• Bell X1 w/ The Academic @ Iveagh Gardens, Dublin

    July 12, 2016 - By 

    Iveagh Gardens with its tall trees and high walls offering protection from the noise and movement of the city centre location, is as close to perfect as you could get for an outdoor venue in Dublin. The layout is impeccable and its sound has always felt close and layered. It has become synonymous with Irish acts stopping in during the summer; Damien Rice, Glen Hansard and The Frames themselves have all played here in recent years. This year it is Bell x1’s turn. Following an emphatic support from the fast-rising The Academic (below), an opening combination of ‘The Great Defector’…

  • John Grant w/ Ane Brun @ Iveagh Gardens, Dublin

    July 12, 2016 - By 

    It was a busy night of gigs ­­in Dublin this weekend with Beyoncé and The Stone Roses pulling big crowds. This might account for the fact that tonight’s gig at Iveagh Gardens isn’t sold out – a rarity for a John Grant gig in Dublin. However, those who do opt for the city centre garden setting are far from disappointed. Following a convincing set by Ane Brun (below) Grant starts off the set by easing the crowd into the evening via ‘Down Here’ and ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ mixed with ‘Marz’ from his debut album. Those newer tracks have really aged well and there’s a real…

  • So Cow w/ Hot Cops, Junk Drawer & Shrug Life @ Voodoo, Belfast

    July 11, 2016 - By 

    Irish independent music is going through something of a renaissance at the moment with a burgeoning collective of bands attempting to show that music from Ireland is more than trad and U2. This evening at Voodoo we are treated to a selection of bands from various parts of the island who all bring something different to the scene. Dublin’s Shrug Life open affairs although this evening frontman Danny Carroll (below) goes it alone. Everything takes on a slower pace without the urgency of the drums or bass but Carroll strums through the set with enough assuredness and control that the…

  • Beyoncé @ Croke Park, Dublin

    July 11, 2016 - By 

    It’s hard to grasp the cultural phenomenon that is Beyoncé in 2016. Although always an icon at the forefront of the pop industry, Beyonce, despite her many years in the public consciousness, has only truly established herself as one of the primary voices of this generation with her most recent album, Lemonade. Her stunning journey into visual and musical avenues which explores both the personal and the political has seen Beyonce becoming more than just a pop singer – now she is a voice for women worldwide, for the Black Lives Matter campaign and for the oppressed everywhere. It’s been…

  • Foals w/ All Tvvins @ The Marquee, Cork

    July 8, 2016 - By 

    It’s hard to believe that the annual Cork based music and comedy festival Live at the Marquee launched 11 years ago with a Brian Wilson gig. It really doesn’t seem that long. In that time, surely the festival’s greatest success has been the massive variety of acts that have graced the 4,000 capacity Kellie Clarke designed venue in the Cork Showgrounds. Artists ranging from thrash metal legends Slayer to dance mainstays Faithless and from pop upstarts Little Mix to hip hop’s resident shrinking violet Kanye West have played to rapturous crowds over the years down at the Cork Marina. An…

  • Buille @ An Droichead, Belfast

    June 14, 2016 - By 

    Irish folk music, for the most part, remains strongly traditional. That said, it’s easy to forget that the ubiquitous bodhrán – an ancient instrument – didn’t claim widespread legitimacy in the Irish folk idiom until the 1960s, much in the same way that the cajon only filtered into the fiercely conservative flamenco tradition in the 1970s. Traditions evolve, even in seemingly diehard cultures, just as everything else in nature evolves. Buille, which means ‘beat,’ has danced to its own rhythms since it was formed by Cork-based Armagh brothers Niall and Caiomhin Vallely in 2005, releasing three albums of roots-based, genre-bending…

  • Candi Staton @ The Sugar Club, Dublin

    June 13, 2016 - By 

    As the final few bars of New Orleans’ funk maestros The Meters’ ‘Handclapping Song’ filter through the Sugar Club’s sound system, the lights dim and the sold out crowd show their appreciation following the appearance on stage by the Queen of Southern Soul, Candi Staton. Having begun her musical career as a teenager in the early 1950’s as a member of a gospel trio, it’s hard to imagine by looking at the lady standing in front of a highly anticipated audience that she is now 76 years of age. Staton starts off tonight’s proceedings with the slow yet funk fuelled…

  • Lisa Hannigan w/ Ye Vagabonds @ St Luke’s, Cork

    June 13, 2016 - By 

    “Scooch!” It’s getting towards the end of her powerful set at St. Luke’s in Cork and Lisa Hannigan is encouraging support band Ye Vagabonds to squeeze in a little bit closer to the microphone so they can all be heard on a beautifully harmonised take on the title track from her second album Passenger. A chuckle ripples through the reverent audience in the ornate and acoustically masterful old church before they quickly return to attentive silence. It’s a moment that tells you all you need to know about a Lisa Hannigan live performance as it exudes her endearing comfort, and…

  • Neil Young @ 3Arena, Dublin

    June 9, 2016 - By 

    Going to see the greats in the twilight of their career can be a tricky business. Often you find the artist behind some of your records to be a shadow of their former selves, churning out the hits one last time or looking for one final payday to straighten out their accounts. Neil Young and the Promise of the Real’s Rebel Content tour is the antithesis of these concerts. Somehow managing to occupy both the roles of career retrospective and showcase for newer songs, this is a show that will have even the most casual Young fan going home a believer. Excitement has…

  • Mudhoney & Bog Log III @ Black Box, Belfast

    June 9, 2016 - By 

    It truly is silly season on the live circuit, and circumstance would have it that the same night grunge godfathers Mudhoney returned to Belfast would be when the granddaddy of them all, Neil Young, decided to play his first ever date in the city. Mudhoney have never been about huge arenas though: the demise of Mark Arm and Steve Turner’s previous act Green River came when he didn’t match the ambitions of the stadium hungry band mates Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, and while the later dominated the 90s as the founders of Pearl Jam, Arm and co.’s Mudhoney provided…