You may have heard that Ed Sheeran will be playing all four corners of Ireland next year with massive gigs in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Galway but if you're no fan of the red wonder boy a number of other acts have just announced Irish gigs too.
Metropolis Festival 2017
The RDS, October Bank Holiday Weekend (Saturday 28 and Sunday 29)
The first announcements have been made for Metropolis Festival 2017 and they are impressive. The two-dayer takes place in the RDS, Dublin with TLC (yes!), Richie Hawtin, Leftfield performing Leftism (double yes!), Jungle, Death In Vegas, Mount Kimbie, Bonzai, Dj Deece, Booka Brass Band already on the line-up and lots more to come. Weekend Tickets priced from €99.50 to €129.50 go on sale this Friday, June 30 at 9.00am. Take that, Ed!!!
Mark Lanegan
The Academy, Dublin, December 6
The former Screaming Trees frontman and sometime QOTSA member recently played support to Guns N’ Roses at Slane Castle and as his superb new album Gargoyle proves, he’s as gnarly and ornery as ever. No stranger to Ireland, former jailbird Lanegan is a survivor. Spawned from the same Seattle scene as Nirvana in the late eighties his career as a kind of gun for hire has seen him collaborate with a range of acts including PJ Harvey and Soulsavers. As anyone who’s seen Lanegan in action before will attest, his shows are loud, direct and singularly aggressive. Tickets priced €28.00 go on sale this Friday at 9.00am and support comes from Tenebrous Liar & Joe Cardamone.
The Horrors
Mandela Hall, Belfast, October 16, and The Tivoli, Dublin, October 17
With their birds nest Robert Smith hair and zombified wastrel image, ten years ago The Horrors were the bright young things of British pop. Their droning garage rock certainly owed a lot to numerous eighties trailblazers (JAMC et al) but they've expanded their sound considerably over the years to become a majestic and enigmatic band who always deliver live. Fresh from supporting Depeche Mode on recent dates (good match that), The Horrors return to Ireland to play two gigs this October, following the release of their fifth album, V, in September. Tickets priced €24.00 go on sale this Friday, June 30 at 9.00am.
Juanita Stein (Howling Bells)
Fred Zeppelin’s, Cork, October 4; Strange Brew @ Roisin Dubh, October 5, Galway; The Grand Social, October 6, Dublin; Kasbah Social Club, Limerick, October 7
Howling Bells frontman Juanita Stein releases her debut solo album later this year. It's called America and on it she sings honey-voiced country rock shot through with darkness. Sydney-born Stein says that the album is "somewhere beyond the pines of Twin Peaks at a crossroads where Badlands met Paris, Texas." Intriguing. Tickets priced €15.00 for her Irish tour go on sale this Friday at 9.00am.
The Amazons
Whelan's, Dublin, November 8
You’d be well-advised to catch this hotly-tipped British band in the intimate confines of Whelan’s; they’re destined to ascend to bigger venues very quickly. The Amazons are widescreen rockers with a big sound and an almost unerring talent for strong melodies who have built a very strong - and very young - following. They’ve just released their self-titled debut album. Tickets for the Whelan’s show are on sale now.
London Grammar
The Olympia, Dublin, November 1
You'll be able to hear pins drop and quiet sobbing in the gods when these young architects of designer melancholia play Dublin's Olympia in November. Their softly, softly trip hop balladeering hit a raw nerve with breakout hit Strong three years ago and they've just released their second album, Truth Is A Beautiful Thing. Tickets priced €40.00 go on sale this Friday at 9.00am.
Alan Corr @corralan
