The Irish Blog Awards are on this weekend. Good luck to music category finalists State.ie, Jim Carroll, Nialler, Kevin & Darragh – each a site worthy of victory!
More sad news for Irish music this week, as the Delorentos announced that they’ll part ways after the release of their second album.
The Killers have been added to this year’s Oxegen festival lineup. We’d be tempted to go along to see Blur and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but not so much for Brandon Flowers & Co…
Jim Carroll hinted that this year’s Electric Picnic lineup is about about 80% complete, with one less stage than before. Expect an announcement soon.
Anvil: The Story of Anvil was shown in Dublin last night (after originally premiering in Galway last year). The documentary tells the story of the forgotten 80′s metal band’s continuing musical quest… It’s a great movie and recommended viewing for when it gets a proper release this Spring. Check out the trailer.
The Brits happened. U2′s performance of Dirty Boots was visually amazing (even if Bono looked like Satan)… wish we could say the same about the song.
Legendary Chicago-based indie label Touch & Go is in trouble. Downsizing will see the label relying on it’s back catalogue, but cutting staff and limiting future output.
The legal action against Swedish torrent portal ThePirateBay began during this week – charged with being responsible for the illegal downloads that are found via the site; it already looks like the prosecution are set to fail. Arr!
Gigs this weekend
Cork <3′s God Is An Astronaut who play 2 dates in Cyprus Avenue this weekend, tonight and tomorrow – €15, gigs start at 8:30 tonight, 9 tomorrow.
Slim pickings on the live front Leeside this week after a particularly good set of shows in the last week (missed Fight Like Apes but hope to have something on the Villagers and RSAG sets up soon), but Armoured Bear are amongst the artists contributing to a fundraiser night for The Irish Lebanon Project in The Pavilion on Wednesday. The night will also feature sets from John Spillane and Mick Flannery who have been announced as new acts for The Marquee this week…
…which brings me nicely onto the line-up launched for the series of shows in Cork this summer (seamless linking I tells ya). Joining Spillane & Flannery are Blondie, Simple Minds, Bell X1 (who have announced extra dates for Vicar St on April 8th & 9th), Crosby Stills & Nash, Anastacia and Des Bishop. Meh.
Bits & bobs
New gigs announced by Dan Deacon, Doves, Wire, and Dirty Projectors.
Last.fm users can get acquainted with this year’s Primavera Sound line up on this event radio.
Another great new Fever Ray video, this time for When I Grow Up:
