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Live Review: Frankie Cocozza – The Academy 2, Dublin
When Gary Barlow made the seemingly bewildering choice to put skunk-headed Frankie Cocozza into The X Factor the jig was finally up. Here was a boy that looked like a sore that had fallen off Pete Doherty and mutated like a fungus into a fully-grown human being paraded around…
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Live Review: Girls Aloud – The 02, Dublin
We seem to have gotten used to the idea of ‘reunions’ now. The cash-ins and fake smiles, the backstage bloodbaths, the aching dead-eyed misery etched into familiar faces as they canter once more round the circuit begging to be adored, desperately trying to invoke that sliver of genius that…
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Live Review: Sparks – The Button Factory, Dublin
Distilling the very essence of what makes Sparks the pop in everyone’s champagne bottle is a difficult thing. Is it the shark smile of their lyrics? The wry smirk of a frustrated man thwarted. Is it the seemingly never-ending supply of uniquely crafted intense musical melodramas? Is it the…
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Live Review: Cheryl – The 02, Dublin
Cheryl is the all dominating Queen of Normal. No weird meat dresses or arch high camp nonsense for our chocolate button eyed lovely. She is from the school of pop that did road shows and silly interviews not political addresses and front row fashion. She’d rather have a nice sit…
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Live Review: Rufus Wainwright – The Iveagh Gardens, Dublin
“Next time I think I’ll call my album Adele ‘cause that’s the only way it’ll sell.” The trouble in the music mill has finally reached Rufus Wainwright’s bank balance. He does a fine line in emotional blackmail, warning the crowd that this could be their last opportunity to hear…
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Live Review: Roxette – The 02, Dublin
“Hello! You fool, I love you!’ and with that frankly confusing message Roxette managed to ram-raid their way into our hearts. They had a thing about cars, did Roxette: Joyride, Sleeping in my Car, Crash, Boom, Bang all piling up on the highway of disposable pop like a JG…
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Live Review: The Lemonheads – The Academy, Dublin
Samantha Brick, you think you’ve got it bad eh? PAH. Try being Evan Dando. This is a man that has spent the past 20 years being vilified for being ridiculously good looking. At the time of grunge, self loathing and skag, the music press balked at the idea that any…
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Live Review: Janet Jackson – Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin
Since Beyoncé shimmied her shiny legs up and down the stage at Glastonbury there has been a worrying rustle throughout broadsheet land and the chatter of music elitists alike: is pop now ‘legitimate’? Is it okay to snack on the silly fluff in between your guitar/keyboard-crunching meals? It’s this terrifyingly…
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Live Review: Suede- The Olympia, Dublin
Sandwiched between the hysteric glamour of their debut and the breezy listening of Coming Up is the dark core of Suede. Dog Man Star arrived as the unwelcomed antithesis of the London Fields brandishing barrow boys squealing about their nights of oikish debauchery. It was a telescope on a bitter…
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Live Review: Manic Street Preachers- The Olympia, Dublin
Would the Manics of old have charged the stage on a night like this, with Garda helicopters buzzing overhead to the strains of Repeat? Probably. If they tried it in Bangkok with Nicky Wire doing scissor kicks dressed like a cracked-up Hilda Ogden in front of armed Thai guards…
