Concert Reviews

If you enjoy this blog, why not give the gift of great gigs, reviewed as they happened, to someone as a book? Now you can - order the book via LULU.COM

I just gave concert tickets for New Kids On The Block in Dublin to my girlfriend and the review will come in due course. They're playing the o2 in Dublin on January 21st 2009.

We have secured tickets for Depeche Mode in Duesseldorf/Germany (June 09) and Ultravox in Glasgow/Scotland in April 2009 - so cool!!

OMD kicked off last years' "Morality & Architecture" show here in Dublin and made a phenomenal return when they played the Ambassador Venue on September 28th 2008. The backdrops weren't anything short of fantastic and the band was in good spirit and really kicked ass. This years' show was even better than their 2007 gig. The set included songs from the mentioned album as well as the much loved hits "Tesla Girls" and "Sailing on the seven seas" from the 1991 "Sugartax" album. In the midst of their set a mixing desk blew and the front-of-house PA went dead, what resulted in a forced 20 minutes break. When OMD returned to the stage Andy said: "I hope you've all done your Christmas shopping because we're not going before we've played the entire set" - as the crowd cheered on OMD picked up speed straight away and they delivered beautifully. Brilliant *** Support Act "Cowboy X", consisting of three blokes

Some of the pictures of YAZOO live in Brighton are now up on their official website.

Meg Murphy officially launched the 2008 "Aisling Alann arts festival" on June 16th 2008 @ Whitechurch Library. The festival was first launched in 2007. Its aim is to offer high-quality performance art as affordable rates and to create performance opportunities for emerging artists and to proactively develop a culture of community arts in the Greater Ballyboden area. Scene from "Art Attack" as performed by the Drama Queens Simon Toel playing Jack Kairo in the one-man-play/comedy with the same name Barbara Demsey performing "Gabby" @ Whitechurch Library A Gala Concert concluded the arts festival week. The picture shows a scene from a performance of G.F. Haendel's "Sonnata a lagrimar"

This was by far the best of all three YAZOO gigs that we decided to go to. With a new song on the setlist, new background for "Goodbye 70's", a crowd that was just brilliant and no other than "Erasure" Andy Bell in the audience - this evening was destined to be brilliant. As if she needed to prove to Andy that she is all she could be, Alison "rocked". Her voice was brilliant and her interaction with both Vince and the audience were simply amazing. She publically thanked Andy Bell for lending her Vince for a short while and sang her heart out that night - absolutely brilliant. Alison gave her best performance ever (in my opinion) in Brighton Yazoo in Brighton - June 15th 2008 Andy Bell at the Yazoo gig in Brighton on June 15th 2008 - what a night, brilliant!! Support act Merz couldn't gain any ground that night and, as said before, he just isn't the right choice of support for an electronic evening. Merz * Yazoo ***

Our Yazoo pics from Dublin ended up on Yazoo's official website !!

Less than a week after their Dublin performance we flew to Manchester to see them again. And it was worth it. This time we had circle seats from where we could enjoy the band and also fully appreciate their backdrops and videos. The Apollo, now owned by LIVE NATION , is a brilliant venue with a great acoustic. Unfortunately, they have a strict "no cameras" policy and their security blokes are unpleasant looking fellows. Alison's voice wasn't that strong on the night and infact she apologized for it. But even with a weaker voice she is still better than most vocalists anyway and the show was still great. Support act MERZ was a one-man-band but, although good, was too focused on his guitars and his set sounded like a regular busker playing in a shopping mall. Yazoo*** Merz **

The Dublin crowd just loved Alison and Vince The backdrops were spectacular Alison during "In my room" The very shy Vince Clarke took centre stage (for about 30 seconds) Using an old Reel to Reel Taperecorder for one of the songs Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin Yazoo's RECONNECTED tour sees Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke, of Erasure Fame (also co-founder of the legendary Depeche Mode), touring together after 25 years of not working and almost not talking together. The Olympia Theatre was packed and Yazoo were amazing. Their material stood the test of time and they played all their big hits from Situation to Don't go and of course the brilliant Only You . Alison is in top form and her vocals just blew the audience away. Mastermind Vince Clarke was more animated than usual as he had to use the vocoder a couple of times. The combination of two brilliant artists both giving it their all and more was something that was deeply felt and appreciat

May 25th Africa Day - the festivities were held at Dublin's Chester Beaty Library. Stone & Jezreel were on stage ... ... when we arrived. I only listened to one song before we had to move on BUT was impressed with what I heard. Check them out on myspace or Bebo

12.03.2008 National Concert Hall Dublin Conducted by David Brophy the RTE Concert Orchestra (66 people) + 2 DIT graduates performed SCI-FI movie classics from the Stargate Theme to the main theme of both Total Recall and Star Wars. Trekkies were well catered for as the orchestra performed compositions of Jerry Goldsmith from 4 Star Trek movies. The evening was electrifying and the audience consisted of people of all ages. *** very good

Parental Guidance Some of the reviews/interviews contain language and/or content that some may find offensive. Parental Guidance is advised!