Doors open at 6pm
Villagers: 6.30pm-7.15pm
Camera Obscura 7.45pm-8.30pm
Midlake: 9pm-10.15pm
Grizzly Bear: 10.45pm-midnight

Unassuming as ever, Conor O’Brien, ably backed with a full band ran through a setlist mostly comprised of tracks from his then soon-to-be Number 1 album ‘Becoming A Jackal,’ deviating from the Villagers debut only to play Down, Under The Sea – a reminder, if one was needed of the abundance of other quality, well crafted tunes at O’Brien’s disposal. The performances are both intimate, suiting the setting, and forceful, pushing the venue to its limits in the best way possible.

Villagers have now played Cyprus Avenue a few times, the Indie-Pendence festival and are due to play the Marquee this summer as support for Grizzly Bear. Demand for the group here in Cork will not diminish anytime soon, and it remains to be seen if intimate venues such as Cyprus Avenue will be able to host Villagers as they continue to rise.

Setlist:

• The Meaning of The Ritual
• Home
• Becoming A Jackal
• That Day
• Pieces
• To Be Counted Among Them
• The Pact (I’ll Be Your Fever)
• I Saw The Dead
• Down, Under The Sea
• Ship of Promises

Jape, Reverend & The Makers, The Coronas, The Chapters, Delorentos, The Riptide Movement, Adebisi Shank, Codes, FRED, Fish Go Deep, Disconauts, Ghostcat, The Funeral Suits, Yes Cadets, O Emperor, Hoarsebox, The Vital Spark.

Organisers are still in “advanced negotiations with two international acts” for headliners.

The mud and accommodation issues experienced by last year’s otherwise excellent weekend will hopefully be sorted as the festival moves to a new 5,000 capacity site. The Main stage is a 3,500 enclosed permanent structure, while stages 2 and 3 are 800 capacity tents, and a smaller ‘village’ tent set up, with a 2 minute walk to the dedicated on site camping area.

Anyway – the real deal is Grizzly Bear, Midlake, Camera Obscura and Villagers will play d’Marquee on Friday June 25. Tickets are great value at €35 and go on sale this Friday, March 19 at 9am.

The whole shindig is a part of a new joint venture between Aiken Promotions and notes a rare foray into the Peoples Republic for Foggy Notions.

Promoters will see how ‘Harmonic’ goes with a view to growing the brand.

Interestingly the press release notes that this will be Grizzly Bear’s only Irish date of 2010, so no Electric Picnic for them this year.

For full details on what is without doubt the best line up ever hosted at the Marquee, go to www.harmonic.ie from 10am tomorrow, Tuesday March 16.

Their sleepy but raw atmospheric sound will appeal to fans of Owen Pallett (who has collaborated with the group in the past), and their three LPs prior to this year’s ‘Become Secret’ are all available on Spotify.

Their music typically centres around strings and sparse guitar work set to low tempo cymbal-rich drumming paving way to Liz Hysen lamenting vocals.

Picastro – Pig & Sucker

The live one-two of Picastro and Adrian Crowley is one I’ll be hoping to catch. The gigs are on in Whelan’s on March 26, on Sherkin Island off the coast of Cork in the Jolly Roger on the 27th and an appearance in the Crane Lane Theatre in Cork city on the 28th.

*tumbleweed*

Anyway, Madness are the latest act to be announced for the Marquee in Cork. The ska act will play on Friday July 9 (also the first night of Oxegen), ticket details yet to be announced.

More acts due to be announced for Primavera Sound today too.

The boys followed a show stealing set at Electric Picnic and followed it up with two gigs in Cork on the Jazz Weekend.

As a contributor to the Evening Echo and cluas.com, author Mark McAvoy is well positioned to write an account of the progression of rock music in ‘the Real Capital’ over the last few decades. However, to describe it as a linear account, a straight laced history, would be unfair to a book that manages to be both parochial and national, informative and engaging.

Where Cork Rock succeeds as a book you could recommend to a music fan from Fermoy or Fermanagh is in McAvoy’s ability to tell a local story that reflects a larger trend.

Through first hand accounts from Cork musicians, fans and other figures, Cork Rocks ably frames the stories of artists and bands such as Rory Gallagher, Microdisney, Stump, The Frank and Walters and the Sultans of Ping within a wider context.

For Corkonians this book offers the familiarity and nostalgia of home, but goes beyond that in skilfully telling the story of culture and counterculture, from showband to grunge, over the course of the last four decades in a way that will interest any music fan.

It is a commendable book in its detail but more so for how McAvoy presents a subject he clearly loves. This labour of love is highly recommended for the music mad feen or beor.

As I publish this post, I am sure that by now everyone is aware that that Plugd, Cork’s last independent record store, is to close on New Year’s Eve.

The sadness that meets Plugd’s demise has already been brilliantly articulated by Sweet Oblivion, and the Peoples Republic of Cork Thread where the news broke, so I wont rehash what has already been said. I want to take this opportunity, however, to wish Jim and Albert the very best in future and thank them for all their help. I wasn’t one of the ‘known’ regulars in Plugd, but I rarely passed Grand Parade without popping round the corner, and the two lads were always sound and helpful.

Much fanfare has greeted the opening of the Opera Lane shopping centre in Cork recently. Many seem thrilled to greet the influx of American, Swedish and British High Street stores to Faulkner’s (oops, I mean ‘Opera’) Lane, but it is a worrying trend. Cork is in a state of flux at the moment. We have lost our home grown record store, our Kino, and our football club is hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

Support for indigenous culture, sport and business is at an all time low in Cork. Perhaps the emergence of the Christmas market on Grand Parade will give people hope that we can carve a niche of our own, and maybe in future another book on Cork culture will tell the story of how a strong indigenous culture will grow in the face of homogeny.

Time will tell.

As with Guesslist’s company on the night, many present were curious onlookers availing of a free promotional ticket rather than devoted fans. That said, throughout the night it is impossible to ignore the grouping at the front, armed raised to the skies, screaming every word of most songs back to lead singer Harry McVeigh, who is suffering a major dose of the Brandon Flowers.

Wearing a white shirt in contrast with his band mates co-ordinated somber black, McVeigh can sing, but boy does he know it. Swaggering across the small stage, pumping his fist at every opportunity, the lead man epitomises White Lies’ stage show – lots of style, faultless on effort, but lacking a lot of substance.

Bar an impressive opening with gusto, and a thumping finale of – you guessed it – Death, there is little to this show that suggests that White Lies are little more than a poor man’s Killers (which is saying something) with Joy Division/Interpol aspirations.

In fact, in writing this review Guesslist is scratching his head trying to pull anything memorable from the middle section of the show.

Leaving the Opera House (a great venue where more gigs need to be played) we assess contrasting opinions.

Speaking to a seasoned and well known Cork gig goer the consensus was ‘they play their good songs well and…y’know’ before the train of thought trails off out of politeness. If you can’t say anything nice…

However, queuing for my jacket the frighteningly young looking guy behind me raves about the ‘gig of the year’ hampered only by the fact that ‘it was so obvious that people here aren’t fans and just wanted a free ticket.’

While drinks companies will pump money into funding these events (and how much longer will this sort of brand promotion continue?) the motivation for a band like White Lies shouldn’t just be their fee or fans. These are exactly the opportunities break through bands should use to win over those ‘who just want a free ticket.’

Despite the act’s genuine effort, those availing of the freebies won’t have been converted by what was on show tonight.