'An infrequent conversation between fans of music, some of it long-lost’
As a college student in Cork between 1985 and 1989, The Triskel Arts Centre was where I believed some of the more off-beat cultural stuff in the city was going down. Located in an alleyway off of the junction of Washington Street and The Grand Parade, it was a bespoke venue that was certainly on... Continue Reading →
Stargazing In the Sunday Tribune, of December 29th, 1996, I looked ahead to the year in rock and pop music and, in a side-bar column, made a series of predictions. We’ll post up the body of the piece shortly – which basically pitched U2’s then still gestating ‘Pop' album against all-comers - but, in the... Continue Reading →
As I recently re-watched The Divine Comedy’s terrific 2004 show, recorded live at London’s Palladium Theatre, my mind was cast way back to another far more intimate but no less powerful encounter with Neil Hannon. I had been aware of The Divine Comedy from the get go. My friend, Keith Cullen, had issued their 1990... Continue Reading →
Strange as it sounds now but there was a time when The Cranberries were easily the most remarkable young band in Ireland having emerged, quite literally, from out of nowhere. Theirs is of course a well-worn and hoary old story, albeit one pock-marked with crudely-formed testimonials and urban myths. This is something I’ll return to... Continue Reading →
 A week or so before The Pogues headlined the closing night of the FĂ©ile festival  in Thurles in August, 1991, I saw them play live in one of their regular and most boisterous U.K. haunts, The Brixton Academy in South London. They’d car-crashed through a chaotic tour the previous year in support of the ‘Hell’s Ditch’ album and concerns had increased for the well-being of the group’s singer, Shane MacGowan, and indeed for the group itself.  Like half of... Continue Reading →
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