Gigs for 2025 - post your reviews here

delbertgrady

In line with the annual, "Gigs for…" threads, where people post reviews and have general discussion about shows they see throughout the year, I'm starting this off, as we don't have one yet.

delbertgrady

The only event I've been at so far was the Stuart Murdoch appearance in Books Upstairs. Part reading, part interview, part Q&A, culminating in Stuart playing two songs. Probably one of the smallest audiences on his book tour, it seemed to have slipped under the radar for a lot of of people. It was great to be there.

odyssey06

Think there might be a thread for 2025 already here…

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058383062/gigs-for-2025-whore-you-going-to-see#latest

delbertgrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061667#Comment_123061667

Nobody has posted any reviews there yet, as far as I know, though people have commented on them elsewhere.

I regarded that as more of a start-of-the-year, Who Are You Going To See? thread for people to list who they had lined up. There's usually just a "Gigs for [year]" that rolls on during the year.

Gloomtastic!

You could stick Reviews in the title. That’ll clear things up.

Gloomtastic!

Two venues for me tonight.

Started at St Patrick’s Cathedral for a First Fortnight Festival night with an amazing collection of 30+ singers in their 20s who could have been professionals. Note perfect every one.

Then an 8 minute trek to Whelan’s for Sygh and Captain Relapse.

I think I preferred the choir.

T.V Eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061272#Comment_123061272

That sounds great. I would have gone if I knew about it. I haven't got around to his books tbh but I'd be fan of his band so surprised the algorithm didn't tell me about it.

What did he play?

delbertgrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123065734#Comment_123065734

He did Dog On Wheels and Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying. On the book tour, he'd usually do those two and end with Nobody's Empire, but by his own admittance, he was having a rough day (you could tell he was fatigued, but he was in good form and he seemed to rally as the night went on), so we just got the two, before he went to sign the book. The novel itself is clearly hugely autobiographical. Some names have been changed, but you can effectively treat it as a memoir. It covers 1991 to 1993, so it's all pre-Belle and Sebastian.

Beagslife

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123063513#Comment_123063513

Yeah, I'd go with - 2025 Irish Gigs - Reviews | Feedback

😎

Beagslife

My first outing was last weekend at Mick Flannery in the Crescent Concert Hall in Drogheda.

A nice laid back night (in keeping with Mick's personality)! Some great performances and stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the night.

My first time seeing a full live set from Mick. First saw him live at the Leonard Cohen celebration at 3Arena before Christmas, although I've been a fan for a while.

Worth checking out if he's gigging near you.

delbertgrady

Lyle Lovett and his Acoustic Group last night in the NCH. A very enjoyable night of songs and stories. Always good to see the great Russ Kunkel on drums, and the legendary Leland Sklar on bass.

Beagslife

A lovely evening indeed. Kevin Conneff and his Dublin Trio (foursome) joining in was a nice touch.

hynesie08

Anyone want a free ticket for the scratch tonight?

Gloomtastic!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123090117#Comment_123090117

Yes please!

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123090178#Comment_123090178

Shoot me a PM

Beasty

Just changed the thread title to better distinguish this thread from the other

hynesie08

First gig for 2025 down, and to quote the pole vaulter with low self confidence......

"How the **** is the bar that high already......"

The Scratch, I do not have enough superlatives for this band of lunatics, scarily good musicians, energy pissing out their pores and a fairly ridiculous connection with the audience,A sweaty happy dancy whirlwind of a 90 minute set with the most emotional version of "Joxer goes to Stuttgart" you'll ever hear. Utterly spectacular show from 4 lads who deserve the world.

Gloomtastic!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123090117#Comment_123090117

My goodness, they are so ready for it. An amazing night of Irish music. Thank you once again.

Gloomtastic!

And we’re still in January, 11 months to go. The future’s looking very bright.

Electric Nitwit

Nice, good to hear. Couldn't make last night but looking forward to seeing them at In The Meadows

Gloomtastic!

You know when you book a show on a whim and then later you look at the finer details and it’s not what it seems…..

The last time I was in The Ambassador was for a showing of the movie Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads in the early 1980s. So when it was announced that Stop Making Sense was returning there, I booked a couple of tickets for pure nostalgia value.

So we turned up last night to see the huge stage full of musical instruments. The auditorium was temporary collapsing chairs arranged in rows - 450 of them by my reckoning. We were in row seven.
Upstairs was sealed off completely.

Turns out we were going to see an Irish Album Tribute band - Playback. They have three albums they play live - Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, David Bowie's Aladdin Sane and their latest project, Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense.

They were very good. Really accomplished musicians even if one of the lead singers had problems with the lyrics and kept looking at an iPad throughout.

Before the show, they announced that the bar would remain open throughout - huh? And that dancing would be permitted in the aisles and front - huh? So we had the joys of restricted viewing as people were hopping up and down all the time. Not good.

Audience was mainly 50/60/70s with a few young people.

Would I go see them again? Maybe in a standing venue.

grudgehugger

One gig for me in January. 808 State at a sold-out Button Factory. Middle-aged ravers out in force. Really enjoyed it - solid 8/10.

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123100524#Comment_123100524

Saw them at BTP last year and they were great

Granite Head

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123100524#Comment_123100524

There too and you perfectly sum up my experience.

ekkinak

808 State. cracking gig

PTH2009

Back to the Celtic Tiger times with Offalys own 'Mundy' in the great little venue of The Seanti in County Kilkenny on Friday Night gone

It was a decent show and he sounded great. Forget how good his songs 'July' and 'Mexico' are, of course his cover of 'Galway Girl'

It may be released as a live album sometime in the future

Dreamweapon

Brant Bjork Trio in the Grand Social last night. Pretty good set from the ex-Kyuss and Fu Manchu man. Ably assisted by bassist extraordinaire Mario Lalli of Yawning Man/Fatso Jetson. 90 minutes of Stoner/Desert rock vibes. I was worried that it might veer into pure classic rock territory but they managed to hold the line. Decent riffs and grooves intermingled with slow, spacey jams. A solid gig.

Irish Aris

First 2025 gig last night at Whelan's for the Irish debut of Selofan, the Greek darkwave duo. I've been following them on and off for years, they picked my interest again for good with their latest album, Animal Mentality. Solid dark/synth sounds, with the occasional presence of a bass here, a saxophone or a melodica there. 65 minutes covering most of their albums.

Support from the one man project Owls from Longford. Similar dark/synth sounds, with the vocals borrowing from the aggro school of thought (a bit of shouting etc.).

Not a big crowd, Whelan's was only have full.

PTH2009

Was at The Dubliners Encore in Waterford on Thursday. Brilliant show full of banter, Very well put together with such a talented cast. Definitely recommend going to see it

Gloomtastic!

Musical highlight of the bank holiday weekend was Norwegian band Slomosa in The Grand Social last night. Tundra rock is their genre. It sounds very like a lot of other loud rock genres but these guys (and lady bass player) just had it in spades.

The video highlight was Saturday’s Femtenyl gig in Opium. Canadian digital hardcore/jungle duo that has every teenage misfit as its fan base, those misfits were moshing like the best of them. Loved it!

Friday night was a solid performance from Manchester black rock band Winterfylleth (I thought they would be Welsh with a name like that). The support, whoever they were, had a couple of class tunes to finish with.

Dreamweapon

The Messthetics w/James Brandon Lewis in a sold out Grand Social last night. Very good gig indeed. Varying shades of Jazz i guess; they noodled, rocked, funked, punked and skronked. This was a far more satisfying gig than the last time they played here imo. The addition of JBL on saxophone really elevated them to another level. Support came from Zeropunkt, who i also enjoyed; "Have they officially started yet? It's hard to tell isn't it?"😉Once they got past the opening noodle they created a great sound. Cacophonous yet somehow simultaneously soothing. Overall, €25 well spent!