• Sun Kil Moon @ Open House Festival, Bangor

    August 12, 2015 - By 

    “People love me. Some people hate me. A lot of people love me, but some people hate me. Some people anonymously go on to the internet and say cruel, hateful things about me. But that’s ok. That’s ok. That’s ok because it means you’re somebody when that happens to you. It means that you’ve arrived. It means that you can lie in bed at night with a warm, fuzzy feeling in your stomach. Some people hate me and some people love me. Some people come to my shows and write big, long essays about how much they love my music…

  • Strange Brew Summer Shindig #11 @ Roisin Dubh, Galway

    August 3, 2015 - By 

    It’s still relatively early in the evening on the Thursday of the Galway Races, July 30. I’m walking through the town which is flooded will ill-fitting suits and headwear that ranges from patch caps to multi-coloured shapes that defy the laws of physics. It’s mayhem. It’s loud. There’s a man with curry sauce all over his shirt shouting at a seagull and there’s a bunch of lads singing (read: bellowing) ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. Despite the sense of mania of it all, it’s hard to not find it all just to be a lot of fun. People have come in…

  • The Libertines w/ The Courteeners @ 3Arena, Dublin

    July 13, 2015 - By 

    A rose by any other name right? 3Arena may be the pre-eminent venue for the most popular acts visiting the city but it must be a logistical nightmare. The sound is far from perfect for The Courteeners breed of indie rock. The sound has been primed for stadium rock which the lads fill out admirably but it’s at the detriment of any musical subtlety. Instead each song is awash of boom-bah drum noise and the sometimes faltering vocals of Mr. Liam Fray. Luckily it’s not so muddy that they lose the sing along spine that give their most popular tracks…

  • Mastodon w/ Bad Breeding @ Ulster Hall, Belfast

    June 30, 2015 - By 

    Treating tonight more like a pilgrimage into the dark heart of sludge-laden, conceptual metal than your typical jaunt to a gig, we’re joined giddily by the sizeable crowd of Mastodon T-shirt wearing fans as we enter the baroque surroundings of the Ulster Hall.  The air, thick with beard and brew, seemingly creates its own atmospherics ahead of any performance so far, but, safe in the knowledge that we’ll be banging our heads soon we file in and stand our ground.  It’s not exactly filled to the brim, but it’s not nearly empty either and the consensus thus far is that…

  • Mastodon w/ Bad Breeding @ Olympia Theatre, Dublin

    June 29, 2015 - By 

    The night begins with a small clan of bemused faces. On the stage is Bad Breeding (frontman, Chris Dodd, below), throwing out fuzzy, mashed agro punk. Clever without being innovative it’s reminiscent of Black Flag, Crass and the noise-rock elements of bands like The Horrors. Not a bad thing, in and of itself, but elements of the crowd are as disinterested as the distortion is unrelenting. This simply seems to be a case of bad booking. So the majority of the crowd hole up in The Olympia’s wonderfully anachronistic bar. The black t-shirts are adorned with tonight’s headliner and the…

  • Fleetwood Mac @ 3Arena, Dublin

    June 23, 2015 - By 

    So I’m back / to the 3 arena / back to the band that I love… Ok, so I may be biased… no hang on, I AM biased because I believe Fleetwood Mac are the greatest living, breathing and touring band in existence. They’re a band who have never mired in talent, their songs are astronomically timeless with all present members accounted for and individually influential. It’s an absolute privilege to watch them perform together with a never-waning enthusiasm for songs you’d expect them to be tired of by now. Consider this: the band are all pushing 70. Stevie announced…

  • Mogwai w/ RM Hubbert @ Olympia Theatre, Dublin

    June 22, 2015 - By 

    Not all bands survive long enough to have a twentieth anniversary tour, at least without reforming first. What’s remarkable about Mogwai is that they still feel like a current band, not yet reduced to being a mere heritage act, and so it’s difficult to conceive that they’ve been around that long (in the same way that it’s difficult to conceive that the mid 90s were quite that long ago, even for those of us young enough to have been in primary school at the time). As such it’s genuinely exciting to see what way tonight’s set will go, with such…

  • Animal Disco: We Are Knives @ McHughs, Belfast

    June 14, 2015 - By 

    When asked to pen this review, I told myself I would strive to be objective and immediate, looking at the event solidly from the perspective of a mid-2015 evening, but as I sit down to put words to paper, I realise that this is virtually impossible. I mean, come on, it’s been over 7 years years since we last heard that finger tapping rhythm – it’s safe to say we’ve sorely missed it. So, where do we start? The obligatory history lesson, that;s where. Having risen some time in 2005 from the disbandment of classic Belfast acts Some Days Better…

  • SOAK, Rainy Boy Sleep + Rosseau @ Roisin Dubh, Galway

    June 14, 2015 - By 

    It’s a bright Friday evening at the start of the summer and as the first act of the night, Derry two-piece Rosseau (below), quietly take to the stage there is an immediate sense that the crowd here tonight are feeling that atmosphere of warmth. The room is quietly fluttering with an eagerness to be enveloped by some of the best music the North Coast has to offer. Having formed roughly six months ago and only releasing their debut EP at the start of June, Rosseau’s tender guitar and drum combo is still very much in its germination phase with only…

  • Primavera Sound 2015

    June 11, 2015 - By 

    This year Primavera Sound celebrated its 15th birthday, in which time it has established itself as one of the foremost music festivals worldwide. Every year festival curators have aimed to deliver a top class line-up offering a diverse range of musical talent. Always interesting, they manage to blend exciting contemporary artists with auspicious greats who have paved the way. Scanning a list of legendary acts who have graced the Primavera stage is overwhelming; it’s like a who’s who of groundbreaking artists from the past 50 years, including Lou Reed, Iggy and the Stooges, Patti Smith, Television, Motorhead, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement,…