The excellent Tom Tom Club play Dublin’s Vicar Street on Friday night (support is from Tieranniesaur, whose fine debut album is a thing of great funky beauty) and we have FIVE pairs of tickets to give away. To win, simply leave your details below (you can make a smart remark if you want) and I’ll pick five names at random tomorrow.
The Vaselines play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on Thursday night and we’ve THREE pairs of tickets to give away to the show.
The band also play Whelan’s, Dublin (tonight), Cyprus Avenue, Cork (tomorrow) and Black Box, Belfast (Friday).
I’m DJ-ing at Strange Brew after the Galway show with Gugai so to win one of those pairs of tickets, simply tell us what tune you want us to play at Strange Brew and why. We’ll pick three winners tomorrow morning.
If you can’t make it along to Strange Brew on Thursday night, make a date in your diary for the Strange Brew Summer Shindig on July 28 with live sets from Le Galaxie, Lost Chord, Daithi, We Are Losers, So Cow, Jogging, Funeral Suits, Go Panda Go, Sleep Thieves and Elaine Mai. The Shindig will also feature Gugai on the decks afterwards, loads of sweets and more music in the Acoustic Room upstairs. Admission to this extravaganza at the Roisin Dubh? Zilch, nada, zero, absolutely free. Bargaintown.
It’s Bruce time again, folks. “The Promise: The Making of Darkness On The Edge Of Town” is a documentary by Thom Zimny about the making of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s fourth album “Darkness On The Edge Of Town”.
You will be able get your hands on the documentary as part of a lavish box-set “The Promise: The Darkness On the Edge of Town Story” which goes on release on November 12. The box-set will include 21 previously unreleased songs, rare studio and live footage, a copy of the documentary film and a copy of Springsteen’s 80 page notebook of handwritten lyrics. There will also be a 2-CD set called “The Promise” with the previously unreleased tracks.
However, for those who want to see the documentary on the big screen, Sony Music Ireland are hosting a screening next Tuesday (November 9) at the Lighthouse Cinema (Smithfield, Dublin 7) at 6.30pm. Thanks to Sony, we have FIVE sets of tickets to give away for the screening.
To win a pair, simply tell us what’s your favourite Springsteen song and why. Competition is open until tomorrow morning and I’ll announce the winners then.
UPDATE: due to the HUGE response to the competition – and the fact that entries are still coming in – I’m going to keep it open until 2pm. Keep the entries coming and I’ll announce the winners this afternoon. Thanks to everyone for entering so far!
Strange Brew is the club night which rules the roost in Galway every Thursday at the Roisin Dubh with the mighty Gugai at the controls. It recently celebrated 400 Strange Brews and there are still people walking around the city with the “temporary” tattoos to prove it.
On Sunday next, the show moves to The Workman’s Club in Dublin for (deep breath) the Strange Brew Super Scary Hallowe’en Hootenanny. This will feature live sets from Le Galaxie, Not Squares, Lost Chord and Daithi Ó Drónaí, followed by Gugai on the decks with future alternative anthems and classic indie hits. Doors open at 8pm and tickets are a tenner at the door.
However, OTR has TWO pairs of tickets to give away to the Hootenanny. If you want to go, let us know in the comments’ field below and we’ll pick two winners at random in the morning.
Tomorrow (October 8), Antony & The Johnsons release their fourth album “Swanlights”.
Aside from the album (which is a very fine piece of work), Antony has also just published a very lavish art book also called “Swanlights”. The book, Anto’s debut collection of visual art, contains “thought-provoking dreamscapes composed of paintings, drawings, photogra phy, collage, song lyrics, and writings.” It also has a copy of the album tucked into the back.
Thanks to our chums at PIAS Ireland, we have ONE copy of this book to give away. To be in with a chance to win, simply tell us what song you’d like to hear Anto & The Johnsons covering and why. Competition open until nine bells tomorrow morning (Friday
It’s on, folks. Next Sunday (October 10), Foggy Jam .01 will take over Whelan’s (Wexford St., Dublin 2) with an all-star cast of acts including No Age, Male Bonding, Mice Parade, Silje Nes Squarehead, Hipster Youth and, of course “very special guests”.
It’s an all-day extravaganza with doors opening at 4pm and YOU and your pal could be there.
Thanks to organisers Foggy Notions, we have TWO pairs of tickets to give away. To win, simply tell us what’s your favourite jam or why. Gooseberry, raspberry, rhubarb and ginger, something from Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” – we’re all ears. Keep ‘em coming all day and I’ll announce the winners around 6pm.
Silje Nes “The Card House”
Squarehead “Fake Blood”
Male Bonding “Franklin”
It turns out that the PVT show at The Workman’s Club in Dublin on Thursday September 9 will be the first gig at the new venue. Yes, we know the venue is already open for drinking and there was a launch last night, but the On The Record Presents with the mighty PVT will be the first actual proper gig at the venue.
(Speaking of launches, is there an actual point to these stupid things? OTR has long been a DDL dude – don’t do launches – because they’re a complete and utter waste of time. Anyway, back on topic)
We have FIVE pairs of tickets to give away to the show. If you’d like to come along, holler at me in the comments and I’ll select names at random in the morning. If you’re not in, you can’t win. Thanks to Karl at the Workman’s Club for the tickets.
Stand & Deliver is a new RTE stand-up comedy show which will be recorded live in Galway’s Roisin Dubh next week.
The show, which will be broadcast throughout November and December, will feature the following comedians making you laugh in the venue next week:
Thursday September 2: Jason Byrne, Sarah Millican, Carl Barron, Jarlath Regan and John Colleary & MC Joe Rooney
Friday September 3: Stewart Lee, Reginald D Hunter, Glenn Wool, Gearoid Farrelly and Eleanor Tiernan & MC Kevin Gildea
We have FIVE sets of tickets to give away to EACH recording – if you want a pair, let us know in the comments field below which night you want to go to (Thursday or Friday) and we’ll select the names at random in the morning. Thanks to Gugai and crew at the Roisin Dubh for this.
One Summer’s Eve takes place in Dublin’s Meeting House Square next Saturday. This Choice Cuts joint will feature live sets from Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the North Strand Kontra Band, Brian Deady and DJ Sets from Tu-ki, B+ and Handsome Paddy. OTR has THREE pairs of tickets to give away – if you want a pair, let us know in the comments field below and we’ll select three names at random in the morning.
UPDATE: because of the volume of entries, Choice Cuts have now given us FIVE pairs of tickets to give away so thanks to them for that
(Giveaway now closed)
Tomorrow evening (Thursday), Today FM’s Paul McLoone Show will be coming live from Galway’s Roisin Dubh and will feature performances from O Emperor, The Ambience Affair and The Minutes. Thanks to Gugai at the Roisin, we have FIVE pairs of tickets to give away to the first five people to get back to us in the comments field below and say they’d like to go.
Harmonic takes places at Live at the Marquee, Cork on Friday week, June 25, and will feature live sets from Grizzly Bear (their only Irish show of 2010), Midlake, Camera Obscura and Villagers. It is, you will agree, one hell of a tasty bill.
Thanks to our pals at Foggy Notions, we have THREE pairs of tickets to give away for the show.
To win, simply tell us below what’s the best thing you’ve heard in 2010 to date. As easy as that. You can, of course, just list an album or a tune, but a few lines telling us why the album or tune rocks your world would be nice. Anyone who mentions the vuvuzela will be immediately disqualified. Competition runs until noon on Thursday.
Meanwhile, here’s Conor O’Brien from Villagers performing album standout “Home”.
There has been a huge reaction – good and bad – to The Duckworth Lewis Method’s alteranthem “Ireland, Ireland!” which was unveiled by The Irish Times during the week. Many people snarked that they could do better so here goes….
The Irish Times wants people to write and record their alternative national anthems. The song can be in any genre under the sun and should be no more than 90 seconds in length.
A judging panel, including the Duckworth Lewis Method’s Thomas Walsh and The Irish Times’ Shane Hegarty, will listen to all entries (the poor feckers) and pick a winner.
The prize is a pair of Electric Picnic tickets, €500 spending money, a recording session at Beechpark Studios in Co Dublin and a slot on The Ray Darcy Show on Today FM. A selection of the best and more interesting entries will also be played on the show and will be available on irishtimes.com
Entries, which don’t have to studio quality and should not be bigger than 10mb, should be emailed to anthem@irishtimes.com. The closing date is midnight on Sunday April 4 and there’s more information here.
Go on, unleash your inner Phil Coulter. You know you want to.
Panda Bear is coming to Dublin’s Vicar Street on March 12 and, thanks to our pals at Foggy Notions, some lucky OTR readers will be going along to the show for free.
While Noah Lennox AKA Panda Bear has played in Ireland many times already as a member of Animal Collective, this is his debut Irish performance – those Panda Bear songs he did in the middle of the AC show at Tripod a few years ago when Avey Tare was sick don’t count. You will probably hear tunes from the next album, the follow-up to the much acclaimed “Person Pitch”, at the show. Support comes from Kurt Vile and Angkorwat. Tickets are now on sale at €24 each.
However, OTR has THREE pairs of tickets to give away to the show. To win, simply tell us what’s your favourite animal and why. The funnier the answer, the better. Competition will run until noon tomorrow. Entries open to everyone except employees of Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Choice Music Prize shortlist for Irish Album of the Year 2009 will be revealed and fun and games will then ensue.
In an attempt to outdo last year’s lavish launch (the one which was voted Launch of the Decade by readers of VIP Magazine), this year’s announcement will feature 10 celebrities each revealing one of the 10 acts on this year’s shortlist. Inbetween each announcement, a 10,000 strong children’s choir will sing selections from each nominated album, doves will be released from large boxes and there will also be fireworks left over from Hallowe’en. Celebrities who are currently thought to be freeing up their schedules for this year’s launch, which will be held on the building site in Dublin’s docklands where Anglo Irish Bank were supposed to have their HQ, include Tiger Woods, some of the kids from Fame, Jedward, Jon Bon Jovi, Nelson Mandela, Mariah Carey and Iris Robinson. This launch will take place regardless of what the weather is like. (*)
But why wait until Wednesday? In a feat of generosity not seen since last year, On The Record will give €100 of his own cash to anyone who can predict the 10 albums on the shortlist. Yep, the prize which no-one won last year is back. Due to the recession, it has not increased. But hey, it’s still €100.
Here is your chance to see if your own musical smarts match those of our 12 expert judges. Can you come up with the same Choice Music Prize shortlist as our 12 esteemed judges?
The rules are simple. You can enter once and once only. Entries will be accepted up to 11am on Tuesday. Anyone who makes a smart remark which is not judged by me to be funny will be disqualified. Anyone who mentions the Hardy Bucks will also be disqualified. Members of the Green Party are not allowed enter because they should be out clearing the snow/slush/ice. I mean, they caused it.
Declaration of interest: I’m the co-founder of this yoke and am also the non-voting chairman of the judging panel.
(* Real announcement will be made on Wednesday at 3pm on Today FM and on the official Choice Music Prize website)
As previously noted, the Homelights festival will take place at Dublin’s Whelan’s from November 27 to 30.
Curated by Adrian Crowley and Foggy Notions, it will feature a ton of performers including Vashti Bunyan, James Yorkston, Adem, Andy Irvine, Minotaur Shock, Lord Cut-Glass , Dosh, AC himself and many more.
Limited weekend tickets at €45 a pop are available here.
Thanks to Foggy Notions, we have a pair of weekend tickets to give away. Simply tell us what’s your favourite folk album of all time and why in the comments fields below and we’ll pick one winner from the entries. Competition closes at 9.55pm on Wednesday.
Every website and blog out there throws a few aul’ tickets to their readers to keep them quiet, but OTR likes to hold its fire on the ticket giveaway front until we actually have something worth crowing about.
OK, blow those trumpets and bang those drums…
Thanks to our pals at Foggy Notions, one lucky OTR reader will get a pair of tickets to ALL of the following Foggy shows in Dublin in the coming months
DEERHUNTER (Whelan’s, August 23)
FUTURE ISLANDS (Whelan’s Upstairs, September 9)
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH (Whelan’s, September 11 – support from the excellent Valerie Francis)
DIRTY PROJECTORS (Whelan’s, September 16 – support from new OTR faves and uppercase/lowercase fiends tUnE-YaRdS)
DAVID KITT (Whelan’s, September 18 – support from Fat Cat’s new French connection Get Back Guinozzi)
TIMES NEW VIKING (Whelan’s, September 19 – support from Lovvers)
WILLIAM ELLIOTT WHITMORE (Whelan’s, September 20)
NODZZZ (Whelan’s, September 25 – support from Tuam warrior and Pitchfork fave So Cow)
KING KHAN & THE SHRINES (Whelan’s, October 7 – support from Jack Of Heart)
CLUES (Upstairs @ Whelan’s, October 22 – support from The Ambience Affair)
GRIZZLY BEAR (Vicar Street, November 1 – support from St Vincent who was only mighty at Oxegen)
TICKLEY FEATHER (Upstairs @ Whelan’s, November 18)
That’s a pair of tickets to a DOZEN top-notch shows in the big smoke in the coming months. You won’t need a night-class in basket-weaving with that lot to keep you busy. What other daily rag shows that kind of love for its readers in these recessionary/credit crunchy times? No need to answer that, but cop a feel of the love nonetheless.
And what do you have to do to win this mega-prize? Aside from being 99% of the title of a Velvet Underground tune, Foggy Notions was also a very fine music mag. Simply tell us what is (or was) your favourite MUSIC magazine and why. Be wise, smart and funny with your entries please. One entry per reader, competition closes next Monday at 8.08am-ish, entries citing mags that are/were not music mags will not win and the judge’s decision is law. Best of luck!
Last day of our competition where you can win a pair of weekend tickets to Oxegen 2009. A huge volume of entries so far so get stuck in here.
We haven’t had a competition in ages on the blog but, thanks to Heineken Music, we have a pair of weekend tickets to Oxegen 2009 to give away to one lucky reader.
Heineken Music are the ones behind the Heineken Green Spheres stage which will feature TV On The Radio, Pet Shop Boys, Regina Spektor, That Petrol Emotion, The Noisettes, Glasvegas, 2 Many DJs, Friendly Fires, Foals, The Saturdays (the only band playing Oxegen which features someone from Tipperary in the line-up, fact fans) and many more.
Then, there’s the rest of the line-up: Blur, The Specials,Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nine Inch Nails, Passion Pit, Hockey, Fever Ray, St Vincent, Villagers and dozens and dozens of other acts. It takes place at Punchestown Racecourse, Co Kildare from July 10 to 12.
To win, simply tell us who would be on your fantasy festival stage. Yes, it’s Fantasy Festival Promoter. Acts can be dead or alive, Irish or international, plausible or implausible. One day’s line-up only and no more than 10 acts and please do give your criteria for your choices. The funnier and sharper the better. Even better, because it’s Fantasty Festival Promoter, you will not have to deal with agents, management, fans, Ticketmaster, Joe Duffy or the guards.
Competition is open until 11.55pm on Thursday and the winner will be announced on Friday morning. One entry per reader please. Judge’s decision is final (ie I decide who wins and will not take any fuming from those who don’t win). Naturally, the competition is not open to anyone currently promoting live shows for a living. Go get ‘em, OTR readers.
* Declaration of interest: I contribute a weekly column to the Heineken Music website
In The Ticket tomorrow, we will be counting down the 50 Best Irish Acts Right Now. Yes, this is what I was on about earlier in the week when I said to make a date with the blog on Friday morning.
Anyway, a bunch of Ticket writers have put their heads together and have come up with a list of acts, which goes all the way from fifty to one. There will probably be fun and games galore when this list is published tomorrow so strap yourselves in.
Ahead of the publication of that list, here’s a competition for On The Record readers to see if they are on the same wavelength as The Ticket’s music writers: who do you think will be at number one?
And if there’s a competition, there has to be a prize. Thanks to Vestalife and Future Sounds, I picked up one of these Vestalife Ladybug speakers at SXSW a few weeks ago.
Vestalife’s Ladybug is, as you can see, a super-duper iPod speaker which comes with snazzy flip-down speaker wings, a digital amp and built-in sub woofer for lots of bad-ass bass, unlike some of the biscuit-tin speakers I’ve used over the years. The Ladybug works with a ton of different generation iPods, will recharge your player when it is plugged in and has won a ton of design awards . Having tried the speakers out for the last week or so when I was away, it comes with a big thumbs-up from me. It’s a damn nifty piece of kit (man, I should be writing for Stuff magazine).
The rules: simply tell us in the comments field below who you think will be at number one in The Ticket’s Best 50 Irish Acts Right Now list, which will be published in the paper tomorrow (Friday). Acts must have played a gig, released an album or recorded since the beginning of 2008. Entries closes at 6pm GMT today (Thursday). One entry per reader. Competition is not open to my colleagues in The Ticket or The Irish Times because they probably already know the answer (sorry folks). If there are several winning entries, the names will be placed in a hat and one name will be selected at random. The judge (ie me) will not enter into any discussion or correspondance with anyone about anything to do with this competition. And no, the prize does not come with an iPod.
Best of luck to y’all.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Choice Music Prize shortlist for Irish Album of the Year 2008 will be revealed.
The announcement will be made during a lavish ceremony in central Dublin involving fireworks, speeches from assembled luminaries (including President Mary McAleese and the drummer from Radiohead), a couple of marching bands, a children’s choir featuring 2,000 kids all dressed in yellow, 16 Lovely Girls (one for each letter in “Choice Music Prize”), a hurling match between previous winners Super Extra Bonus Party and Divine Comedy and a spectacular “Thriller” video dance-off between Michael Flatley and Michael Jackson. The location for this recession-what-recession event will, of course, depend on the weather. (*)
But why wait until Wednesday? In a feat of generosity not seen since everyone had a job and wasn’t looking for “value for money” when they went for a bit of grub in a restaurant, On The Record will give €100 of his own cash to anyone who can predict the 10 albums on the shortlist. This is almost as good a prize as that snazzy radio and those CDs we gave away before Christmas.
Test your knowledge of Irish music! See if your own musical likes match those of our 12 expert judges who are currently in hiding in a Celebrity Big Brother-like gaff in deepest Cavan! Come up with your own Choice Music Prize shortlist! Fun for nearly all the family!
The rules are simple. You can enter once and once only. Entries will be accepted up to midnight on Tuesday. Anyone who makes a smart remark which is not judged by me to be funny will be disqualified. The judge reserves the right to be really suspicious if someone gets all 10 albums right (because there are a few surprises on the list).
Declaration of interest: I’m the co-founder of this yoke and am also the non-voting chairman of the judging panel.
(* Real announcement will be made on Wednesday at 3pm on Today FM and on the official Choice Music Prize website)
