Dexys live at The Olympia on Thursday 2nd of May 2013|Review Homer: Lisa, did you see the Grammy’s? Lisa: You beat Dexys Midnight Runners. Homer: Well, you haven’t heard the last of them.  Those words, uttered in 1993, highlight how, even then, Dexys Midnight Runners were becoming the butt of some jokes. And now, almost twenty years later, with little or [...]

If there is one thing the Irish music scene does well, its producing immensely entertaining folk bands. Mikey & The Scallywags are no exception. We’ve been rifling through some old releases that our contributors missed in the onslaught of records we got in during the earliest part of the year and couldn’t believe this one slipped through the net. The ‘Living in [...]

Eric Clapton at The O2, Dublin on Thursday 9th May 2013 Thursday night saw a legend come to Dublin. Old  Slowhand himself was another legendary name to check off the list of legends that must absolutely be seen live. Did he live up to expectations? Well not quite. It might sound implausible that an Eric Clapton show would not be [...]

Lucinda Williams at Vicar Street, Dublin on Sunday 12th May 2013 Lucinda Williams has long been held in high regard among her fellow musicians and fans, and while never receiving the commercial successes of contemporaries like Emmylou Harris or Mary Chapin Carpenter, her career has spanned almost thirty-five years so far. The Louisiana songwriter’s last release was in 2011 with ‘Blessed’, [...]

Photos: Sean Smyth

Tieranniesaur in Whelan’s, Dublin on Friday 10th of May 2103 There is an inherent difficulty in having a gig to launch a new album. You want to showcase the new album by playing songs from it, but don’t want to alienate the audience by playing a set full of songs that they won’t have heard before. There is a fine [...]

It’s the end of the current tour for Fang Island, who have been doing the rounds over the preceding weeks aided and abetted by No Spill Blood. Hailing from Rhode Island, Fang Island specialise in a type of infectious, no frills guitar music that marks them out as the greatest band on earth. Okay, they’re not the greatest band on [...]

Frank Turner returned to Dublin to perform his biggest headline gig in Ireland to date.  Support came from the energetic Larry and his Flask who delivered a highly entertaining punk-bluegrass  set. It was impossible to take ones eye off Jeshua Marshall, the most punk rock double bassist the world has ever seen. Frank Turner gigs generally resemble a religious scenario. Turner is the [...]

In Everlasting Arms, Ezra Koenig sings about a chandelier that hangs above his head like a guillotine. That image more than any other encapsulates the themes of Vampire Weekend‘s previous two albums. Though many people focus on their Afrobeat influences or knotty lyrics, thematically both ‘Vampire Weekend’ and ‘Contra’ were albums about image and status. On their third outing, ‘Modern [...]

The early afternoon festival slot on a Saturday can be a graveyard for many bands, with most revelers just awaking from their slumber/hangovers and wandering the campsites like zombies. One of the many advantages of Vantastival is that you can roll out of the tent and, within the time it takes to make a few moans and groans at your [...]