• 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…

  • Lisa Hannigan @ Black Box, Belfast

    June 9, 2016 - By 

    Despite initially making her name singing with Damien Rice throughout the height of his fame, it wasn’t until the end of that creative partnership that Lisa Hannigan really came into her own, beginning a solo career that saw her notch up impressively high profile TV appearances – none more impressive than an appearance on The Colbert Report – during a time when Rice had faded into the shadows. Although no new studio albums have been forthcoming since assured debut Sea Sew in 2008 and more mature follow up Passenger in 2011, she’s continued to expand an already impressive CV by…

  • Neil Young and Promise of the Real @ SSE Arena, Belfast

    June 8, 2016 - By 

    “If you’re here writing a newspaper piece or something, please try to ignore that…” So remarks 70-year-old Neil Young, quite possibly the coolest man on earth, a handful of songs into a career-spanning, increasingly rapturous set with Promise of the Real at Belfast’s downright reverential SSE Arena tonight. In typically unflustered fashion, he’s just stopped a few seconds into the intro of ‘Harvest Moon’ having neglected to attach his harmonica; a rare blip that not only serves as a brief reminder that even the greatest have their moments of infinitesimal fallibility but also that we’re in the presence of a master who – briefly setting aside his towering…

  • The Last Shadow Puppets @ Olympia Theatre, Dublin

    May 27, 2016 - By 

    A youthful crowd assembled in the Olympia Theatre for the first of three performances, the live debut of The Last Shadow Puppets in Dublin. The majority of attendees were of similar age to me, approaching mid-twenties, whom I assumed had grown up with Alex Turner’s prolific lyrics and music as both an Arctic Monkey and Last Shadow Puppet, and had encountered Miles Kane as a Rascal along the way. There were a handful of families present, mostly with younger daughters a little younger than I was when The Age of The Understatement was released in 2008. You couldn’t help feeling…

  • Courtney Pine & Zoe Rahman @ Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast

    May 17, 2016 - By 

    It’s not exactly a shocking revelation to say that jazz can be a ludicrously self-reverential medium, especially given the insular virtuosity required to play it to a world-class degree, so it’s pleasant that tonight, under this starry-ceilinged festival marquee, that Courtney Pine maintains a balanced composure; one that allows for moments of wild, wandering timbres but also gentle interplay with Zoe Rahman’s fervent piano playing. A courteous guest, Pine lays on the thanks thick and fast for the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival organisers, prompting agreement from a largely excitable crowd who rightly recognise that jazz in Belfast isn’t exactly the…

  • Steve Mason @ Black Box, Belfast

    May 4, 2016 - By 

    It’s a Saturday night in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter and Steve Mason is in good form. Recent interviews in support of his new album reveal a musician re-invigorated by the simple creativity of human interaction. Inside a buzzing, sold-out Black Box he is throwing catalogue shapes for photographers and sardonically re-naming songs. ‘A lot of Love’ is introduced as a love song from Chris Martin to Gwyneth (it’s too good for that), and the soulful tambourine-driven ‘Seen It All Before’ is re-christened “Slide On Fat Jesus.” He looks sweltered on stage in a full anorak but tries to…

  • Richmond Fontaine @ Voodoo, Belfast

    May 4, 2016 - By 

    There’s no room for sentiment during Richmond Fontaine’s last ever Belfast show. The band from Portland, Oregon have been regular visitors to the city since the release of the critically-acclaimed Post To Wire in 2004, and tonight their final album You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing To Go Back To gets some serious attention from the setlist. You Can’t Go Back is a summary of all that’s great about this much-loved Americana band so it’s fitting that most of the record is showcased this evening. ‘I Got Off The Bus’ – a song about the worst homecoming ever, alternates…

  • Shonen Knife w/ Leggy @ Black Box, Belfast

    May 2, 2016 - By 

    Japan’s Shonen Knife are currently celebrating their 35th anniversary with an extensive tour, which took in Belfast’s Black Box as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. After a number of Japan-only releases in the early 80s, the Osaka group’s brand of infectious pop-punk eventually won western admirers including Sonic Youth, John Peel and Nirvana, and the band’s 90s peak saw them serve as an opening act for the UK leg of the Seattle band’s Nevermind Tour, as well winning gaining regular MTV airtime and slots on the Lollapalooza tour. Now on album number 20 and buoyed by the return…

  • Andrew Bird w/ Beating Heart Pigeons @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    May 2, 2016 - By 

    It’s been far too long since Andrew Bird last graced our shores with his violin-led quirky take on indie folk but after a triumphant night in Vicar Street, it feels like he never left at all. Before Bird takes to the stage, procedures are kicked off by Limerick natives, Bleeding Heart Pigeons. The four-piece aren’t an obvious match for the whimsical sounds of the headliner and their raw indie rock is mostly lost on the small crowd who’ve wandered in early. Despite sound issues, they reel out a good enough set filled with cuts from their recent debut album, Is.…