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…

Fair play to the MN collective for thinking way outside the box this weekend. The Dublin-based dance promoters have secured Detroit maestro Mike Huckaby for two nights — including a special one-off set to mark the birthday of the late great jazz futurist Sun Ra, who would’ve been 97 this year.
As part of MN’s…

It’s been 30 years since Talking Heads members Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz set up Tom Tom Club, and the husband and wife team are dusting off new wave classics like Wordy Rappinghood and Genius of Love for a world tour that’s stopping in Dublin.
Tom Tom Club’s full live show hits Vicar St on…

You wait around for an Edan gig and three come along at once – on a bank holiday weekend no less. OK so it’s not that long since his show at last year’s Picnic, but Irish hip-hop heads are still raving about his shows in Crawdaddy in 2006 and the Tivoli in 2008.
The Maryland…

So it’s Easter Sunday and you’ve just wolfed down a giant Aero egg and a bin bag full of Maltesers. Don’t just flop down on the sofa and wait for the Simpsons when there’s 10 hours of techno for the taking.
Brand new Dublin electronic collective We Are Electronic launches this Sunday in Dublin’s Grand…

Raekwon couldn’t have picked a better time to bring the Wu-Tang Ruckus. It’s the night before Paddy’s Day, everyone’s on a booze blitz and scowly empty-handed touts are outside the Button Factory trying to score tickets. The place is hopping with anticipation – it’s billed as a run-through of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…,