Setlist: Rod Stewart, O2 Dublin, 12 May 2010

The main man Rod Stewart stopped off in Dublin as part of his latest greatest hits and covers tour. Here's what he gave his legion of fans at the O2... (the songs aren't in the right order, so if anyone could correct this, that'd be great)

Setlist:
Some Guys Have All the Luck
It's a Heartache
This Old Heart of Mine
First Cut Is the Deepest
Havin' a Party
Sweet Little Rock & Roller
Rhythm of My Heart
Downtown Train
Tonight's the Night
You're in My Heart
Twistin' the Night Away
Do ya' think I'm sexy?
Forever Young
Proud Mary
Have I Told You Lately
Love Train
Hot legs
Young Turks
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Sailing
Maggie Mae

Watch 'Rhythm of My Heart':

Live: Dave Rawlings Machine at Belfast Open House Festival

Great news alt-country fans, the Dave Rawlings Machine are to make their Irish debut at the Open House Festival in Belfast on September 11th as part of the excellent Open House Festival. Tickets are £20 (no booking fees or extras) and are on sale now at the website below.

Support on the night comes from Old Crow Medicine Show. Oh, and today £20 = €23.27. Other acts set to appear at the festival include Seasick Steve, Wilco, the Felice Brothers, and Field Music.

Tickets/More info:
http://openhousefestival.com/

Watch Dave Rawlings Machine 'To Be Young':

Live: State.ie vs Richter Collective at the Mercantile

You know what the recession has been good for? Free gigs. You know what else is really great? State.ie. These days it's head and shoulders above Hot Press when it comes to music news, interviews, reviews, and insights. Great news is that they've teamed up with the Richter Collective to put on a free gig in the Mercantile (O'Brien's Bar) on Dame Street in Dublin tomorrow (Friday) night. It starts at 8.30, oh, and did I say, free in!

The three excellent bands playing on the night are:
Jogging
We Cut Corners
Enemies

It's going to be mega!

Watch We Cut Corners 'Go Easy':

Live: Herm at Whelan's

The brainchild of Kevin Connolly, the wonderfully eccentric Herm will be launching their new single 'Rearrange' at Whelan's in Dublin on Saturday, 22nd of May. There promises to be some special guests present on the night, so I'm really looking forward to it. Tickets cost just €8, and the gig starts at 8.30.

Herm recently remixed Talula Does the Hula's single 'Bad Boyfriend', and you can have a listen to it here:


While you're at it, have a look at Kevin's brilliant tour diary of when Herm visited London:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=205702307&blogId=532711916

Album News: Brandon Flowers - Flamingo

While I'm not the biggest Killers fan (I thought they were awful when they played Oxegen a few years back - the year before the headlined it, I think), I can appreciate the music they make and Brandon Flowers' swagger as a frontman. Thus my ears pricked up a little when I heard news of his debut solo album. The biggest selling point for me though is the fact that it's being produced by legendary Daniel Lanois (who worked on some of U2's finest records as well as having an impressive if underrated solo career). Pop producer Brendan O'Brian is also on board, so it should be a great pop-rock record.

Confirmed Tracks (not even a quarter of a Tracklist):
Hard Enough
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

In the new issue of NME Magazine, Flowers gives an in-depth interview about the upcoming solo album, and how he wished it was a Killers record. Have a full read of the article by clicking on the picture below...

Live: Jens Lekman at Whelan's

I saw Jens Lekman in Whelan's about two or three years back, when he was on tour promoting Night Falls Over Kortedela. It was a decent show, but nothing amazing. He was only accompanied by one band member, so hopefully this time he'll have a full backing band.

He'll be returning to the Wexford Street venue on Sunday, August 1st. Tickets cost €17.50 and are on sale now.

Watch Jens Lekman - 'A Little Lost' live in Whelan's:

Live: Cork XSW 2010

Fantastic lineup for this year's CorkXSW (based on the US SXSW), which takes place Saturday 31st of July in Skibberean, Co. Cork. So far ten acts have been confirmed, but there's sure to be more added to the lineup. It features some fantastic acts, both from here and abroad. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Martha Wainwright, Mick Flannery, heck, all the acts on the bill are worth checking out.

Lineup:
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT
BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY
THE FRANK AND WALTERS
JOHN SPILLANE
MICK FLANNERY
HOTHOUSE FLOWERS
LUKA BLOOM
INTERFERENCE
JINX LENNON
FUTURE TRAD COLLECTIVE

Tickets are on sale now at a price of €55.

More info:
http://www.corkxsw.com/

Watch: The Divine Comedy - At the Indie Disco

The Divine Comedy's tenth album (yes, ten, impressive eh?) Bang Goes the Knighthood will be released on May 31st, and is sure to be every bit as good as their past attempts, especially if lead single 'At the Indie Disco' is anything to go by. Watch the video for it below.

Tracklist:
1. "Down In The Street Below"
2. "The Complete Banker"
3. "Neapolitan Girl"
4. "Bang Goes The Knighthood"
5. "At The Indie Disco"
6. "Have You Ever Been in Love"
7. "Assume the Perpendicular"
8. "The Lost Art of Conversation"
9. "Island Life"
10. "When a Man Cries"
11. "Can You Stand Upon One Leg"
12. "I Like"


Watch The Divine Comedy 'At the Indie Disco':

Live: Ham Sandwich at Whelan's

A great homegrown gig this Saturday night sees Ham Sandwich play tunes from their new album including their fantastic single 'The Naturist'. The single is due out this Friday, the 14th, with the gig taking place on the 15th. The album itself hasn't gotten an official release date, but is called Natural Causes. Have a listen to 'The Naturist' below.

Tickets are €16, and are on sale now.

Live: The New Breed Launch Party at Tower Records

Tower Records is often host to a lot of great intimate gigs, many of which cost nothing at all to attend. One such one is this Friday's (rescheduled) launch of the excellent new compilation album The New Breed. Attending and playing the launch party at Tower Records this Friday, from 5 p.m. will be Ham Sandwich, The Minutes, The Ambience Affair, and Dark Room Notes. Each band is due to play three or four songs, so it's sure to be fantastic.

Here's a reminder of the tracklist for The New Breed:
DISC ONE
Two Door Cinema Club I Can Talk
CODES This is Goodbye
Dark Room Notes Love Like Nicotine
Messiah J and The Expert Turn The Magic On
Oliver Cole What will you do?
The Blizzards Fantasy
Fred Running
The Laundry Shop Highs and Lows
Delorentos S.E.C.R.E.T
Ham Sandwich St. Christopher
Republic of Loose Comeback Girl
Mick Flannery Tomorrows Paper
The Chapters Videotapes
The Minutes Ukraine
The Urges The Urges Theme
The Revellions Ain't no Fool
Crayonsmith Lost In The Forest
The Jimmy Cake Jettas Palace
Declan O'Rourke Galileo
Julie Feeney Myth
Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club Back To Before

DISC TWO
Le Galaxie We Bleed The Blood Of Androids
The Ambience Affair Devil In the Detail
Cathy Davey Moving
Halves Medals
Subplots Poltis
Halfset Work
Stellarsound Ft Paula Flynn Lets Dance
Roisin Murphy Overpowered
Patrick Kelleher Coat To Wear
Vyvienne Long They’re Not Waving
Lisa Hannigan Lille
Rarely Seen Above Ground Stick To Your Line
And So I Watch You From Afar These Riots Are Just the Beginning
BATS Credulous! Credulous!
Adebisi Shank You Me
Heathers Remember When
David Kitt It's Yours
Valerie Francis Slow Dynamo
The Coronas Grace Don’t Wait

Live: Jesse Malin at the Academy

Ryan Adam's protege (and fellow member of faux-punk band The Finger) Jesse Malin is to return to Dublin to play the Academy on US Independence Day, the 4th of July.

I saw Malin a few years ago at Witnness (I'm nearly sure it was the year before it became Oxegen) and he's a fantastic live performer. At that time he had only released his debut album, the excellent Fine Art of Self-Destruction, but since then he's worked with Bruce Springsteen, and has just released his new full-length Love It To Life with his backing band the Saint Marks Social.

Tickets for the Academy gig are €19 and are on sale now.

Watch 'Broken Radio' (ft. Bruce Spingsteen):

Album News: Fast Forward - An Indie Music Compilation to World Cup 2010

This is perhaps one of the best ideas I've seen in a very long time. It's a collection of 32 songs - one for each team - about the World Cup, featuring some of Ireland's finest artists. Well it's about as close as we're going to get to the World Cup, especially when you look at the French tune, 'Irlande' from the Very Most. Some of the highlights for me have to be Grand Pocket Orchestra, Pearse McLoughlin, Hunter-Gatherer, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

There's some wonderful tunes on here, and it's an album you'll keep coming back to. You can stream it in full over at Indiecater Records' website, or else buy the whole damn thing for €5. A measly €5 for 32 songs!

1) Cop On The Edge - Bafana Bafana (RSA)
2) Standard Fare - Vaya Vaya México! (MEX)
3) Showstar - Uruguay! (URU)
4) The Very Most - Irlande (FRA)
5) The Dirty 9s - Ballad of El Diego (ARG)
6) Grand Pocket Orchestra - Nigeria (NGA)
7) Pearse McLoughlin - Jongmyo Shrine (KOR)
8) At Last An Atlas - The Pirate Ship (GRE)
9) Detox Cute - St George's Day (ENG)
10) Echo Orbiter - Game Without A Name (USA)
11) Boca Chica - Wildlife of Algeria (ALG)
12) Lightholler - Slovenia's Dream (SVN)
13) Betty and the Cavalero - Meet Me At The Red Light (GER)
14) Sleep Good - Australia (AUS)
15) Hunter-Gatherer - Serbia (SRB)
16) The Invisible Clock Factory - We Are The Black Stars (GHA)
17) Burning Codes - Wooded Land (NED)
18) Cleemann - Princes of Denmark (DEN)
19) Goatboy - Japanese City Nights (JPN)
20) Spirit Spine - Field Way (Song For Cameroon) (CMR)
21) Le Man Avec Les Lunettes - Don't Get Fooled By The Football
Players' Summery Outfit (ITA)
22) Harry Bird - Pesadilla No.7 (PAR)
23) Adam & Darcie - Aotearoa (NZL)
24) Escape Act - Slovakia (SVK)
25) Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Back To You (BRA)
26) Francis Bacon's Ghost - Kim Jung II (PRK)
27) Storkboy Choons - Côte d'Ivoire (CIV)
28) Tap Tap - Dry Dry Land (POR)
29) The Yellow Melodies - Vamos A Ganar El Mundial (ESP)
30) Candy Claws - Alp Sway Snow Team (SUI)
31) My Brother Woody - Carlos Dreams of World Cup Glory (HON)
32) Manwomanchild - Chile La Roja (CHI)

Sample:
Le Man Avec Les Lunettes - Don't Get Fooled By The Football
Players' Summery Outfit (ITA)

More info/Buy:
http://www.indiecater.com/fast-forward-an-indie-music-companion-to-south-africa-2010/

Live: Gorillaz at the O2

Damon Albarn and his band of merry men (Blur) headlined Oxegen last year, but his new thieves (you'd know Robin Hood is out this weekend with all my merry men references?), Gorillaz are set to appear at Dublin's O2 on Wednesday, 22nd of September as part of their Escape to Plastic Beach tour. It'll be their first ever Irish gig, and is sure to sell out pretty damn fast.

Tickets will cost €59.80, and go on sale Friday, 21st of May at 9 a.m. Good luck trying to get one before they sell out!

Watch Gorillaz 'Superfast Jellyfish' live:

Setlist: Fiach, Grand Canal Theatre, 8 May 2010

Upcoming Irish singer-songwriter Fiach is supporting Ray Davies (of the Kinks) at the moment, and was on stage before the great man in both Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre and Belfast's Waterfront. It was a fantastic show by all accounts, and the younger man won over many new fans. Here's the setlist from the Grand Canal Theatre show on Saturday night.

Setlist:
We at swim
Letting Go
So I
Us Folk
You Dear
Freedom and Resistance
Damp
Married to Music