CELEBRATING DAVID BOWIE: Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Monday
Dublin went headlong into a Bowie wormhole last week, with tribute shows, lectures, exhibitions and stage plays as part of the Dublin Bowie Festival, – but we’re not done just yet.
Celebrating David Bowie isn’t part of the festival, but it’s the greatest touring tribute show that’s logistically possible right now.
The band features musicians who recorded and toured with Bowie throughout his career, including OG Aladdin Sane jazz piano genius Mike Garson, Lodger guitarist Adrian Belew, Let’s Dance-era bassist Carmine Rojas and Dublin guitarist Gerry Leonard, who was musical director on his late period triumphs Heathen, Reality and The Next Day.
Considering the special atmosphere at the Bowie Ball with local musicians, there’ll be an extra sprinkle of magic in the air, with closer ties to his good self. There’s a promise of other local special guests – let’s just hope it’s not fuckin Glen Hansard.
THE REDNECK MANIFESTO: Whelan’s, Dublin, Tomorrow
IRELAND’S favourite cult band The Redneck Manifesto kick off 2018 with a show that was always going to be a sellout. The post-rock veterans are finishing off their fifth album, and they’ve promised to play new tracks at Whelan’s tomorrow.
The band haven’t released an album since Friendship in 2010, and fans have had to make do with sporadic (at best) gigs every year or so at Electric Picnic, and a few memorable club shows that sell out in no time.
STEEL PANTHER: The Academy, Dublin, Thursday
Quite where cock-rock comedy act Steel Panther fit in the #metoo era is a mystery, but they’ve sold out the Academy so there’s still enough ageing Motley Crue heads knocking around.
In fairness, if taken with a big pinch of salt, Steel Panther are funny, if pure stupid. They take the dumbass 80s Sunset Strip hair metal as a template and dumb it down further, with songs about groupie sex, strippers, whiskey and rock’n’roll itself.
They’ve been going for a decade so the ass is well worn out of the joke – but they’ve a new album that’s actually called Lower the Bar, with songs called Pussy Ain’t Free, She’s Tight and Poontang Boomerang.
THE KOOKS: Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
The Kooks should be even more horribly out of place these days than Steel Panther, with a set of songs that somehow escaped the indie landfill cull of the last few years. But here they are playing three sold-out Olympia shows.
Another one of the UK indie bands that were hammered into our heads by the music press dying to latch onto something, The Kooks play the most middle of the road indie-pop, that makes the Arctic Monkeys sound like Einstürzende Neubauten.
And even if you haven’t heard it since 2006, She Moves In Her Own Way is one of the biggest stinkers of the decade.
Moo Kid 