State has been giving Emeralds the runaround for the last few months. For starters, the Icelandic volcano farted ash clouds all over their planned Whelan’s show last May. We then missed them at Primavera a few days later as we waited in a three-hour queue for wristbands, and at Bestival they had the misfortune of…

Galleries by Claire Weir: Friday | Saturday | Sunday…
Four days in and I’ve still got a few goosebumps left in the tank. James Blake is nearing the end of his early evening Big Top set, and as the bass tremors burrow up through the grass my soles are vibrating. Blake’s live set, like his

Galleries by Claire Weir: Friday | Saturday | Sunday…
I think we’re out of luck with the weather. The clouds look like they’re about six feet above our heads and they’re getting blacker by the minute. After yesterday’s techno crusade it’s time for a well-earned siesta, which means we sacrifice a few bands to escape

Galleries by Claire Weir: Friday | Saturday | Sunday…
Most of your plans evaporate at festivals. The so-called ‘early’ night on Thursday turns into a wake-up call on Friday morning with my face stuck to a plastic bag in the corner of a mate’s tent, eyeballs sewn in with red thread. A quick glance at

Galleries by Claire Weir: Friday | Saturday | Sunday…
Bestival arrives at a funny old time – a few days after the Electric Picnic we’re still finding bruises, chasing lost sleep and scraping muck off our boots, while packing for the last big hurrah of the festival season. And we really can’t kid ourselves that

This midweek gig sure does feel like a school night – if you couldn’t find a ticket for the sold-out show on toutless.ie, you could’ve just haggled with all the under-age Odd Future fans who couldn’t make it past the Academy bouncers. The LA hip-hop collective (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) are in…

Less than two minutes into Watch the Throne…, Jay-Z has already namedropped God, priests, kings, Plato and Socrates, and put himself and Kanye on a par with Jesus and the Holy Ghost. Stick the two biggest hip-hop egos in a room together and it’s never going to be about the simple things in life.

You know that bullshit about Eskimos having 100 different words for snow? You’d need more than 100 ‘heavy’ synonyms to get to the black heart of a Neurosis gig. Thesaurus.com won’t cut it. ‘Filth’ needs a side entry too, there’s some hum off their riffs. Before this long-awaited show, a few gig posters are sellotaped…

“You’re about to be ear-fucked,” warns Chilly Gonzales on his latest project – an all-orchestral rap album. He reckons it’s the world’s first and a quick Google search suggests he’s probably right, so we’ll run with it for now. After 12 years and eight albums, the Canadian piano virtuoso/electro producer/film director and self-professed “musical genius”…

Strange things are happening in Tripod – it’s 9.30pm and it looks like the Wu-Tang Clan might arrive on time. OK, so it’s been billed as “9pm sharp”, but this is as close as you’ll ever get. As DJ Mathematics drops the “Wu-Tang swordstyle” sample and the Clan bound on stage to ‘Bring Da Ruckus’,…

Battles (Ray Ban Stage, Friday)
If you’re going to Forbidden Fruit this weekend, don’t expect Battles to play ‘the hits’. Since last weekend, Primavera punters have been raving about how “brave” Battles were on the Friday night – a virtual headline slot at one of Europe’s top festivals, the biggest crowd they’ve ever played to,…

Einstürzende Neubauten (Ray Ban Stage, Saturday)
On paper, Einstürzende Neubauten really do have the least desirable slot of the whole weekend. A certain team in blue and maroon are doing a job on Manchester United in the Champions League final, and big screens showing the match are sucking huge pockets of Catalan and English fans…

The National (Llevant Stage, Friday)
We’re already on annoying namedrop terms with The National by the time Friday comes round, after sweet-talking ourselves into a party on Wednesday at the Hotel ME, where they were staying. After a few generous mojitos and the tail-end of Andy Votel’s B-Music set in the hotel’s club, we were…

Public Image Limited (Llevant Stage, Thursday)
John Lydon’s not impressed with the passive crowd. “Fuck sake this is PiL man, we are your only friends in the music industry.” This finally gets a cheer, he gives us a cheeky wink and we’re all good from there. In fairness, everyone has started Primavera on a bit…