Skip to main content

2023-08-25 The Vamps - Collins Barracks, Dublin

I'm more than a few days late getting this post up! But anyway, here we are, The Vamps, live in Dublin!

This gig was not my idea and, to be honest, I didn't know what to expect.  My niece messaged me and asked if I'd go to see New Hope Club and The Vamps (her two favourite bands) when they play Dublin.  I, obviously, said yes and she went and booked flights!

So anyway, here we are, it's late summer in Dublin, the skies are grey and the threat of rain is never far away.  As we sat having a pre gig bite to eat in Smithfield, the heavens opened and the thunder clapped.  This was not looking good, but YR.no assured me that the rain would stop before 7:00pm, and it did.

So anyway, on to the gig.  It's safe to say that New Hope Club and The Vamps fans are generally young ladies in their late teens to early twenties, and they are loud!  Screams rang around the courtyard of Collins Barracks all night long, I was glad to have my earplugs with me!

Local band, ModernLove kicked off proceedings.  I'd never heard of them before (strange thing to say about an Irish band, but here we are...).  The young audience danced and sang along, so they were doing something right.  I thought they were pretty decent, they worked the crowd well and sounded polished.  Good stuff.

Next up were New Hope Club.  Again, the crowd absolutely loved them, lots of screaming, lots of singing, lots of dancing.  If you were a band and you looked out at a few thousand people in the crowd dancing along to your music, I think you'd be happy.  These guys were.  I'd go see them again.

Now for the headliners, The Vamps.  Like the two previous acts, I hadn't a clue about them.  If I thought the screaming was loud earlier, I was wrong.  The crowd were only warming up!  It was the closest thing I've ever seen to Beatlemania in my life!  Were they good?  Of course they were.  They put on a fantastic show and kept the crowd well entertained.  What more could you ask for?

So yeah, not my normal scene and I was definitely one of the oldest members of the crowd, but I really enjoyed myself and, more importantly, so did my niece.  We shall do this again, but it's my choice of band next time!

There are feck all photos really, none worth posting apart from this crowd shot and the Vamp lads having a pint.  I'd no media pass for the show and the lighting was a bit too difficult for my old point and shoot.  

Anyway...




Popular Posts

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

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

2023-08-26 The Playing Fields Festival - Clane GAA

It's The Playing Fields Festival time again!  TPFF23, it's third outing, is back and it's the same, but a little different also. For the first time, it's not just an Irish affair.  The legendary Basement Jaxx headlined the Sunday night.  Also, for the first time, it's under canvas.  Not a big circus type tent, a more low rise, stretched canvas affair, as per TribFest a few weeks back.  Given the state of the Irish summer, it was a great decision.  The final difference was that I was only there for Day Two as I'd already arranged to bring my niece to see The Vamps , and that clashed with Day One. So, along with Basement Jaxx , who else was playing Day Two of TPFF? Well, we had:     The Flavours      Altered Lines      Diversion      Raging Sons      Spring Break      Roisin O      and      CamrinWatsin I think we can agree, that's a pretty good mix of rock n' roll, party time and dance music!  Even under canvas, the stage was pretty big and sounded good