Arthur's Day 2012 Dolans Limerick 27/09/12 Review

The brilliant marketing scheme that is Arthur's day was back in town, This year wasn't as big as last years bash which included the Big Top in town being invaded by several big acts thanks to Guinness. The big story this year was what big secret act was playing in town, Thought it was great that everyone had it sussed that Mumford & Sons were playing Smyths in town. Even later on in the night in Dolans I overheard a few students saying they couldn't wait to see Mumford getting up on stage. The rumours were completely made up :)  however Texas did actually play smyths as the big surprise act.
I didn't really understand why people were questioning which surprise act were playing where as Dolans already had a great line up planned and confirmed.

First up were Dublin outfit 'Cry Monster Cry'. The band played a great short set, unfortunately to a very unresponsive student crowd who were wondering what time Example was coming out on stage (Another untrue rumour :). Picked up there excellent EP 'The Fallen' on the night and look forward to hearing a lot more from them and hopefully another gig in Limerick at some stage. Check them out here



Next up were local band Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters , The lads have been very busy of late getting their second offering ready for the world. Everything is now recorded and hopefully we will see a great follow up to the brilliant first album 'Devil in Music' sometime next year. The band played a nice set including some of the new material.
Set :
Hatch Sixteen
Little Black Marble
Caked in Sin
That Old Chestnut
Throwing Shapes
Falling Debris
Fight The Grey
Hijack

#

Last up for the official Arthur's Day line up was Jape, It was my fifth time to see him play tonight the best gig I saw him play was Arthur's Day in Dolans back in 2009 (Review) to a packed crowd. Unfortunately the crowd tonight wasn't as big but he put on another great performance. Its sad to say it but it seems the young students today are more interested in mainstream X Factor stuff and 'The Big acts' whereas a couple of years ago any act playing live would have drawn a big crowd, maybe I'm wrong. Anyways another great gig from Jape as always.




After Jape the crowd were ushered out of the warehouse to a packed bar inside, Dolans didn't really plan this the best as they had organised a separate event called 'DIE' . A regular Thursday night event which includes Dubstep in the warehouse, Indie upstairs and Electro in the smoking area. All these events were ticketed so people who had bothered to come for Arthur's day were now being asked to leave the venue and queue out in the rain to come right back into where they came from, It was all a bit silly and they should have just let the people who were in for the Arthur's day stay there.

After waiting ages to get back in I eventually got to the 'indie' night upstairs. The wait meant I missed the first act up which was local band 'Milk Baby'. Sorry lads
Next up were local band 'Animal Beats' , The upstairs was now nice and packed full of students and newbie Guinness drinkers which was a fun mix. The band played a great set with the crowd really enjoying it. As you can see below.

Last up at around midnight was another local favourite 'Protobaby'. They played into the wee small hours and had the crowd in palm of their hands ending a great night of music. A seriously brilliant performance as always, The video below proving that.  Cheers for a great night!

Music Snippets #34 - The Unusual History of Ether

Hail From :

Copenhagen and Dublin

Band Members :
Lead Singer/Keyboard : Rebecca Collins
Guitar : Mikkel Ploug
Bass : Jeppe Skovbakke
Drums : Jeppe Gram

About:
First off what a brilliant name for a band! This band is a Copenhagen-based collaboration between Irish singer-songwriter Rebecca Collins and Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug. They met when playing the Dublin Fringe festival a few years back and since then have been making music.
The band released their first EP at the start of the year aptly entitled 'Part One' and hope to bring out a full album release sometime next year. Their EP can be downloaded from here.
If you havenet heard of them check out their lovely sound below. The band play Dolans on Friday the 2nd of Novemeber, Well worth checking out!

Check them out here : http://theunusualhistoryofether.tumblr.com/

For more Music Snippets click HERE

Arthur's Day 2012 in Limerick

 

Here's just a quick run down of whats happening around Limerick for Arthur's Day 2012. Last year saw the big top take centre stage hosting Royseven, Calvin Harris , The feeling and many more (Review Here). These bands also went onto play smaller venues around including Calvin Harris doing a DJ slot in Micky Martins. Don't think the events this year will be as big but Guinness has promised some surprise big acts around town. Names mentioned include Example, Tinie Tempah, Ellie Goulding, Mika, Professor Green, Fatboy Slim, Texas or Amy MacDonald but no venues named yet.

More than 20 Limerick pubs are in the running to host one of the headline acts, with the pub or venue that receives the most votes to get the act. 
Keep an eye here for updates as soon as we hear them

 

If your pub is not listed just give us a shout and we will mention it.

 

Dolans:

Confirmed : Jape , Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters , Cry Monster Cry, The O'Malleys , Protobaby , Animal Beats , Milk Baby

1 Secret Headline Act 

 

Bourkes:

Confirmed : Le Galaxie, Windings

 

The Curragower

Confirmed : dREA , Red Cloud Blue Grass Manifesto

 

Mickey Martins

Confirmed : The Herbaliser , DJ Leon

  

The Blind Pig:

Confirmed : Mael Morda

, Celtachor

 

Nancy Blakes

Confirmed : Sound, The Funk Junkies, DJ Lenny

 

Cobblestone Joes :

Confirmed : The Doors tribute-The Roadhouse Doors , Adam Haugh

 

Aubars/Paddy Frawleys:

Confirmed : Acoustra , Yvonne McCarthy, Birdthistle , DJ Dashka

 



The Guggenheim Grotto live at Dolans 14/09/12 Review

The upstairs in Dolans was jam packed tonight to welcome back the Guggenheim Grotto after a three year absence of gigging in Limerick, The duo have been residing stateside since we last saw them and have been making huge in-roads over there.  
Kevin May from Ballinrobe and Mick Lynch from Westport started the night off the exact same way they finished the night three years ago in the same venue with a beautiful acoustic rendition of 'The Universe is Laughing' accompanied by the ukulele and standing in amongst the crowd in the middle of the room. (Review from 2009)

The Guggenheim Grotto are a big indielimerick favourite and are rarely off the ipod, Their three albums to date are fantastic and each one worth checking out. Their fourth album is on the way in the coming months. This album was a pledge effort and was very unique in that they recorded twenty tracks and then asked the pledgers to chose twelve to make the final record. The fruits of their labour will be out sometime next year and pledgers (including me) will get the album hopefully in the next month or so. You can still pledge to get the album just not all twenty tracks here.

The set tonight included some brand new tracks from the forthcoming album, its always a joy to hear songs emerging for the first time and the grotto always give you the story behind each new song. By the sounds of the newbies tonight the fourth album will be filled of classic grotto material as they gel perfectly with the rest of their catalogue. Your always guaranteed to hear some great stories from the road between songs and they didn't disappoint, one such story was the band getting a private gig in America which turned out in the end to be a swingers party!
The set also included a slowed down version of Thin Lizzy's The boys are back in town and also another uke track from the new album which again was performed acoustically out in the middle of the room and showed off some great whistle harmonies. I took quite a few videos so check them out below including two new tracks from the new album 'Electric Life' all about a local sidewalk preacher and the charming 'Afloat'
It is always a pleasure to catch these guys live, hopefully we wont have to wait another three years to see them again, looking forward to the new album. Cheers for a great night!

The Lost Brothers live at Bourkes Bar, Limerick 06/09/2012 Review

First up tonight in Bourkes was Siobhán O'Brien accompanied by Eamonn Hehir, Siobhán played a nice short set of tracks from her latest excellent self titled album. You can check out more from Siobhan over here.

Eamonn is set to release an album in the next coming months after a 12 year hiatus on the release front since 'Blood Mill Road'. The new record is one to watch out for. Great to catch these two live , they play Bourkes regularly so keep an eye out for them of a Wednesday night.
 

Next on stage were the main act 'The Lost Brothers'. Super to have them back in Limerick after their brilliant show in Bourkes back in January (Review Here) .

I hadn't heard of the duo until that night but after getting their albums on the night they became a great favourite on the ipod. The Lost Brothers made up of Oisin Leech from Navan and Mark McCausland from Omagh have been on the move for quite some time hoping from England to America several times. Within these times they managed to produce two fantastic album in the form of 'Trails of the Lonely'(2008) and last years album 'So Long John Fante'.
2012 see another album in the making with 'The Passing of the Night' getting aired in three weeks time. I have had the pleasure of getting an advanced copy of the album for the last few weeks and my ears have had the most pleasure from this. The new record takes off from where the last one ended which is great as you never wanted the 2011 release to finish. The duo have an amazing ability to tell stories and bring some great old time Americana music into these tales. I'm sure this record will be a huge success, looking at the personnel involved is also staggering which includes Brendan Benson producing it and it features some great musicians including an indielimerick favourite in the form of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals drummer Brad Pemberton. This album is one is not to be ignored! (Order Here)
 

Tonight the lads played a lovely mix of the three albums with some covers thrown into the mix, they were joined on stage for some numbers by David Murphy to play electric slide guitar and what a superb addition he was. Amazing harmonies and amazing music what more could you ask for on a Thursday night in Limerick with no cover charge. Cheers to Bourkes and to The Lost Brothers!

The Lost Brothers are back in Limerick on the 3rd November to play in Dolans as part of the FMC tour, More details here.

Setlist :
Bird In A Cage
Who could love you more
Send Me Off to Sleep
Now That the Night Has Come
Ribbons and Bows
Oh Brother
Hey Miss Fannie
Pale Moon
In the City
Angry at the Sun
Can I Stay
Goodbye Kid
Lonesome Town (RickyNelson Cover)
The Bop
Under the turquoise sky
 

Albums Worth Listening to in September 2012

L-R
Fionn Regan - Bunkhouse Vol.I: Anchor Black Tattoo
Bob Dylan - Tempest
The Lost Brothers - The Passing of the Night (The lads play bourkes on the 6th of September)
Frightened Rabbit - State Hospital EP
The Killers - Battle Born
Mumford & Sons - Babel

Suggestion very welcome as always!

Bellx1 Announce Local Show for November

Fresh from Electric Picnic the Bellx1 lads have announced a full acoustic tour which includes a date in Dolans.
Friday the 16th of November will see them bring the acoustic tour back to Limerick after seeing it in full swing back in 2010 in St.Johns Church (Review).
The band played the local venue the Big Top back in December last year (Review) with the full band, The acoustic efforts of the band are well worth checking, expect a big turn out and a great night of music.

Band Site

The Guggenheim Grotto are back in town this September

An Indielimerick favourite is back in Limerick after a absense of three years , Kevin May from Ballinrobe, and Mick Lynch from Westport will play the upstairs venue in Dolans on Friday the 14th of September.
The band are situated now in the US and have been creating quite a stir and building a massive fan base over there.
Ive had the pleasure of seeing the band live on three occasions, last time back in May 2009 (review here). The band are always on the ipod and are a constant addition to any playlist of mine.

Their three albums are a joy to listen to and well worth checking out, they are currently on the cusp of a new release.
This fourth album was a pledge effort and was very unique in that they recorded twenty tracks and then asked the pledgers to chose twelve to make the final record. Unfortunately I personally didnt get to pledge and chose tracks ( No credit card at the time), hopefully ill get a chance to listen to all twenty at some point. Hopefully this untitled album will be ready come gig time in dolans.
Looking forward to it!

Check them out Here
Buy Tickets Here

Kasabian & Noel Gallagher live at Marlay Park 23/08/12

 

An amazing line up for a night in Marlay park was my first impressions when seeing the ads for the gig a couple of months ago, Considering no Oxegen and not the best Picnic headliners in my own opinion this Marlay Park gig was the best gig of the summer with all the festival vibe and you don't even have to stay in a tent! Tickets were immediately bought and a cheap hotel booked.

It wasn't a bad afternoon in the capital just the odd misting showers and the ground/grass was holding its own, all in all a grand evening for an outdoor gig. The security in Marlay Park was very tight. We had double searches entering the gig area including metal detectors and all our pockets had to be emptied into clear plastic bags. It was all very airport/prison security stuff of coarse all measures hyped up due to the mess that happened at a gig earlier in the year in the phoenix park. Not great fun going through these checks and a kind of a dampener when heading into a gig but in hindsight it makes complete sense. It was very reassuring to see so many security staff and Gardaí around the grounds. It should really be like this all the time.

I missed Maverick Sabre due to pre-gig pints but doubt I missed too much. The Cribs were in mid set walking in, This is one band I never really got into and I don't think after several listens I ever will. Not that I don't think they aren't good musicians as they are clearly good and what they do, and it is also clear watching the pit dwellers jumping around singing back to the band that they have a good following. I can't seem to warm to the music , it all seems a bit too out there and shouty but who knows one day they might surprise me.
 

More pints and burgers and it was time for Noel Gallagher to grace the festival stage, Last time I saw Noel live was back in 2009 headlining the mighty Slane. Little did I know that the band would be no more only a couple of month later. That was one hell of a gig and strangely enough the first time I had witnessed Kasabian live. Tonight saw the roles reversed as Noel became the support artist.

Noel launched straight into an Oasis number '(It’s Good) To Be Free' however two minutes into the song the sound went, the band looking to the side of the stage with puzzlement. Off they went and fifteen minutes later after several 'sorry bla bla announcements' Noel came back on to great applause and cracked into another Oasis number 'Mucky Fingers' yet again the song was interrupted by a power failure of some sort. It was getting all a bit ridiculous at this stage and it was clear the band were close to breaking point. Another fifteen minutes passed and in fairness to Noel they came back out and soldiered on and played a blinder of a set with no annoying interruptions. As Noel said after the first uninterrupted song 'sorry about that fucking nonsense' and later quip 'They had to put 50p in the Metre'
 

The set included a nice mix of classic Oasis and stuff from the High Flying Birds debut album. Its was great to hear '

Half the World Away' a real favourite of mine. The Oasis numbers didn't even need Noel signing at times as the crowd were nearly drowning him out, It's always a pleasure to see such a genius at work. The final track 'Don’t Look Back in Anger' was the biggest sing along with the crowd and it was clear the band were enjoying it just as much. The power problem might have been too much for him though as he ended the night by saying it would be his last Dublin gig for a long time which was met with boos and he said 'Hey, It's a big world'. This might also be due to the fact he has played a string of Irish gigs over the last year. Either way the gig was great, looking forward to hearing more from the birds.

Setlist:
(It’s Good) To Be Free
Mucky Fingers
Everybody’s on the Run
Dream On
If I Had a Gun…
Supersonic
(I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine
AKA… What a Life!
Talk Tonight
AKA… Broken Arrow
Half the World Away
(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach
Whatever
Don’t Look Back in Anger

A Guy on youtube has nearly the whole set recorded (Here ) 

Kasabian arrived on stage just as the dusk had set in, the stage lighting now in its element as the tribal velociraptor symbol was adorning the back drop. The band bounded on stage and cracked straight into their new single 'Days Are Forgotten'. The gig was one mass sing along, everyone just jumped around and had a ball. The band were flawless and at times seemed so good it sounded recorded.

Now having four albums in their discography they are clearly and awesome live band. Having hit after hit in their arsenal it was hard to keep your breath from belting out the fan favourites.

For me the album that sealed this was 2009s 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' , its one hell of an album and boosts a serious amount of non fillers, this is then backed up with another stomper in the form of 2011s 'Velociraptor!'.

The set was amazingly good and the crowd were top notch , The seamlessly integrated covers adding to the greatness in the form of 'Praise You' by Fatboy Slim and Serge's cover of 'Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime' by The Korgis. Lead singer Tom Meighan spoke to the crowd of his Irish green blood and his proud Irish heritage and throughout the night gave us a serious passionate performance. Tom also treated us at the end of the night to an A-Capella version of the Beatles' 'She Loves You'

The video below showing a snippet of the final song 'Fire' tells all really. You know you were at the great gig when leaving the grounds your hoarse and your legs are crazy tired.

Cheers for a great night and I think I was right when seeing the billing , Gig of the year!

Setlist:
Days Are Forgotten
Shoot the Runner
Velociraptor!
Underdog
Where Did All the Love Go?
Swarfiga
Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To (E.T Theme trumpet intro)
I.D.
Take Aim (Clockwork Orange Theme Intro)
Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime (The Korgis cover)
Club Foot
Re‐Wired
Empire
Praise You (Fatboy Slim cover)
L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
Encore:
Switchblade Smiles
Vlad the Impaler
Fire
 

A Night for Shellie this Friday

Some of Limericks top bands will share a stage this Friday night in support for Shellie,
Young up and coming bands such as Leading Armies and Animal beats will join the brilliant Joe Brown and The O'Malleys.
This looks like it will be a great night!

Albums Worth Listening to in August 2012

L-R
Two Door Cinema Club - Beacon
The Vaccines - Come of Age
Ryan Adams - Life After Deaf
The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
Milk Carton Kids - Prologue (Great band who seemed to pass me by back to 2011, Both of their albums can be downloaded for free from their site here)
Bloc Party - Four

As Always Suggestions Very Welcome!!!