Giggidy, Giggidy, Giggidy

I've been putting my poor credit card under a fair amount of strain of late, but I'm placing the blame on the number of great gigs coming up in Dublin over the next few weeks...

Fenech Soler @ Crawdaddy

First up is Fenech Soler at Crawdaddy next Friday. I first came across Fenech Soler last year as a result of their stonking remix of Marina & the Diamonds' 'Hollywood. After further investigation, I discovered that they had an entire arsenal of killer electropop tunes of their own. I'm still at a loss as to why 'Lies' wasn't a monster hit but, with new single 'Stop and Stare' cherrypicked for the forthcoming installment of the ultra-trendy Kitsuné Maison music compilation, their star is certainly in the ascent. Tickets are a snip at €8.

01 Stop And Stare by itsmodamusic

03 Lies (Alex Metric Remix)by itsmodamusic2

Evelyn Evelyn @ The Academy

Next week, goth-pop princess Amanda Palmer's latest venture Evelyn Evelyn rolls into town. I first saw Amanda play with The Dresden Dolls in The Spiegeltent in Edinburgh a few years ago and it remains one of my all-time favourite gigs. Evelyn Evelyn is a collaboration between Amanda and a number of other artists, including musician Jason Webley. Honestly, I haven't had a chance to listen to the album properly but I fully intend to sink my teeth into it before the gig at The Academy on the 19th.

Evelyn Evelyn - "Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn?" by moderntonic.com (free download)

The Hundred In The Hands @ Crawdaddy

On the 2nd of May, The Hundred In The Hands play Crawdaddy, shortly before the release of their debut EP. Their track 'Dressed In Dresden' is one of my staple playlist inclusions so I've high hopes for their new material.

The Hundred In The Hands - Dressed In Dresden by charmfactory (free download)

Tegan & Sara @ The Olympia

A little further off, but probably the most likely to sell out, is Tegan & Sara on 15th of June. The Canadian sisters' album 'The Con' is one of my favourite records and they've a pretty solid reputation as a live act, so expect to find me screeching away to 'Back In Your Head' in The Olympia.

Tegan & Sara - Alligator (Morgan Page Remix) by morganpage (free download)

Keeping An Eye On... Bitches With Wolves

Back in late 2008, Lyndsay and I moseyed along to the first ever night run by the now-defunct T.A.C. ensemble and had a blast of a time.

One of the acts playing on that particular night was Bitches With Wolves, fronted by Dubliner James O' Neill (one of those behind the hugely popular 'WAR' club-night in Spy). I'd never encountered the band before but found them camp, fun, slightly ridiculous and unlike anything I'd encountered in Dublin before then.

Since then, Bitches With Wolves have enjoyed huge success, supporting international acts like Groove Armada, Calvin Harris and Fatboy Slim during their Irish dates, as well as nabbing a slot at Oxegen.

This week they debuted a song called 'Broken Hearts' on Myspace. A combination of slick production, sleek vocals and killer hooks enable the track to pack a more potent punch than the earlier material and, to my ears, this sounded like the first real sign that Bitches With Wolves might graduate to headline slots.

Low and behold, James and co have now bagged for a three-date stint at Dublin's Academy 2 on Saturday April 3rd, April 10th and April 17th.

Tickets are €11.80 and I reckon I'm gonna venture along one of the nights to see if there's other new material up to the standard of 'Broken Hearts'. Lord knows, it'd be nice to have a decent Irish popstar. We haven't had one in aeons....

Bratz

Tired of things that are 'good'? So are Come As Soon As You Hear.

Well, come on down to Bernard Shaw tonight (Thursday) from 8pm for an evening dedicated to everything that's BAD, including:

Bad Actors

Dastardly deviant Frank Wasser

Good guy gone bad John Devlin and Come As Soon As You Hear brats on decks

Colouring-outside-the-lines competitions

Junk food

And all for free.

Oh, and everyone's planning to throw a collective strop at the end of the night and storm off to see Liana Trioblóid O' Cleirigh DJing at Soundchick @ Spy.

Passions Reignited

Good news for anybody without tickets to Passion Pit's sold-out gig in The Olympia on March 13th. Heineken Green Spheres are organising another one of their free gigs and have selected the American electronic outfit as their headline act.

The Savoy Theatre in Cork has been chosen as the venue for the gig on March 12th. This may involve a road-trip for the likes of me but, having caught the band at Electric Picnic last year, I reckon it's worth it.

I was lucky enough to catch Green Spheres events in Carlow (Marina & The Diamonds, Miike Snow, Digitalism) and Dublin (White Lies, Neon Indian) last year and had a blast at both. Click here to apply for tickets.

Meanwhile, an alternate video for Passion Pit's breakthrough track 'Sleepyhead' has been leaked. Apparently the video pre-dates the official video but was rejected by the band and their management. To be honest, I kinda prefer this one.

Giggidy Giggidy

Florence and the Machine today announced that they will be returning to Dublin's Olympia Theatre for two dates in May, after performing to a sold-out crowd (that included yours truly) in the same venue in December.

Tickets for the May 2nd and 3rd dates go on sale this Friday, the 29th of January at 9am for the extremely reasonable price of €28.

I'm seriously considering investing in a ticket to see the band for the FOURTH time in twelve months and I'd strongly advise you to do likewise. The band could easily pack out The O2 so, although The Olympia is the ideal venue in which to see the band, tickets will probably be impossible to get your hands after 9:05 on Friday morning.

Other upcoming gigs I'm getting excited about are:

Alex Metric @ Wax, Friday 5th of February:

Crystal Fighters and Lorcan Mak @ Andrew's Lane Theatre, Thursday 18th of February:



Final Fantasy/Owen Pallett @ Whelans, Thursday 18th of March



Wild Beasts @ The Academy, Friday 27th of March

Hit Me With Lightning

I've already set my alarm clock to get up early on Saturday and book myself a ticket for Ellie Goulding's debut Irish headliner in The Academy on 14th of March.

It'll be interesting to see how quickly tickets for the gig are snapped up and whether topping all those 'tips for 2010' lists has translated into genuine interest in her music. I'm certainly not taking any chances anyway.

Meanwhile, some very reliable sources have been suggesting that there are some life-changing remixes of Ellie's debut 'major label' single, 'Starry Eyed' in the pipeline.

In the meantime, we'll have to make to do with the brand new mix of 'Starry Eyed', with a new vocal and spruced up production, which will hopefully infiltrate radio station playlists galore in the coming weeks.