Most disappointing gigs

I find it hard to nail down favourite gigs, but at the same time I guess I’m becoming more underwhelmed by live music the older I get. There just aren’t many surprises these days. Arrive early to get a good spot, the support band might be listenable if you’re lucky, then after a few hours [...]

Richmond Fontaine in Belfast

Speaking to a friend recently about live music in Belfast and that, even though there are more live bands playing here than ever, there are fewer that I actually want to go and see. The two best gigs I’ve been to this year (Bob Dylan and Wilco) were both in Dublin.

Going to the Empire tomorrow [...]

Bill Mallonee/Victory Garden – Permafrost

I’ve recently been listening to a lot of Bill Mallonee and Vigilantes of Love again, this album in particular.
Much has been written about Bill’s genius as a singer/songwriter but this has never been fully recognised in terms of sales. Recent years have seen him fall below or near the poverty line while he continues to [...]

Bad! Invincible! Dangerous! off the Wall!

When I was 11 years old I won two tickets for Michael Jackson’s Dangerous tour in Dublin. My dad couldn’t get off work to take me down to the concert so I sold the tickets and bought Sonic the hedgehog for the Sega Master System instead.
Looking back it was kind of a like-for-like swap – [...]

The best album I’ve heard this year

The new album from Bob Dylan is also very, very good but I think this is better. Full of witty, warm, soul-searching lyrics, and catchy clangy folk-rock melodies – this is a class debut record. Delta Spirit played Auntie Annie’s one Saturday night in March, but I was too immediately concerned with getting out of [...]

Dylan at the O2 Arena, Dublin

Bob Dylan was playing live and releasing records before the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Springsteen. His career has outlasted groups like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, quite an achievement. All the more impressive when you consider his latest album has just gone to number one in the UK and US, and he’s just finished the European [...]

One more Easter song

Great live version with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers of “In the Garden” from Dylan’s Saved album.

Holy Week

I’ve been attending an Anglican church for a couple of years now, and coming from a strict Baptist background it has been a new and enriching experience to follow the liturgical calendar of the Church of Ireland. Although our church is probably more progressive than others within the denomination, it still respects this tradition.
As part of a [...]

Praise Band: The Movie

This is for real. Continuing the copycat nature of Christian Guitar Hero is Praise Band: The Movie.

As if High School Musical wasn’t creepy enough!

Revolution is just a t-shirt away

Over the years I’ve accumulated a fair number of appalling football shirts. Northern Ireland’s home and away shirts by Olympic Sports being particularly bad. You know, the baggy type from the mid-nineties. I’d love to post some photos but even google is keen to forget. Nowadays a George Best or 1982/1986 shirt is the best [...]