• Other Voices to Make Dingle Return

    November 4, 2021 - By 

    Other Voices will return to Dingle later this month. Celebrating its twentieth year, the Irish music institution will return for a four-day series of live shows in West Kerry across November 25-28th. Taking place both online and in-person at the Church of St James and the IMRO Other Room, Other Voices Twenty/Fiche Bliain Ag Fás will feature performances by the likes of John Grant, Fontaines D.C., Kay Young, Houseplants and Gemma Dunleavy. With many more acts are to be announced, all of these sets will be streamed live to venues throughout Dingle and will also be available to view free of…

  • John Grant – Love Is Magic

    October 14, 2018 - By 

    Upon first listen to an album that flits between seemingly whimsical matters of broccoli and cheese sauce to diet gum and hot Brazilian boys, one would be forgiven for merely scratching its surface. It’s only on the second and third (and fourth and fifth) listen to Love Is Magic, John Grant’s fourth studio album as a solo artist, that true appreciation can be found. After the sheer wackiness loses its immediacy, the authenticity of Grant’s latest body of work becomes more apparent and the world is given a whole new way of experiencing the American musician. It’s his most electronic…

  • The National w/ John Grant @ Energia Park, Dublin

    June 19, 2018 - By 

    The National just can’t seem to stay away from Dublin. Not ten months since their intimate double-bill at Vicar St., they made their return this Friday, nestled away in the leafy Donnybrook suburbs at the Energia/Donnybrook Stadium, for their own miniature two-day festival, with support acts including Lisa Hannigan, John Grant, Villagers and Rostam. The Friday gig featured the aforementioned Lisa Hannigan and John Grant, as well as Jay Som, and Preoccupations. Not your typical outdoor venue, this weekend was an opportunity for Donnybrook Stadium to showcase itself as one – with surprisingly strong acoustics, and the high suburban trees…

  • John Grant Set For Open House Festival

    March 1, 2018 - By 

    With the Waterboys and Public Image Ltd. previously announced as headliners, it’s been revealed that Iceland-based American musician John Grant will play this year’s Open House Festival in Bangor. Grant will play Bangor’s seafront – the first time the festival has had a large-scale outdoor space for evening concerts at its disposal – on Sunday, August 19. “It’s clear that Bangor has become an attractive destination for international touring artists,” said Open House director, Kieran Gilmore. “Gaining access to the outdoor space beside the marina, slap bang on Bangor seafront, has been pivotal in allowing us to programme acts like…

  • 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…

  • Irish Tour: John Grant

    February 1, 2016 - By 

    With words by Ross Thompson and photos from Alan Maguire and Sean McCormack, we capture the very mighty John Grant at Belfast’s Mandela Hall and Galway’s Seapoint. Mandela Hall, Belfast Photos by Alan Maguire John Grant is, to put it bluntly, as cool as all get out. Whether crooning over torch ballads or getting his proverbial freak on to big-boned electro, he plays the showman with consummate ease. Each of the mantles fit him equally well, thanks in no small part to his not only the appeal of his soaring, velvety voice but also his natural charm. Following support Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter…

  • John Grant @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    November 12, 2015 - By 

    John Grant really loves his audience and judging by the crowd of his second sold out show of a two night stint in Dublin’s Vicar Street, the feeling is mutual. Delving straight into two tracks from his new album Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, it is not long before he’s telling us just how much. This new album might lack the consistency of quality in the tracks of its predecessors but those that he choses to play live are no doubt the strongest ones. This combined with Grant’s charisma and the addition of a four piece band and three backing singers …

  • John Grant – Grey Tickles, Black Pressure

    October 9, 2015 - By 

    A record whose title essentially means Middle-Aged Nightmares doesn’t sound like a particularly fun prospect. That said, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is such a wonderful, euphemistic description of its subject, layering the deeply troubling topic in a layer of abstraction and disassociation. This idea is mirrored in its eerie, yet cheerful, album cover; a man dressed in WASPy attire, his eyes replaced with inhuman, piercing white beams of light. This balancing act between sinister and serene is to be expected from the likes of John Grant, the former Czars frontman, whose previous two records stand as some of the finest…