Tag Archives: Belfast gigs

Fred’s Leaving My Empire.

  By Lisa McInerney | March 22, 2011 - 9:00 am | The Culch
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What? Cork favourites Fred leaving the People’s Republic? Say it ain’t so! No, my stupidly misleading headline refers to Leaving My Empire, Fred’s fourth studio album, due for release this April 15th. Jesus, where does the time go? The album will be preceded by the very delightfully Fredish If Not Now When. Here, la. If Not Now When by FREDTHEBAND Nice, no? Recorded by producer Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire) and mixed by Ben Hillier (Elbow, Blur, Editors), we’re promised that Leaving My Empire is Fred’s most ambitious album to date. We’ll be keeping our ears pricked. If you’re mad to see Fred being all organic and that, you can catch ‘em all as follows: April 15th - Tower Records Instore - Dublin April 16th - HMV Instore - Cork May 16th - Blackbox Theatre, Belfast May 19th - Whelans, Dublin May 20th - The Forum, Waterford May 21st - Cork … There’s more →

The Commitments 20th Anniversary Reunion … See? Told You They’d Make It.

  By Lisa McInerney | October 7, 2010 - 8:30 am | Gigs, Movies & TV, Music
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“The clothes they wear are all dismally coloured”. “There’s an almost constant use of a word pronounced “fook” or “fewk,” which I take to be some kind of Dublin slang, possibly relating to fish and chips”. “The friendship was bad cos they treated each other like crap.” ” … it portrays the Irish as extremely profane people who do nothing but scream at each other and tell each other to f-off … one hopes this isn’t representative of the entire country.” The Commitments. Furriners on IMDB just don’t get it. Ah, Glen Hansard. You’ll always be Outspan Foster to me. But we do, which is why the original cast of Alan Parker’s brilliantly funny soul-story are coming together in March 2011 for a series of much howled-for reunion gigs. Andrew Strong, Robert Arkins, Angeline Ball, Bronagh Gallagher, Michael Aherne, Glen Hansard, Felim Gormley, Dave Finnegan, Ken McCluskey and Dick Massey … There’s more →

Giggety Giggety! Post-Picnic Announcements Rock Our World!

  By Lisa McInerney | September 9, 2010 - 10:30 am | Gigs, Music, The Culch
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They’re as expected as the sunrise and as welcome as a man with his arms full of takeaway after a night out; post-Electric-Picnic gig announcements are always something to perch on the edge of your seat about. This year sees a number of seriously sweet gigs planned for the winter. Readying your Christmas wantsies lists? Refer your loved ones here! Math-pop heroes FOALS are fresh from a triumphant appearance at Electric Picnic, and from a Mercury Music Prize nomination for second album Total Life Forever, and are only mad to rock yer pants at the Olympia on Monday 15th November. Tickets priced €23.50 went on sale TODAY at 9am, so hurry hurry. This is This Orient. Ooh, it’s just lovely!

Gogol Bordello To De-Winterise Dublin.

  By Lisa McInerney | July 17, 2010 - 5:22 pm | Gigs, Music
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There’s a band called Hamfatter, best known for stomping onto Dragon’s Den and wrangling £75k out of the dragons by playing their song Sziget as a marketing pitch. Sziget is a song about getting wrecked at the Hungarian uber-festival, and I bloody love it, because of the lyric… I’m at the front, right in the middle and they start to play / Gogol Bordello, gypsy punk / we’re blown away … which told me that it mattered not a sausage whether or not Hamfatter made any difference to my aural satisfaction; I love Gogol Bordello, and they love Gogol Bordello, and therefore we’ll all be friends for ever and ever. Gogol Bordello, a steamroller of wanton creativity lead by beautiful loon Eugene Hutz, are set to play the Olympia in Dublin on Monday 22nd of November (and Belfast’s Mandela Hall the night before).

There Is A God! Johnny Flynn plays Ireland in September.

  By Lisa McInerney | July 14, 2010 - 8:21 pm | Gigs, Music
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And with a name like that, he should be kept here, and all. Nu-folk’s smokin’ist talent, the wonderful Mr. Johnny Flynn, has just announced a number of gigs in September all about our fair isle, which will have to do until he’s made mandatory. He plays Auntie Annie’s in Belfast on the 17th, Academy 2 in Dublin on the 19th, Cyprus Avenue in Cork on the 21st, Monet Theatre in Limerick on the 22nd, and Arthur’s Day in Galway on the 23rd. Now, aren’t we all very lucky? (Answer: fuck, yes) If you haven’t yet given in to my persistent nagging and bought his new album, Been Listening, or even downloaded the single Kentucky Pill (for the price of your email address on Johnny’s site), I must state in the strongest possible terms that Johnny Flynn sets utter poetry to gripping melody and should be immediately made mayor of everyone’s … There’s more →

65daysofstatic - Irish Dates

  By Lisa McInerney | May 3, 2010 - 3:24 pm | Gigs, Music
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Well, now. It’s very difficult to describe the music of 65daysofstatic to the (as yet) uninitiated. Instrumental-post-rock-math-rock-noize-tronica that has your pulse leaping out of your throat and your brain buzzing with ideas and inspiration and the notion that the world is alive and throbbing and you’re an essential cog in the whole thing? Yeah. Something like that. The lads are touring on the back of their new album, We Were Exploding Anyway, which was released on April 26th. They play Mandela Hall, Belfast, on the 14th May, Crawdaddy in Dublin on the 15th, and Cyprus Avenue in Cork on the 16th. I’ll be at the Cork gig crying tears of pure fire up the front. I might even have a sambuca as well. If you’re bawling fire, you might as well be making a palatable drink while you’re at it. So, you can hear the new tracks on the lads’ … There’s more →