Articles by James Hendicott
Ellie Goulding – The Academy, Dublin
She might be a mere 23 years old and technically still a mid-degree gap year student (can anyone really see her going back?), but Ellie Goulding is already a controversial topic at State HQ. The traditional “review up for grabs” email a week before tonight’s show was greeted with comments that ranged from “I…
Fionn Regan – Vicar Street, Dublin
When State met Fionn Regan a few weeks ago, we found him to be utterly and inarguably charming. Disarmingly so, in fact, though evidently not quite to the extent that he can sell out a sizable Dublin venue on the same day as a big Six Nations rugby match. Still, the two-thirds-full hall that…
Lynyrd Skynyrd – O2, Dublin
“In the words of my older brother Ronnie Van Zant, which tune is it you want to hear tonight Dublin?” FREEBIRD! No one could accuse Lynyrd Skynyrd of failing to put on a show, and the generation-spanning crowd that’s flocking to the O2 clearly knows exactly what to expect. The Luas ride features comic…
Sounds of System Breakdown – Sounds Of System Breakdown
It must be hard to be an electro act right now. The initial surge in popularity seems to be subsiding, and the scene is undeniably inundated. Everything from the diabolically cheesy mainstream (Owl City) to the trendy Stateside starlets (MGMT) seems to have found a popular niche, and it’s only a matter of time…
Lostprophets interview
Welsh nu-metal influenced rockers Lostprophets recently released their first album in nearly four years. The Betrayed has been an arduous process, with an early recording scrapped at a cost of more than half a million dollars after the Prophets dismissed it as ‘too slick’. When they started again, the Kerrang Award winners took a…
Ocean Colour Scene – Olympia Theatre, Dublin
It’s been a full ten minutes of chanting, flag waving and riotous noise when the lights raise and a lone figure clutching an acoustic guitar emerges stage-front from the Olympia mist. Simon Fowler, Ocean Colour Scene’s front man, takes a second to soak up the applause, before breaking into a timeless tune, pausing sporadically…
Choice Music Prize – Vicar Street, Dublin
6/1 shot Adrian Crowley stole the Choice Music Award headlines on an emotional night at Vicar Street, securing the vote of assembled media experts in the final two minutes of deliberations. Crowley’s fifth album Season Of Sparks won the mellow Galway star a pot of 10,000 Euro and the title ‘Irish album of the…
CODES, The Delays – The Academy, Dublin
State must admit to getting a bit of a shock when we noticed the calibre of support act CODES are bringing in these days. It’s a sure sign of their progress that the Dubliners can draw in a festival favorite like The Delays as their underlings, even if it is on their home patch,…
Owl City – Ocean Eyes
State, occasionally, likes pop. We certainly wouldn’t spend our weekends listening to the chart rundowns or sticking posters of Britney to our bedroom walls, but we know it has its place, in an entertaining, sticks in the head, passes the time kind of way. We draw the line, though, at Owl City.
Having already…
NME Awards Tour: The Maccabees & Two Door Cinema Club – The Academy, Dublin
They might have an obsession with the new and disdain for the old that borders on pompous, but when it comes to putting together well-matched gig line ups with hot headliners and high-flying support, NME are difficult to match.
Fionn Regan interview
As anyone whose heard Fionn Regan’s latest album can attest, he’s a real off-the-wall personality. The potent pictures of characters he paints track after track are disarmingly charming, much like the man himself, who even in real life seems to speak in a way that’s bordering on lyrical. When State catch up with Fionn,…
Marina & The Diamonds – The Family Jewels
Touted as the next Florence and the Machine, and laying claim to a medal-worthy place on almost every indie publication’s ‘ones to watch’ list: Marina Diamandis teased critics to the point of exultation with magnificent single ‘I Am Not A Robot’. The Family Jewels – an album accompanied by a level of expectation that…
Xavier Rudd – The Academy, Dublin
When we interviewed Xavier Rudd last month, we learnt of his environmentalist outlook and energy saving, disconnected house. We heard the lively stage-front greeting as he hung up the phone and stepped into an Australian arena, and we absorbed his love of ‘energy’, how grateful he feels to have developed his almost nomadic lifestyle…
Hot Chip – One Life Stand
One Life Stand: Hot Chip, clearly, know their audience. The clever play on words of their 4th album title is also a great summary of the content – sleazy enough to have an underlying sexuality pulsing through the early electro dance floor fillers, yet pushing on to become something deeper, something experimental and quirky,…
