FREDDIE GIBBS, Button Factory, Dublin, Tuesday. Freddie Gibbs last played Dublin in 2014, with a 2016 appearance at Forbidden Fruit cancelled after an arrest for rape — a charge that was eventually dropped with no evidence. So […]
Category: Gig previews
Peter Hook won’t ever take it lying down
In an interview a few years ago, Peter Hook told me his aim with his band The Light is “to try and play every song I’ve ever recorded and written at least once live, before […]
Queens of the Stone Age really shouldn’t have ended up here
Listening back to Queens of the Stone Age’s first few LPS, you wouldn’t have bet on them landing arena headliners in Ireland, and recording an album with a blockbuster pop and R&B producer. Their 1998 self-titled […]
Irish gigs round-up
MULATU ASTATKE: The Sugar Club, Dublin, Monday & Tuesday. You might think Ethiopian jazz is down some obscure rabbit hole you’d never stumble on, but there’s a good chance you’ve come across the work of Mulatu Astatke […]
With Dopplereffekt you never want to solve the equation
A Dopplereffekt performance carries more weight and baggage than almost any other in underground electronic music circles, with the enigmatic electro duo returning to Dublin for the first time in eight years. Dopplereffekt is the […]
Let’s hope Mac Demarco doesn’t shove a drumstick up his ass this time
There’s been plenty of begging on social media in the last few week for tickets to this latest sold-out Mac Demarco show, but there aren’t many diehards who’ll part with one. The Canadian is one […]
Irish gigs round-up
PUSSY RIOT, Button Factory, Dublin, Thursday. It’s impossible to simply focus on the music of Russian feminist punk collective Pussy Riot, and try to ignore the infamous scandal of three members arrested in 2012 after performing in […]
Irish gigs round-up
ANDREW WEATHERALL, Wigwam, Dublin, tonight. In an interview with The Star years ago, Andrew Weatherall told me he prefers smaller club gigs so he “can see the whites — or the reds — of people’s eyes”, […]
You can easily forget how huge Depeche Mode are
When Depeche Mode started their European tour in May they shared a video as a reminder that they’re the biggest band in the world – in some parts. It was a clip – since shared […]
Irish gigs round-up
COM TRUISE, Button Factory, Dublin, tomorrow If you have enough internet time on your hands you can literally find thousands of synthwave and retrowave artists online, a vast underground community of electronic producers in thrall to […]
Irish gigs round-up
CRADLE OF FILTH, The Limelight, Belfast, Monday; The Academy, Dublin, Tuesday. A heavy metal focus group couldn’t have organised this gig – with Cradle of Filth sure to win all the Halloween costume awards. The British veterans have been […]
Liam’s big mouth routine is the PR win of the year
Ireland’s newest winter festival was nearly left out in the cold after a group of residents lodged an appeal — but the first ever Samhain festival is going ahead at Weston Airport, 20 minutes west […]
Dublin Blues Fest kicks off – with no blues
The Blues Fest in Dublin is an unashamed nostalgia trip to warm up the coldest of winter hearts — but one tune by headliners Steely Dan will strike a particular chord with everyone in the […]
Irish gigs of the week
GHOSTPOET, The Button Factory, Dublin, Tuesday, €16 Ghostpoet’s fourth album Dark Days and Canapes is the bleakest yet from the poet, rapper, singer, beatmaker and producer, but his acclaimed live show will be no less intense. The […]
The Masseduction of Annie Clark
A countless number of bands can be filed under ‘art-rock’ no matter how much they deserve it, but St Vincent has made a case for her whole career as a work of performance art. Texan Annie […]
Moo Kid 