The Diary
Friday May 1st
Messiah J and The Expert, The Academy
I used to work with The Expert from this pair, he’s a very nice guy but I was never really convinced about his band, which involves him dropping beats while Messiah J spits rhymes. Their continuing success over the last few years has proven me wrong and has seen them develop quite the following, and he clearly holds a grudge – I bumped into him about two weeks ago and he pretended not to recognise me.
Saturday May 2nd
Girls Aloud, The 02
…and then I jizzed in my pants.
The Airborne Toxic Event, The Ambassador
These guys are popping up everywhere. They tore up the stage during a residency on the David Letterman Show awhile back and have been gathering momentum ever since. If there’s still tickets left this could be worth checking out.
And then I watch you from afar, Whelan’s
Urgh, sounds creepy.
Thursday May 5th
Totally Wired, The Purty Kitchen, Temple Bar
I genuinely believe there isn’t a more fun pub-band in Dublin right now. They play classics and recent covers and the singer’s a brilliant impressionist, so on any given night you could get Professor Stephen Hawking singing Should I stay or should I go or Jim Carrey doing Sex on Fire.
Friday May 15th
Therapy?, The Academy
Apparently the ? comes from a printing error when they were putting together flyers for their first few gigs or something. By the looks of things, they’ve clearly adopted a similarly complacent attitude toward their music.
Sunday May 17th
The Jazz Globetrotters, The Purty Kitchen, Temple Bar
They deserve a mention for their name alone.
Monday May 25th
Rhydian Roberts, The Olympia
It’s disturbing that this cock from the X factor is actually making a living out of singing and stuff.
Tuesday May 26th
Boyzone, The 02
The poor souls who couldn’t get tickets for the Take That gig in Croke Park will be found here. MILF hunters will be found at the 02 entrance afterward.
Thursday May 28th
Laura Izibor, Tripod
She sings that ‘let the sunshine on your face’ song that’s on an ad at the moment. Be there to bask in the glow of her fifteen minutes.
Thursday May 28th – June 1st
Carlsberg Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, Kilkenny
‘5 days, 62 comedians, 86 shows’ runs the tagline for this, and it looks pretty good. The usual guys, Tiernan, Bishop, Byrne etc. rub shoulders with the likes of John Bishop and Dave Gorman in the stand up tents and there’s also film showings, the FA Cup final with Barry Murphy and Karl Spain and loads of other stuff going on around the city over the weekend. The only drawback of this festival is that it perhaps lacks one big stand out name – for example Janeane Garofalo headlines this years Melbourne Comedy Festival which features the majority of the acts you’ll find in Kilkenny – but it’s definitely still worth heading down. If you are, I’d recommend Rich Hall/Otis Lee Crenshaw and David O’Doherty.
June
Thursday June 4th
Manic Street Preachers, The Olympia
Ten years past their prime, the Manics still pack a punch, particularly in mid-sized venues like this. The quality of this gig will hinge on whether or not their new album’s any use as they’ll be playing it from start to finish before moving on to the hits.
Friday June 12th
Def Leppard, Journey, Whitesnake, The 02
Seriously, need I say more?
Saturday June 13th
Take That, Croke Park
As part of their sold out ‘In your face, Robbie, you **** tour’, the lads continue to show the rest of the pretenders how it’s supposed to be done.
Sunday June 14th
Anvil, The Academy
The stars of the excellent documentary, ‘Anvil, The Story of Anvil’ – winner of the Audience Award at the Dublin Film Festival – come to Dublin to get the greasy long-hairs moshing.
Wednesday June 17th
Phil Ware / Damien Evans Trio, Le Basement
But there’s only two of them?
Robert Hogan
Originally published in the Ashville Times