SHOW ME THE BODY, Whelan’s, Dublin, tomorrow, €14
New York trio Show Me the Body are barely out of school but they’re already trading in some of the nastiest punk and noise-rock, with some primal hardcore rapping.
Their 2016 debut album Body War was a streamlined, sinewy rant, veering between 80s hardcore with snare drum sounds straight out of a teenage garage, and dark passages that recall Jesus Lizard or Shellac.
New album Corpus follows further explores their hip-hop leanings, and features collaborations with Moor Mother, Princess Nokia and Dreamcrusher. They often take the industrial strength to Death Grips levels, which is only a good thing.
PHIL COLLINS, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Sunday, €89.50-144.
Phil Collins’ comeback tour and autobiography is called Not Dead Yet — but a recent photograph suggested he was halfway there.
One snap doing the rounds showed Phil hobbling onstage at the Albert Hall on a crutch, as he recovers from a serious back operation. He also had to cancel a few shows after falling on his head in a hotel room.
It was a false alarm really — his voice is bang on the money and sitting down for a gig never really harmed Dave Grohl or Axl Rose recently.
These are Phil’s first gigs since his Genesis reunion in 2007, and meme culture and the ironic nostalgia loop mean his stock is the biggest it’s been since the 80s. But sweep aside the irony — songs like Sussudio, In the Air Tonight and Easy Lover are some of the straight-up best pop songs in history, and there’s plenty more where they come from.
It’s an all-day affair as well — get there early for new wave legends Blondie and Mike and the Mechanics, featuring former Genesis man Mike Rutherford.
THE CHAINSMOKERS, Ormeau Park, Belfast, Monday, £33
Seeming to back up the phrase there’s no such thing as bad publicity, The Chainsmokers are one of the biggest EDM acts in the US, despite being universally panned, and their debut album sitting on a Metacritic users’ score of 1.6% (fourth from bottom).
They didn’t even escape dance music’s biggest troll, Deadmau5, who was tweeting this week about how “shit” they are.
The New York duo shot to fame/notoriety in 2014 with their single #selfie, a not very hot take on vapid Instagram culture that took the piss out of their whole fanbase and earned them a reputation as misogynists.
A few more EPs followed, aimed squarely at festivals, before their debut album Memories… Do Not Open changed the script with a collection of mid-tempo middle of the road pop with a few EDM build-ups, and Coldplay. They assured fans they won’t be playing the slower songs live, so they’ll probably play remixes all night. Get the glowsticks out.
BADBADNOTNOTGOOD, Sugar Club, Dublin, Monday & Tuesday, SOLD OUT
Young Canadian act Badbadnotgood make the kind of dusty soul and jazz that’s often mined for samples by old school hip-hop producers, and the rap scene is where they’ve picked up most of their fans.
Notable works include instrumental takes on cuts by Flying Lotus, J Dilla, Nas and Kanye West, as well as their own compositions. They really shine on their collaborations, with a full album with Ghostface Killah, Sour Soul, and other team-ups with Snoop Dogg, Danny Brown, Freddie Gibbs and Earl Sweatshirt.
It’s pretty impressive selling out two gigs on Monday and Tuesday, so props already.
GREEN DAY, Ormeau Park, Belfast, Wednesday, £49; Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, Thursday, €58.65
Green Day have become punk’s version of Old Man Yells at Cloud. They spent about 20 years playing teenage angst pop-punk then got woke on their “punk rock opera” American Idiot, about George W Bush (remember him?), and have carried on from there.
To prove how hard-hitting they are, the sleeve of their latest album Revolution Radio is a ghetto blaster in flames, and the title track has the line, “Give me rage like there’s teargas in the crowd”.
That said, hits like Basket Case, American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams are huge crossover live bombs.
Support is from Rancid — the LA ska-punk veterans keeping the Clash’s fires burning. Pity they weren’t on their own tour.
Moo Kid 