Live Review
Fountains of Wayne – Dublin
There are bands who burn out and fade away after a few huge hits and then there is Fountains of Wayne. Plugging away consistently since the dark days of 1996, unlike many of their college rock contemporaries, Fountains of Wayne have long settled down into a comfortable middle ground of releasing solidly consistent albums....READ »
M83 – Vancouver
A lot of landmark albums down the years have become synonymous with a location, think Bowie’s Berlin trilogy, The Beatles love-affair with Abbey Road or Justin Vernon’s Wisconsin cabin. For M83’s Anthony Gonzales, it’s the Joshua Tree National Park in California which provided the inspiration for his ambitious double album Hurry Up, We’re...READ »
Scroobius Pip – Dublin
It’s a cramped and frisky crowd that greets Scroobius Pip on his first Irish date since the release of Distraction Pieces, the album that saw him move away from musical partner Dan Le Sac for the first time. For many it’s the previous collaborative albums, Angles and Logic of Chance…, that mark...READ »
Twin Sister – Dublin
A couple of years ago a bunch of Rhode Islanders relocated to Brooklyn, New York. As Twin Sister they released Vampires With Dreaming Kids, a four song collection of expansive shoegaze with foggy rhythms and an icy disposition. This was followed by Colour Your Life…, featuring vaseline-lensed space-disco. Last year the band...READ »
The Naked and Famous – Dublin
It’s not surprising that The Naked and Famous have managed to sell out The Olympia tonight. Having filled The Button Factory in March (before they had even released an album), an unfortunate scheduling clash at this year’s Oxegen festival saw them go up against the might of The Script and The Strokes. The set...READ »
St. Vincent – Dublin
Last time Annie Clark was in town almost two years ago, she was alone. She played a short solo set to a half-full Vicar St. as the warm up act for Grizzly Bear. On that night she was stunning, coming with a bag full of songs fresh from her second album Actor…. Her...READ »
Charlie Parr – Dublin
Frankly, I’m amazed that Duluth’s Charlie Parr is not, you know, FAMOUS, or at least better known. Of course, it’s the way of the world that major talent can languish in obscurity for years, but Charlie has been at it for at least a decade now. His back catalogue is all over the place,...READ »
Fun Fun Fun Fest – Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas has dubbed itself the live music capital of the world for the good reason they have more live music venues than anywhere else. SXSW festival takes place in March of each year, and in early autumn, the massive Austin City Limits (ACL) festival takes place in the central Texan city. And for...READ »
Steve Earle and the Dukes & Duchesses – Dublin
Steve Earle is no stranger to this island, or to the Olympia stage, having played his first show in Ireland at this venue in 1988, when there used to be Midnight At The Olympia gigs. As soon as the intro bagpipe sample from ‘Copperhead Road’ went off, signalling the start of the show, the...READ »
Simian Mobile Disco & Erol Alkan – Heineken Green Spheres, Cork
In the iridescent Savoy theatre, an enthusiastic reveller stands in the epicentre of the crowd like a prophetic Moses in a parted sea. Her eyes, wide as pennies, are complimented by the Cheshire cat smile that adorns her elated face. Her bare arms stretch up to the ceiling in anticipation of the beat that’s...READ »
Richmond Fontaine – Dublin
‘No tricks’ wrote poet and short story writer Raymond Carver in his short essay On Writing…, and it’s advice that Willy Vlautin, whose work as both a lyricist and novelist owes more than a little to Carver’s terse, dirty realist takes on American blue collar life, has taken to heart. Attired in regulation...READ »
Another Honest Jon’s Chop Up – Dublin
Gorillaz, Mali Music, The Good, the Bad & the Queen, Deltron 3030, Monkey: Journey to the West, Doctor Dee… Damon Albarn’s career path has a multi-faceted global outlook these days. Last night’s Another Honest Jon’s Chop Up… gig was just the latest chapter in Albarn’s role as cultural curator which this year has...READ »
Billy Bragg – Dublin
For Ireland, it seems, socialism of the heart is not an abandoned concept. The country has just elected a champion of the arts as president over a businessman with a questionable past, while our stroll to the Button Factory takes us past a body of hardy souls who are sleeping on the street to...READ »
Plan B, Warpaint & K.Flay @ Jack Daniel’s Birthday, Nashville, Tennessee
Welcome to the spiritual rhinestone home of American country music – Nashville, Tennessee. Largely responsible for the renaissance of country music in the the late 1950s and its transformation into the popular commodity it is today through the assimilation of modern pop productions, the city has bred the likes of Tammy Wynette, producer Chet...READ »
