Éamon Sweeney

Contributor

Éamon Sweeney, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about music and culture.

Mick Flannery: Goodtime Charlie - Best-selling troubadour lightens up

Cork singer is more hit than miss on an assured eighth album

The Chemical Brothers: For that Beautiful Feeling - Seamless, sweet psychedelia

One of the defining acts of British electronica continue their revival

Róisín Murphy: Hit Parade - Joyful songs about not taking life for granted

A cracking collaborative masterclass from innovative outliers of modern music Murphy and DJ Koze

Franz Ferdinand at Collins Barracks: Scissor-kicking, foot-stomping, phones-aloft rock’n’roll

Band’s power-pop experience brings Collins Barracks’ Wider Than Pictures series to a close with a bang

The Velvet Underground: ‘Every part of their story is extremely powerful’

Lou Reed and John Cale’s pioneering band created modern music, according to David Bowie, whose biographer has now chronicled their group and their legacy

First Aid Kit at Collins Barracks: Sisters’ spellbinding happy-sad harmonies go down a storm

Johanna and Klara Söderberg are visibly moved by response to their first Irish appearance in five years

Liam Gallagher: Knebworth 22 – It will do nicely until Oasis bow to the inevitabe

Despite rousing and highly entertaining moments, it isn’t exactly Live and Dangerous by Thin Lizzy

Birdy: Portraits – Assured album from an artist comfortable in her own sound and skin

The English singer has grown up and delivered her strongest record yet

Girl Ray: Prestige – A ray of sunshine in the dog days of summer

Promising third album from the London trio expands on their winning penchant for smart, harmonic, well-crafted pop

Fabric Presents Saoirse: Hotshot Dublin DJ’s essential summer listening

RM 1 by Saoirse closes the collection in a subtly funky and smooth style

Blur: The Ballad of Darren – A comeback album so good we can only hope it isn’t the end

The eighth album from Damon Albarn and co is an emotional tour de force

Kraftwerk in Dublin: A spellbinding performance by robotic wizards of electronica

What might be lacking in terms of suitable darkness is compensated for in volume and pristine sound quality

Blur live in Dublin: ‘Céad míle fáilte’ barks Damon Albarn on an emotionally charged night of hit after hit

Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree may have visibly aged, but they perform with the vigour and chutzpah of a brand new band

The return of Everything But the Girl: ‘A 24-year break is great way to stoke expectation’

Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt explain why it took them nearly quarter of a century to make music together again

‘I had to try to tell her story’: Joseph Chester on his dedication to Lucia Joyce

Irish producer, musician and composer discusses his new album about the troubled life of James Joyce’s daughter, Lucia