Win Tickets To Mark Ronson @ Heineken Green Spheres

For over a year now, Heineken Green Spheres have been hosting kickass free gigs in various spots around Ireland, with the likes of Foals, Marina and the Diamonds, 2 Many DJs, White Lies and Passion Pit having performed.

They've just announced a free Goldfrapp gig on November 25th in Drogheda (find out how to register for tickets here). Before then though there's the small matter of Mark Ronson and the Business Intl at The Clarence Hotel in Sligo on Wednesday, October 27th.

The lovely folk at Heineken Music have kindly given me two pairs of tickets to give away. To enter, simply e-mail thebubbleboyblog@gmail.com with your name and the name of Mark's younger sister, famed for her rocky relationship with Lindsay Lohan.

If you haven't already seen it, check out the great video for Mark's collaboration with Boy George, Somebody To Love Me.

Wonderful Life: Win Tickets To Hurts

Hotly-tipped Mancunian synthpop duo Hurts touch down at Whelans in Dublin this Thursday for their debut Irish gig. With tickets costing just €14, it's well worth heading along to see if they can deliver on the promise of their unfathomably brilliant debut single 'Wonderful Life'.

But, then again, why pay at all? The lovely people at Heineken Music have kindly given me a couple of free tickets to give away.

Inspired by the band's name, I'd like you to tell me about your most hilarious injury to be in with a chance to win. E-mail your answers to thebubbleboyblog@gmail.com pronto.

In case anyone's wondering, my most hilarious injury was probably when I started jumping with joy upon discovering I'd been hired for a new job, jumped so high that my head connected with a beam, and gave myself a mild concussion.

The job was doing market research in a call centre.

Anyway, less about my idiocy. Here's the video for Hurts' new single, 'Better Than Love':

On Yer Bike

London four-piece Bombay Bicycle Club have been unveiled as the support act for Foals at the Heineken Green Spheres gig on 14th of May at The Academy, Dublin.

The band are a pretty perfect addition to the line-up, not just because they're rather brilliant, but because their brand of sprightly indie-pop slots in nicely between the frenetic pace of Foals' debut record 'Antidotes' and the more subdued material from their new record, like 'Spanish Sahara'.

Here's a couple of tracks to whet your appetite, and a cover of their track 'Always Like This' by the ever-charming Run Toto Run.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Evening/Morning



Bombay Bicycle Club - Always Like This



Run Toto Run - Always Like This (Bombay Bicycle Club Cover)



If you haven't already applied for tickets for this free gig, go getcha some.

This Western Feeling...

Despite initial skepticism, I was completely won over by Foals' 'Spanish Sahara' after a few listens.

Seemingly, that track was put into the public domain for 'promotional purposes' and the first single from their forthcoming sophomore album 'Total Life Forever' will, in fact, be 'This Orient'.



The track seems like a logical bridge between the material on debut album 'Antidotes' and 'Spanish Sahara' and suggests that we can expect a varied collection of tracks from the new album. Check out the video for the track here.

Incidentally, Heineken Music are bringing the band over to The Academy, Dublin in May for one of their wonderful free Green Spheres events. The first time I saw the band live was in that same venue and it was, in all honesty, one of my favourite gigs I've ever been to.

You can register for tickets here and I strongly suggest that you do.

Emerald Warriors

Crikey, what a week. After graduation taking up the best part of Monday and Tuesday, I spent the latter half of the week chasing Marina & The Diamonds around the country.

First stop was her debut Irish headliner at The Academy on Wednesday. For me to review her performance on either night would be pointless as it'd be equivalent of me writing the word 'amazing' 500 times but there are some great write-ups of Wednesday's gig by fellow-Emeralds here, here, here and here. Great photos from kDamo can be found here also.

Thursday then saw myself Patrick and Paula, Eimear, Pops and a few others make the journey down to Carlow for the Heineken Music Green Spheres event in Dunn Rí.

All credit must go to Heineken for the fantastic set-up. The huge club, which features two separate stages, was doused in green light for the occasion and two characters in green full-body lycra suits (that brought to mind the Durex sperm) greeted us as we entered.

Marina was first up to perform and once again delivered a performance worthy of several hundred 'amazings'. Although the audience were obviously not as familiar with her music as those in attendance at The Academy the night before, she gave just as much on stage and no doubt recruited a few more additions to her ever expanding collection of precious stones.

Next came Swedish-American indie-pop purveyors Miike Snow, who arrived on-stage sporting white face masks. I'd gathered from reviews of their shows that they generally play relatively short sets and enjoy toying around with the songs for a live setting so was pleasantly surprised that I got to hear most of my favourite tracks including 'Burial', 'Animal', 'Black & Blue' and especially 'Silvia'.

Miike Snow have expertly adapted their debut album to a live setting and, even if the latter part of the set did descend into a jam session of sorts, it'd have been worth the hassle of a trip down to Carlow and back purely to see them.

Headliners Digitalism performed their set in a separate space. Even if some of the crowd were a bit 'over-enthusiastic' when the German dance act took to the stage, it didn't stop us busting a move to tracks like the indisputably epic 'Pogo', all the while illuminated by some excellent visuals.

Heineken are already working on events in December in both Cork and Dublin featuring White Lies and Neon Indian. I suspect word of mouth from the Carlow gigs will make it somewhat more difficult to get your hands on tickets, so be sure to sign up here pronto.

[Images: Eimear Fitzmaurice (1), Heineken Music (2-4)]

And I Grinned At You Softly, 'Cos I'm A Fuckin' Wildcard...

As I mentioned in the mammoth Electric Picnic post, Marina of 'and the Diamonds' fame has promised to return to these shores in November. A single is due out in October (I have my suspicions it might be 'Mowgli's Road') but, in the meantime, she's tinkering away on her album, 'The Family Jewels'.

To tide us over, we've been treated to a new version of one of my favourite of her tracks, 'The Outsider'. Generally, I remain faithful to the first version of a song I hear but, in this case, I think the tweaking has added an extra dollop of chutzpah to the track:




Heineken Music are the ones reputedly bringing Marina back to the Emeralds in November and they've posted an interview conducted with her at Electric Picnic here.

[Image: Myspace]

Turn Me On With Your Electric Feel...

Knowing that I would most likely be flat broke by the time September rolled around, I got my ticket for Electric Picnic way back in March. I experienced the Picnic for the first time last year and was determined to make it back this year, no matter how circumstances conspired to have me stranded in Dublin.

Unfortunately, because of work, by the time I down to Stradbally and set up for the weekend, I'd managed to miss Lykke Li, The Temper Trap and a few others. There was nobody else I particularly wanted to see, so I spent most of Friday just wandering around and getting my bearings for the weekend.

On Saturday, I kicked things off with The xx. The London four-piece's debut album has already nestled itself among my favourites of this year but I was doubtful of their ability to cut it live after hearing reports that they 'lacked presence' on stage.

While its true that the band essentially stood still for the entirety of the set and banter was kept to a minimum, I really didn't think this detracted from their performance. If anything, cracking jokes and leaping around the stage would have jarred with the tone of their music. The chemistry between vocalists Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim was just as apparent as on record and, even if on a superficial level there wasn't much to see, I couldn't pry my eyes from the stage.

Next up was Marina and the Diamonds, who, you may have noticed, I've been ferociously championing on this site. I've forced my obsession with this woman upon everyone and anyone over the past few months so, if she'd failed to deliver, I might have had some explaining to do.

Thankfully a stonking performance from Marina got me off the hook and helped her to win over a number of new fans. Prowling the stage in an outfit she repeatedly warned us could lead to 'camel toe', La Diamond performed a number of tracks likely to feature on her forthcoming debut album, including 'Obsessions', 'I Am Not a Robot' and 'Mowgli's Road'. She seemed a little surprised by the crowd's enthusiasm and promised us 'Emeralds' she'd be back in November for a couple of gigs.

The cancellations of Bat for Lashes an ESG led to a re-shuffle in my Saturday evening schedule but I managed to find some worthy substitutes. I'd be lying if I said my memories of The Whitest Boy Alive and 2 Many DJ's weren't a tad hazy but I remember enjoying both sets.

Klaxons, meanwhile, offered a glimpse of an intriguing change of musical direction. There was a drastic difference between new tracks and the songs from their Mercury-winning debut and they seem to have ditched the 'nu-rave' clothing and glowsticks, even if their hardcore fans at the front didn't seem as willing to let go...

Irish act Villagers kicked off my Sunday morning in a wonderful fashion. Conor O' Brien's new vehicle have been the subject of much hype since emerging last year and it's completely justified. Backed my some fantastic musicians, Conor's soaring voice filled the Crawdaddy tent and lifted spirits during one of the soggiest periods of the weekend.

Next on my hitlist were Simian Mobile Disco, who had the misfortune of preceding Florence and the Machine in the Electric Arena. The duo tried to keep things interesting with some emphatic knob-twiddling and an impressive light show but the set never quite seemed to take off. The fact that the front few rows were made up of hardcore Flo fans, eager to get a good spot, probably didn't help their case.

Having been blown away by Florence and the Machine at Oxegen, my expectations for their set this time around were fairly high. If anything, they raised their game even higher. Flame-haired singer Florence Welsh seems to be growing in confidence at a ferocious rate and she wears it well. Her movement was mesmerising, the set-list was spot on and her vocal delivery was nothing short of roof-raising. I honestly can't remember seeing an audience left so stunned by a performance.

I solved the dilemma of choosing between Royksopp and Passion Pit by catching half of each of their gigs. In some respects, this might have been a mistake because I wound up some distance away from the stage on both occasions. That said, both bands delivered strong sets. Royksopp expertly tailored their material for a live setting and used a combination of clever visuals and props (including a life-sized robot for 'The Girl and The Robot') to elevate their performance.

Passion Pit, meanwhile, overcame technical glitches to deliver a set that was, by all accounts, a drastic improvement on previous gigs they've played on these shores. Singles 'Sleephead' and 'The Reeling' induced mild hysteria in the crowd and Michael Angelekos's bizarre falsetto was fascinating to behold.

The last performance of the weekend I caught was Basement Jaxx, whose hit-heavy back-catalogue helped them provide a cheesy but highly danceable big finish. Their set may not have been one of the memorable of the weekend but at least they were one of the few acts to avoid being swallowed by the Main Stage.

I've heard a few gripes about this year's Picnic being less fun as previous years but, honestly, I think maybe the mucky conditions impeded some people's enjoyment of the weekend. In terms of this year's line-up, the organisers certainly can not be faulted and you can bet your smelly wellies I'll be back for more of the same next year.

[All images: Heineken Music]

Bargain Basement

Two for the price of one, no less.

Tracks from the forthcoming Basement Jaxx album have been trickling on to the interwebs, including some mouth-watering collaborations.

The first of these is a track with Santigold (RIP Santo) called 'Saga'. At first, I was a little bit disappointed. I felt the track didn't quite live up to the billing, mainly because it sounds exactly like the stuff from Santi's 2008 album. I still stand by that assertion but the track has grown on me something shocking.

Behold:



Another track, 'Feeling's Gone', which surfaced yesterday, features Sam Sparro on vocal duties. This track is a bit more typical of Basement Jaxx: a sprightly dance-pop number with everything but the cats-in-sinks thrown into the production. Once again, I wasn't sure what to make of this at first but, after a couple of listens, I'm sold.

Looking forward to hearing it in better quality:



Already looking forward to seeing The Jaxx at Electric Picnic.

Mean Green Music Machine

I was only saying last week to Eimear that I knew very few people heading to Oxegen this year but, all of a sudden, everyone seems to be trying to muscle in on the festival fun (myself and Eimear included.)

I know most people are smashed broke and, as such, keeping their eyes peeled for competitions to win free tickets. So, I thought I'd draw your attention to a competition being run by the brand spanking new Heineken Music website.

Heineken Music are giving away four VIP camping tickets here but you'd want to act fast because the deadline for entries is tomorrow at 4pm. There's actually a lot of decent content on the site if you care to mosey around, including Oxegen day-by-day highlights from respected music journo, Jim Carroll.