Day one of the extended Luas line to the O2 – a red letter day for the Dublin transport system. Combine it with Lily Allen at the venue, part of her largest headline tour to date, and the atmosphere on the tram is certainly a celebratory one. Lily’s acerbic lyrics and tales of relationship…

Originally inspired by the Bowlie Weekender with Belle and Sebastian in 1999, All Tomorrow’s Parties has turned into something of a global phenomenon – albeit in a cult-ish sort of way, an experience like no other, and now an experience that has made it on to the silver screen with ATP: The Film. Those…

Last weekend and Dublin, more than ever, is awash with skinny jeaned young men sporting Dalston crops and a burning desire to be discovered (worn as utter nonchalance of course) at the HWCH festival. Tucked away upstairs in The Village though, a whole different kind of crowd is waiting to see Jack Penate. The…

The last time State clapped eyes and ears on The Noisettes they were a little known indie band opening for Babyshambles at that band’s manic first Irish gig in the Village. Following that they were seen on these shores opening for the likes of the Holloways and again Babyshambles in such random places as…

The premise of these global events was to raise a simultaneous toast to Arthur Guinness and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the 9000 year lease on the Guinness brewery at St. James’s Gate. The reality of what was flogged as being a warm commemorative moment was more of a staged event…

The Yellow Bittern, Alan Gilsenan’s biopic of Liam Clancy is a rather surprising illustration of 20th century counter-culture, meandering as it does from 1930s Ireland to the folk hey-day of 1960s Greenwich Village, New York and up to the present day. State recently chatted to Liam Clancy and filmmaker Alan Gilsenan about the film…

For Londoners Noah & The Whale, The First Day Of Spring is a ‘difficult’ second album in more ways than one, an aching and poignant journey through heartbreak, and the subsequent attempts at healing, recovery and moving on. Much of this theme has been attributed to lead singer Charlie Fink’s break-up with Mercury-nominated Laura…

Two years on from his gold-selling debut I Created Disco and Calvin Harris returns with the much anticipated follow up, one that reveals he has quite a few shocks and surprises up his sleeve, especially for those expecting a similar sounding album to the first. With Ready For The Weekend Calvin Harris has certainly…

Few people can have been as affected by the death, twelve years ago now, of Jeff Buckley as Mary Guibert – the mother who raised him after his father Tim Buckley walked out on her and her young son. Her role has continued after his passing, with Guibert acting as the guardian of a…

The second day of Sea Sessions brings both blazing sun and a lot more revellers descending on Bundoran for the mix of music and surfing. Unfortunately the tide conditions are really not conducive to the latter and today’s surf event is postponed until Sunday afternoon. State settles itself in the main tent and catches…

Only in its second year, Bundoran’s Sea Sessions sees the sunny seaside town buzzing with excitement at the influx of festival goers: even the local merchants are super-friendly. Small festivals, by their very nature, offer a greater sense of intimacy, communion and one-ness between punter, staff and performer alike and this is definitely true…

The allure of the smaller festival is obvious. Most punters with a genuine interest in music and community opt for more the intimate and less corporate event, time and again, as the perfect antidote to the thousands-heavy throngs that pervade the faceless big business models of the larger festivals. It goes without saying then…

Roses Kings Castles is the moniker which Adam Ficek, better known as the drummer from Babyshambles, uses for his solo project. State spoke to him recently ahead of his gig in Galway’s Bar 903, hearing his thoughts on going solo, the frustration of his day job and his dislike for the falseness of the…