2023-07-14 Forever Young Festival - Palmerstown House, Naas

It was Forever Young Festival time at the weekend. For those that don't know what that is, let me explain...

Forever Young is a festival where all the stars of the 80s come back to relive their past glories in front of folk who lived through the 80s! It's just a fun festival where folk dress up in ridiculous 80s gear, let their hair down and just have fun.

So, who played? Well I suppose I could just list off all the acts that were playing, but where is the fun in that?? Instead, I'll just break it down by day, act by act, that's probably easiest.

First up on the main stage was Jerry Fish. I've lost count of how many times I've seen Jerry. He is one of the live acts around he always puts on a superb show. Oh and he closed his set with the classic Celebrate, how could you not be happy???

Next up, over on the second stage, was Tom Dunne (Something Happens), Fiachna O'Braonain (Hothouse Flowers) and Alan Connor and we were treated to some old Something Happens, that always makes me happy. Check out Parachute in the video below. Tom, Fiachna and Alan are touring the country at the moment, telling stories and singing songs. If they come to a town near you, I'd definitely go!

Next up were the Hothouse Flowers. I still remember buying 'Love Don't Work This Way' on 7" vinyl way back when I were just a lad... I wonder if I still have that single. Side note, it was released on Mother Records, a small independent label owned by U2.

That was my introduction to the band, others might remember them as the interval act of Eurovision 88.

Regardless of all that, they are one of the greatest Irish acts ever. They combine rock, soul, funk, a touch of reggae and lots of trad into a wonderful sound.

Friday night, at Forever Young, they absolutely stole the show. Brilliant, fantastic, or chose your own word to describe the show... Or simply settle for 'that was some craic'.

Closing out Friday night were the legendary Squeeze. Now, I won't lie, Squeeze kind of passed me by as a kid. Was I too cool to like them or was I just not cool enough? Who knows, but Friday night was my first time seeing them live and they were absolutely brilliant.

They just played hot after hot after hot and the crowd loved every minute of it. I have a lot of catching up to do, they've a large back catalogue for me to go through! I'm so happy I finally got to see them perform.

I got some nice shots of them too. I really like the first one, probably my favourite photo of the weekend.

So that was Day 1 of Forever Young Festival 2023. It was the end of the excitement though. The Gods of Rock must have been angry over something because late Friday night they sent the rain, then more rain and, just when you thought it couldn't get any wetter, even more rain. That took a toll, but more on that in the next post.

Interview with King Kong Company

Originally published 10/09/2013 on Chunk.ie So, there I was, wandering around the Electric Picnic wondering who I was going to watch next. One of the lads said he had heard good things about King Kong Company and that we should check them out, so off we headed to the Body and Soul Arena to do just that. As I mentioned in my review of the Electric Picnic, the gig was epic. I figured we just had to interview them here on CHUNK.ie, and here it is! First things first, congratulations on a storming gig at the Electric Picnic. It completely blew me away. Was this your first Picnic experience? We’ve been to many Electric Picnics over the years but just as punters, and it’s always been a great festival, so it was a fantastic experience to play at its 10 year anniversary. King Kong Company is a rather interesting name for a band, where or how did you come up with it? The name is taken from the film Taxi Driver. If you look closely, Travis Bickle is wearing a badge which says King

2022-11-04 Mairead Carroll - Moat Theatre, Naas

Every now and then I have a choice of gigs to go to... This night, I could have driven into Dublin to see Meryl Streek in the Workmans Club , or I could stay local and go see Mairead Carroll in the Moat Theatre in Naas. Well, it was a no brainer. The weather was terrible and, well, I felt terrible too, so I figured I'd stay local. Mairead has played the Moat Theatre before, but always as support, never as the main attraction. Tonight, would be her debut headline performance and she didn't let anyone down! I'm not quite sure how to describe here music. It's not folk, it's not trad, it's not country or rock... It's. well, it's very light and soft and calming. Mairead is a poet who, only relatively recently, has started putting her words to music. It's a very relaxing affair! Her songs are very personal, and, at first listen, you might think them melancholy, but then you hear the joy and the love in them, and you start to see them for what they

2022-03-26 Buskers on Grafton Street, Dublin

I took a walk around Dublin today, thought I'd check out the buskers on Grafton Street. There's a fine history of busking in Dublin, acts like Hothouse Flowers , The Frames , Rodrigo y Gabriela , Damien Rice , Paddy Casey , Kodaline and a host of others all cut their teeth on and around Grafton Street. It stands to reason that some of those busking today will be successful in the future! So, who did I get to see today? Well, check out the photos below: Zoe Clarke Allie Sherlock Paul Jenkinson

IrishMJ

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