Fred to play in Thomond Park

I love a bank holiday weekend. I really do. Normally I would be loading up the car, surf board on the roof, heading west. No sir, not this weekend. It's the Great Friday Festival for me, a house-warming tonight, Old Crescent trouncing Highfield tomorrow and Munster battering the Osprey's on Sunday.

I picked up some CDs last night as well, new Doves album, Kingdom of Rust, new Mogwai album, The Hawk is Howling, Passion Pit's debut EP Chunk of Change and Justice's 2007 classic Dance.

So I'll be catching up with them at the weekend also.

Back to the weekend and Munster playing in the biggest game ever to come to Limerick. Yes, you heard that right, forget the All-Blacks, this is the big one - a chance for Munster to march on toward a third European title.

Walking toward the Munster-Leinster match last Saturday, the energy in the city, on the streets, happy faces streaming toward the ground, I realised that we have essentially got the joys and benefits of having a top-class Premiership soccer team based in our city. Except rugby is far better than soccer and, unlike most grim, industrial English/Scottisch cities, we have the finest rugby team in Europe located right here. Ha! It's like having Real Madrid right on our doorstep, except Munster are largely drawn from the local community and embody an incredible spirit - and are almost never flaky like Los Merengues.

Anyway, Sunday should be superb, even if Sky/ERC screwed us with our pants on and scheduled the game for 1pm. The powers that be have scheduled a nice bit of pre-match entertainment mind you, starting from 12pm, including Fred (see below), Derek Moloney, Munster Rugby Supporters Club, Arcana drummers and various carnival characters.

Can't wait!

Alan Owens

THE LIMERICK Leader can exclusively reveal that hugely popular up and coming Irish rock band Fred - who boast a Limerick member among their ranks - are to become the first band to play in the newly developed Thomond Park.

While the €40 million stadium is set to hold high profile concerts by Elton John and Rod Stewart this summer, Cork based band Fred have been invited to perform next Sunday, before Munster’s Heineken Cup quarter final match against the Ospreys.

Fred have gained a legion of fans on these shores and around the world due to the infectiousness of their acclaimed third album, ‘Go God Go’. The band, made up of members from Cork and Kerry, plus Limerick man Jamin O’Donovan, bassist with the group, are self-professed die hard Munster fans that regularly play in Limerick.

“I'm from Caherdavin which is just down the road from Thomond Park so this feels like my homecoming gig,” laughed Jamin when contacted by the Leader. “We are all very excited about the gig, big time.

When I say we're all, about three fifths of us want to actually play for Munster. I don't think it is going to happen. We are big fans, so this is as close as we think will get to playing on the team.” The band will perform three songs, including their hit singles Running, Skyscrapers and latest single, Good One, which has just been released.

They will perform on the pitch, facing the East Stand, becoming the first band to play in the newly developed stadium.

“To be the first band is brilliant. We are going to play three songs, and hopefully there will be loads of people there to see us - although we have played Oxegen and Electric Picnic, this is definitely going to be the biggest crowd we have played in front of.”

Fred have had a busy start to 2009, recently returning from a trip to Canada, where they performed a number of gigs and appeared on Canadian television. ‘Go God Go’ has been released in Canada and Japan, with UK and US releases set for May.

The return of the Great Friday Festival

FESTIVAL season kicks off in earnest this weekend as the fifth Great Friday Festival returns to a field near you in the Limerick area.

The venue for the day-long festival is being kept shrouded in mystery but, for a mere €30 music fans can see 16 bands and 12 DJs from the local music scene perform on stage in an open-air venue.

More than 350 fans attended the Great Friday Festival last year, and capacity this year has been increased to 1,100, with about 900 tickets going on sale to the general public. The ticket price covers the cost of bus travel to and from the event, which, as it is being held on Good Friday, is a ‘Bring Your Own Beer’ style event.

“The first band will be on at 12 o'clock and the event finishes at midnight, so it is 12 hours of madness,” explained Cathy O’Flaherty general project manager with Great Friday Event Management, who are running the festival.

“Buses will go every half an hour from Arthur's Quay and there will be more to bring everyone back when it is over.”

The success of last year’s event, which was the first Great Friday gig to be held in a festival-setting, prompted the organisers to return this year.

“It was brilliant last year, apart from the cold everyone had a great time. The neighbours invited us back and the guards commended us and everyone had a great day,” explained Cathy.

There is also a charitable element to the festival, as it is one of a number of events that Great Friday Event Management host every year to raise money for Worthy Cause, a Limerick-based charity that runs projects in the Siam Reap area of Cambodia.

“We are giving a large percentage of the profits to Worthy Cause and the rest will be reinvested into doing this again next year,” explained Cathy. “We do a Fall Prom every year and we raised about €5,000 this year for them. So far we have built a self-help community centre and a new school, and the money pays for doctors to visit the site and care for children based there.”

Some of the acts playing at this Friday’s festival include Walter Mitty and the Realists (pic above), Snowman, The Fewer the Better, Ten Past Seven, Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters and Nick Carswell and the Elective Orchestra. Tickets and further information is available from www.greatfriday.ie or from Baker Place, Limerick.

FULL Line-up and times:

GREAT FRIDAY FESTIVAL 2009
LINE UP FOR MAIN STAGE
12:10 – 12:40 Hundred Flower Campaign
12:50 – 13:20 Blackstar
13:30 – 14:00 Nick Carswell and the Elective Orchestra
14:10 – 14:40 The Overkills
14:50 – 15:20 The Out Last Knights
15:30 – 16:00 Clurichaun
16:10 – 16:40 Idle Hands
16:50 – 17:20 Lights Over Phoenix
17:30 – 18:00 I Caught Fire
18:10 – 18:40 Syllian Rayle
18:50 – 19:20 The Fewer the Better
19:30 – 20:00 Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters
20:10 – 20:50 Ten Past Seven
21:00 – 21:15 Benoit and Walter Mitty
21:15 – 22:00 Walter Mitty and the Realists
22:10 – 22:50 Snowman
23:00 – Close DJ Kav

I could have been a contender - Reverend and the Makers to play Heineken Green Spheres in Dolan's

Seems that Sheffield's likely lads Reverend and the Makers are to play the latest Heineken Green Spheres event in Dolan's Warehouse on Wednesday, April 29.

Yep, the lads behind Heavyweight Champion of the World, are to play in Limerick before heading off on tour with Oasis over the Summer. Support will be from Tom Middleton and tickets are available from the Green Spheres website.

Never really picked up on RATM - 'cept that Jon McClure (pic above) - aka the Reverend - is some sort of demi-god on the Sheffield music scene, a prolific poet and great mates with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys (the story goes - denied by all involved - that McClure wrote some tunes for his mates). Certainly seems like he might make for a decent interview, will get right on that.

With the Enemy due in Dolan's on Sunday April 19, it seems more and more semi-decent English indie bands are starting to cast an eye over these parts. Sounds ok to me.

Wonder if this Green Spheres will be any better than when Carl Barât and the Dirty Pretty Things came to town. Yawn. Here is the review I wrote after that gig, carried in the paper on the 6.6.08.

IT IS only three songs into the gig and already my mind is starting to wander. Do you ever find yourself getting distracted by something at a gig and then you realise you have been day dreaming for ten minutes?

The gig is Dirty Pretty Things in Dolan’s Warehouse, on, of all nights, a bank holiday Monday. I should be at home in bed after the weekend I have had, but instead I am in the Dock Road venue along with 249 other brave souls - most of them obviously with no work in the morning - to witness what is left of the Libertines following Pete Doherty’s departure.

Dirty Pretty Things are in town thanks to Heineken for a Green Spheres free gig. In fairness to the mighty corporation - that I rightly feel owes me a few quid for years of shelling out for their product - Dolan’s is decked out with lights and various spooky paraphernalia, as well as some free lubricant.

From the looks of things 90 per cent of the crowd have availed of the booze on offer and the band fronted by Carl Barat and fellow ex-Libertines drummer Gary Powell and guitarist Anthony Rossomando and ex-Cooper Temple Clause bassist Didz Hammond take to the stage around ten o’clock to a huge roar.

The band play a rollicking sea shanty brand of rock and roll that veers drastically toward bland punk rock at times. Here to showcase new material from forthcoming album Romance At Short Notice, the newer material does little to impress. A friend remarks that she has seen all of this before in 1994 when she saw an early Blur gig in Dublin - and funnily enough guitarist Rossomando strongly resembles a young Alex James.

Most of the set is a jumble of confusion and noise that seems very popular with those moshing at the front. There will always be a market for this music though, yet I considered myself a Libertines fan until Pete Doherty’s antics drove me to despair.

On the upside drummer Gary Powell is a mighty force on the drums, and occasional aid from Hammond and Rossomando on vocals relieves us of Barat’s often grating vocal. On the downside, on at least three separate occasions it is impossible to tell when one song ends and another begins.

Salvation comes initially in the form of new single Tired Of England and finally with last song of the set and the very first single the band released, Bang Bang You’re Dead, both revealing a happier jauntiness that conflicts with the tired and confusing set that has gone before it.

As the band walk off stage to a wall of feedback I again find my mind wandering as I fret about the pints being thrown in the air and wondering if ‘ol Pete Doherty is at home in London stealing Barat’s telly again now that he is out of jail.

Come back Pete, all is forgiven.

More fun for your Friday night - Nick Carswell/Qool DJ Marv

After many years of gigs, travel, procrastination, gigs, more gigs, time spent assembling members, more gigs, recording, mixing, more gigs - the luxurious sounds of the Elective Orchestra are to get a first release this Friday night in the shape of debut single 'When I'm Not Around' - the first offering from the ever-so-slightly-warped/musical mind of Mr Nick Carswell (pictured above) and friends.

The group are to release the acoustic offering in the delightful surroundings of the Georgian House, Pery Square, this Friday @ 6pm. All are welcome, just drop a mail to sillygooserecords@gmail.com to let Nick or Hannah know you are coming.

Why? Apart from the free wine, the drawing room of this fabulous building will be the perfect place to saviour the fruits of several months recording, first in Tralee with Ross O’Donovan (Hooray For Humans, Waiting Room) and latterly in a Youghal-hideaway.

Making use of the grand piano, Nick, plus the Cussen sisters (Deirdre and Kate - surely Ireland's finest string duo), Bart, Fergal, Simon etc, will wow you with their impressive acoustic-rock stylings, replete with soaring strings, electro-loop effects, and harmonies galore.

Here's the blurb:

"The song is a four minute slice of acoustic rock characterised by a killer guitar hook, offset by the band’s signature string section, plucking and bowing with gusto. It builds to a catchy chorus that will linger in your head for days. Infectious stuff indeed!"

Here's something I said once, in one of my more lyrical moments (doesn't happen often):

"Emotive and intelligent lyrics combined with beautiful and creative musicianship"

When I’m Not Around is available as a digital download from www.downloadmusic.ie by txting “music 2708” to 57501 – cost €1.

Have a listen here.

To continue the theme of the evening, the Release Party continues downstairs in the Club @ Aubars on Friday night, with a very special guest in the shape of New York City’s Qool DJ Marv, founder and driver of the long-running Buttamilk crew - who takes to the decks to spin some tunes that will likely be summery and warm, a bit like this unseasonably good weather we are having.

Expect R&B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Latin, House, Jazz, Funk, Rock & Roll, Soul, and Disco stylings, all rolled into one delightful evening, which forms part of a three date national tour Eightball are doing with Mr Marv.

Download a free MP3 sample of Mr Marv's grooves here and get a taste of what we are on about.

Doors for this show open at 11.30pm, and Qool DJ Marv can be seen for a recession-busting ten euro.

Put the needle on the record yo!

RENOWNED independent New York radio station WFMU held a special broadcast from the newly opened Viva Music Studios last week.
As seen in the picture above, WFMU’s Billy Jam interviewed Dan Sykes of Viva Music Studios during last Friday’s live radio broadcast from Limerick to New York and the East Coast of the USA.
More than 20 guests also featured on the show - 'Put the Needle on the Record' - which was broadcast live over three hours from Sykes’ Viva studios on O’Connell Street.
Local acts like the Rubberbandits, Size2Shoes, Jay Red and True Blood Souljahz, plus a litany of other local DJs and people involved in the local music scene, all featured on the show.
Speaking after the show presenter Billy Jam praised the diversity of the local music scene in Limerick.
“The WFMU Live from Limerick show on March 27 not only proved what a richly diverse music scene inhabits the district but also how tightly knit these divergent scenes and individuals are,” he explained.
The show is available on the internet here (streaming) or for download here.
Info on Dan Sykes studio here.

The power of the picture

Upon reviewing my website counters after an inactive period of 12 days, it appears that the post below with that picture of Caprice, was the one that has received the highest hits since I started this blog.

I don't know whether to be amused or outraged, but I have discovered how to get more traffic to my site. Maybe the Leader would consider trying a similar tactic? Hmmm..


Anyway, in the spirit of this thought, I happened to travel several times on Ryanair last week, one time indeed while reading this article, which was highly amusing, documenting one Ryanair air hostess' sideline in the online adult film industry.
Unfortunately, she wasn't on my mostly male-staffed flight, but I thought it worthy of a chuckle. Here is pic of Ms Schinderlova, keep an eye out the next time you fly with Mr O'Leary's airline!


(normal service on this blog will resume in time, we promise, but we are still trying to adjust to being back at work)

I'm back

I have been taking enquiries over the last few days as to my well-being, seeing as I haven't updated the blog in the last week or two. Been on holidays, back today. More to follow later.