• Beat Root: Chris Wood & Trembling Bells

    September 17, 2016 - By 

    The contrast between the caustic avant-rock of Metá Metá and the acoustic, traditional folk that opened day three of Beat Root could not have been starker. Fiddlers Conor Caldwell and Danny Diamond have been playing together since their teens, though their professional collaboration as a duo is relatively recent. The duo presents material from its album, North (Claddagh Records, 2016), a reimagining of traditional tunes, beginning with the bouyant number ‘The Further in the Deeper’ by Donegal fiddle legend John Doherty, with the duo swapping the melody and rhythmic roles back and forth. A set of reels, ‘Drunken Wagn’er/’Over the…

  • Electric Picnic 2016

    September 7, 2016 - By 

    The Holy Grail of Irish music and the summer season is back again with the fastest selling ever Electric Picnic gracing Stradbally in its typically flamboyant style. Despite the speed with which tickets sold out, murmurs of disappointment have been rife all summer due to Picnic’s decision to pull the lineup back slightly from the massive names of the last few years in favour of a roll call of bands that would have been standard in the earlier years of the festival. This change is evident immediately due to the slightly older crowd strolling around on Friday afternoon pitching up…

  • The Beatyard 2016 (Day Two)

    August 4, 2016 - By 

    Day two of Beatyard 2016 ztarts off on a sour note as word filters through that the Daptone records’ soul maestro Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires have had to pull their main stage appearance, due to the man himself being unwell. Alas, these things happen so it is left to the organisers to switch a few things around. In relation to the same time yesterday the numbers are nowhere near as high, however Brazilian Sambo outfit Morro 16 appear on the main stage, to what is at the outset a pretty paltry number, in the hope of boosting spirits. As…

  • Longitude 2016: Friday

    July 18, 2016 - By 

    ‘None of you are Muslim, are ya?’ says the taxi driver coolly. It’s a remarkably, calmly delivered piece of xenophobia, proving that the sun even has a good effect on bigots. So though it may have made for a frosty entrance it provides a good talking point in the slow moving traffic as we make our way to the start of the flat-footed, full-blooded, bloated, banter-filled beginning of festival season proper. Because today is day one of Longitude 2016 a festival with a good reputation, an impressive line-up and the most important headliner of this year. So while sitting in…

  • Interlude 2016

    June 28, 2016 - By 

    A woman loudly and tirelessly lists the bands she may or may not have heard of. Maybe that’s why it feels like we’ve been queuing here for the best part of an hour. After all it couldn’t really be true, could it? But it is. A fact so far excusable because this isn’t any night, nor just any art gallery. This is the return of Dublin’s latest, hippest city festival; Interlude, held in the on paper awesomeness of the Royal Hibernian Academy, a linchpin location for the dynamic art of the city and country. So it’s fine. What’s an hour…

  • Forbidden Fruit: Day One

    June 9, 2016 - By 

    It’s a cracker of an afternoon as I make my way through Kilmainham – a day ripped straight from the pages of old Junior Cert Irish essays, all erratic excitement and rock-splitting sun. I’m heading to Forbidden Fruit for the evening, and should mention that I’ve foolishly disregarded the tips on the festival’s website to dress appropriately for the weather. I’m wearing jeans and carrying a jacket, so I mostly feel like a rotisserie chicken for the majority of the afternoon & evening. Forbidden Fruit, with its faintly edenic name and location on the grounds of the Irish Museum of…

  • Reverberation Psych Fest 2016 (Day One) @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    April 12, 2016 - By 

    Following the success of last August’s inaugural outing, this year’s Reverberation Psych Fest returns to Dublin’s Grand Social for another two nights of intoxicating psychedelia, with more than a smidgen of mind-throbbing noise added into the mix. Donegal’s Tuath are tasked with opening night one on the Friday – no easy task given such a small number are in attendance by the time their time slot arrives. However the four-piece of Robert Mulhern, Ashley Mobasser, Shane McFadden and Scott Carlin grasp their time on stage with all guns blazing. Tuath’s style of play hints at elements of jazz fusion, which sits alongside a seriously heavy-metal…

  • Reverberation Psych Weekender @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    August 20, 2015 - By 

    With psych music these days now affording its current crop of disciples, a broader platform of sound experimentation to play with, it was in no way surprising to have looked at the diverse line up for last weekend’s Reverberation festival, and licked ones lips with fervent glee. Advertised as Dublin’s inaugural celebration of psych and drone music, The Grand Social played host to all things psychedelic with a dozen bands, various DJ’s and mind playing visuals, as well as cult films, all adding to the vibe of this 13th Floor Elevators’ inspired experience. Cork five piece Elastic Sleep, were tasked…

  • Longitude 2015

    July 21, 2015 - By 

    Friday It wouldn’t be a festival without the uncertainty in the weather conditions, and as they shifted from heavy rain to beaming sunshine and back three times an hour, there was still a large turnout for the early opening time as buses pulled up coming from all across Ireland. Day One of Longitude had started. While the showers may have been scattered, the talent was constantly on show across the four stages, and as Wyvern Lingo opens the main stage, Haelos set up on the Whelan’s stage. A three-piece electronic band whose numbers double in the live environment with soothing…