• Wilco Announce Irish Shows

    February 6, 2023 - By 

    Wilco have announced two Irish shows. Courtesy of Open House Festival, the band will also play Belfast’s Mandela Hall on Wednesday, 6th September. It comes 13 years to the month from their last show with the promoters. Marking their first show in the city since playing Iveagh Gardens festival back in 2016 (revisit our gallery from the show here) the Chicago indie legends will also play 3Olympia Theatre on Friday, 8th September. Wilco last played 3Olympia Theatre back in 1999. News of the show comes hours on from the Jeff Tweedy-fronted band winning Best Historical Album for the 20th Anniversary edition of…

  • Final Mandela Hall Show Announced

    June 18, 2018 - By 

    You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t forged a key memory in Mandela Hall since its 1986 naming, so the announcement of its closure – due to the development of the Student’s Union – came as a blow to many. Fortunately, the good people of the SU have invited And So I Watch You From Afar to headline and curate its final ever bill – a genre-spanning tapestry of some of the finest and fast-rising artists from here – taking place on Friday, July 27. On the bill are Mojo Fury, playing their first show in years, Robocobra Quartet – who’ve just put out one of the albums of…

  • Years & Years @ Mandela Hall, Belfast

    November 5, 2015 - By 

    Having released their debut record, Communion, at the end of June this year, it was only a matter of time before Years & Years graced our shores for a headline show. With tickets flying out upon release, the band added a second show at Dublin’s Academy due to demand. The popularity of the electronic pop trio has soared throughout the year, having won BBC’s Sound of 2015 award, alongside frequent radio airtime with singles ‘King’ and ‘Shine’. The sold-out show has been highly anticipated by the Irish fans, many determined to see their first Irish show since Longitude Festival, that…

  • Sound of Belfast 2015 Programme Announced

    October 1, 2015 - By 

    The programme for this year’s Sound of Belfast has been announced, with the events running from November 6-14 around the city, culminating in the presentation of this year’s Oh Yeah Legend Award to The Divine Comedy at the NI Music Prize event at the Mandela Hall on November 14. The festivities include many exhibitions from local artists & filmmakers, as well as conferences and masterclasses at the Oh Yeah Centre. These include the Belfast Urban Affinity 2015, aimed at hard-to-reach youths, and the Breaking Into Music Youth Conference, featuring the likes of Phil Taggart, who quickly progressed from BBC Radio Ulster to Radio…

  • First Aid Kit @ Mandela Hall, Belfast

    September 19, 2014 - By 

    First Aid Kit have dressed for the occasion. They arrive onstage in shimmering outfits, faintly resembling the lost children of ABBA and take their places before a wall of gold lamé and glittering abstract alpine mountains. Their drummer wears a suit and bow tie. They are soon bathed in a warm golden hue and open their debut Belfast show with the rather fittingly titled, ‘Stay Gold’. First Aid Kit are Klara and Johanna Söderberg, who hail from Stockholm. The sisters have been writing songs together since 2007 and owe their international attention to the popularity of a YouTube video featuring the pair…

  • Stream: PigsAsPeople – Foundling

    September 16, 2014 - By 

    Belfast-based post-hardcore/noise rock trio PigsAsPeople have made the track ‘Foundling’ – the first to be unveiled from their upcoming mini-album The Plot Against Future Plans – available to buy on their Bandcamp from September 25. This comes ahead of their free-entry Radar mini-album launch at Mandela Hall on Thursday, September 25 – during Freshers Week – at which support comes from The Emerald Armada, Gascan Ruckus, Team RKT and Spittin’ Teeth. Check it out below: Foundling by PigsAsPeople

  • Northern Ireland Music Prize 2014 – Therapy? to perform Troublegum

    August 27, 2014 - By 

    Following last year’s successful Northern Irish Music Prize ceremony, it has been announced that the second annual event will take place in the Mandela Hall in the Queen’s University Students’ Union on November 15. The ceremony awards a prize to the best Northern Irish album of the last year as voted for by a number of local media and industry professionals. Last year, Foy Vance won the album of the year prize with his excellent Joy Of Nothing, a strong album among many worthy contenders. Alt. metal trio Therapy? play their million-selling, Mercury Prize-shortlisted 1994 classic Troublegum LP in its entirety at the awards show on…

  • PigsAsPeople – The Plot Against Future Plans

    September 10, 2014 - By 

    Belfast-based sludgy post-hardcore/noise rock trio PigsAsPeople release their mini-album – entitled The Plot Against Future Plans – with a free-entry show at the Mandela Hall on its launch date of September 25. This will be the follow up to their First Four Months and Idles & Us EPs, released in autumn 2012 & 2013 respectively (each of which are available on Bandcamp on a name-your-price basis). The album was recorded at Start Together Studios by Niall Doran earlier this year, and the tracklisting – featuring all-new songs, some of which have been played at recent shows – is as follows: 1. Rooks 2.…