Cats In The Cradle

Over the past nine months, Heineken Green Spheres have hosted a series of free gigs that have featured the likes of Miike Snow, Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals, White Lies, Marina & The Diamonds, Digitalism and Passion Pit.

I've trekked to Carlow and Cork for previous gigs and, all going well, I hope to make it down to Kilkenny for the next Green Spheres installment over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Whereas previous events have generally been one off gigs, this time it's set to span the entire weekend, with a mouth-watering pick'n'mix of homegrown and international acts performing at local hotspots.

Line up is as follows:

2manydjs @ Langtons / Sunday 1st Aug (apply for tickets over on Heineken Music)

2manydjs - The Magnificent Romeo (Basement Jaxx vs. The Clash)

Delorentos @ The Left Bank / Fri 30th July (first come, first served at the door)

Delorentos - Any Other Way

Jape @ Kytlers / Sat 31st July (first come, first served at the door)

Jape - Floating

Alex Metric @ Matt The Millers / Fri 30th July (first come, first served at the door)

Phoenix - Lisztomania (Alex Metric Remix)

Full info is available over on the Green Spheres site.

Game. Ball?

Soler Powered Sounds

Ever since coming across English quartet Fenech Soler as a result of their excellent remix of Marina and the Diamonds' 'Hollywood', I've slowly become enamoured with their own brand of slinky electropop.

Teaming dreamy synths and throbbing drumbeats with sleek vocals from from frontman Ben Duffy, the band occupy a point on the musical spectrum somewhere between Friendly Fires and Tesla Boy.

Their recent single 'Lies' is a delectable little ditty that, by rights, should have conquered the charts:



There's also a pretty corking Alex Metric mix of the track that went down a treat when Mr Metric played at Spy last Friday.



Meanwhile, Ben also shares vocal duties with Saint Saviour on 'Paper Romance', the decidedly decent new track from Groove Armada:

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