picked by a broad panel of industry figures from Northern Ireland and further afield. According to the official Belfast Music Week website, “it’s a chance to see legends and breaking talent, and to appreciate the ongoing success stories and a musical city that continues to make us…