Live Review
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Galway
The long gestation period between their last two albums sparked rumours that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, once a blogosphere phenomenon, were en route to splitting up. Hysterical was considered a return to form after the sometimes faltering Some Loud Thunder… and a barn-storming set a last year’s Electric Picnic seemed to cast away...READ »
The Cast Of Cheers – London
The young and beautiful of London town are gathered in to see a four band bill of the up and the coming. Recent blog exposure means the bulk of the crowd at the Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen are here for hotly tipped Theme Park but State is more interested in the return of...READ »
First Fortnight: Le Galaxie, Royseven, Cashier No.9 & dRea – Dublin
Now in its third year, First Fortnight doesn’t need us to tell you how well thought out it is. Of all the oft-forgotten yet important social taboos to target, mental health is clearly still more essential during an economic near-apocalypse. Setting up in early January, a time that’s notoriously gig deficient, was a stroke...READ »
Glen Campbell: The Goodbye Tour – New York
Director Bob Fosse gave his cinematic alter ego, the womanizing, amphetamine-popping Joe Gideon, a splashy showbiz send-off in the1979 semi-autobiographical film All That Jazz…, staging a musical finale that enabled Gideon to bid farewell to everyone in his life before meeting Death, in the comely form of Jessica Lange. There is a slight...READ »
Duran Duran – Dublin
Do you remember the eighties, asks Nick Rhodes. It’s pretty clear given the age profile of the crowd here, that everyone does. Duran Duran would have been important to many of us here, many years ago, as important as Top of the Pops was, and roller discos and emigration and all that stuff that...READ »
Michael Kiwanuka – New York
It’s been one hell of a month for Michael Kiwanuka. The full-throttle gallop of the North London songwriter’s ascent in just about nine months, from unknown session-guitarist-posting-songs-on-MySpace to one of the most praised, new British artists since Adele (who tapped Kiwanuka to tour with her this spring before he even released his first EP)...READ »
David Kitt plays The Big Romance – Dublin
Anniversary shows are always going to be a little strange. Dedicating a night to one particular album takes a bit of guts or naivety or blind self-confidence to pull off. You need an album that is somewhat forgotten but is fondly remembered, resonating still with those who loved it once. You need songs that...READ »
Agnes Obel – Dublin
Released in October 2010, Philharmonics… by Danish born, Berlin-based, classically trained pianist Agnes Obel, has been one of the word-of-mouth success stories of the past year. Akin to Anna Calvi’s recent Vicar Street performance, tonight’s show has something of a triumphal end-of-year return about it, both for those in the audience who saw Obel...READ »
Friendly Fires – Dublin
As Ed Macfarlane leaps from the stage during ‘Lovesick’ to join the mosh-pit, those still streaming into The Olympia shortly after 9pm could be forgiven for thinking that they’d missed the memo about an early start and arrived in time for a very lively encore. But no, this is the show opener, and an...READ »
Other Voices 10 – A Dingle Diary
Saturday, December 3rd So I turned up late to the party. I’d like to call it fashionably late, but the truth is getting tickets for two nights of Other Voices was beyond my wildest expectations, and that they happened to coincide with non-salaried days was quite a bonus, too. I’d never set foot in...READ »
SBTRKT – Dublin
In a bout of anonymity, so as not to detract from the music, SBTRKT’s eponymous debut LP was released in June of this year – a fresh-cut collection from a style-mashing experimentalist producer – and somehow, a ceremonial tribal-mask became the face of post-dubstep. Playing The Workman’s Club in Dublin as part of Heineken...READ »
Other Voices 10 – Mick Flannery, James Vincent McMorrow, Cold Specks & Lisa Hannigan
People say Dingle has a micro-climate of its own, with the weather often going off on a different trajectory to the rest of the country. I wonder if that has been a major factor to Dingle having what I can best describe as a micro-atmosphere. It’s almost as if you leave your memory about...READ »
Adam Ant and The Good, The Mad & The Lovely Posse – Dublin
When Adam Ant penned the line ‘ridicule is nothing to be scared of’, the chances of many people pouring such scorn on his endeavours were slim. In the space of two short years he had gone from being a sleazy, post-punk rocker to the status of the biggest pop star in the UK by...READ »
Scuba – Dublin
It’s a wet and surly crowd that enters the Twisted Pepper this particular night. Though this only gives the impression the everyone’s literally dripping with excitement, as they should be. Trust MUD to organise an all rounder such as this one. Legendary MC Topcat is commanding the ground floor with his trademark zealous mic...READ »
