Live: Geese Hit Intergalactic Status in Hamburg // 16.03.26

As the neon lights of Hamburg’s infamously historic Reeperbahn began to flicker to life on a cold March evening, raucously nonchalant Brooklyn rockers Geese tore up the legendary Docks in support of their ‘Getting Killed in Europe’ tour. Just down the road from where four lads from Liverpool cut their teeth in the 60’s, Cameron Winter and his armada explosively cement themselves as the band of this generation, but whether they care or not is difficult to tell.

Photo by Max Falvey

A youthful audience wound along the nefarious clubs of the Reeperbahn, with a few fans scattered off to the side with cardboard signs begging for spare tickets, but any and all once available ones were being clutched tightly by those lucky enough to be in line. The large floor and upper balcony filled up with haste and intense excitement once doors were opened, with the chatter and energy in the room radiating the feeling that this was going to end up being an ‘I was there’ kind of night.

What this indie-hipster crowd didn’t see coming was the wonderful arrival of Westside Cowboy, a Manchester rock outfit hand picked by Geese to take on the most daunting support slot in recent memory. The four-piece took to the stage with nervous smiles, led by the instantly charming Reuben Haycocks, as the intense eyes of the music world momentarily shifted in their direction.

Their heavy-footed drummer Paddy Young kicked off proceedings, with a nine-song set to follow consisting of the band’s singles and unreleased material. Haycocks and lead guitarist Jimmy Bradbury built their heavy rock sound around tough thumping chords sizzled with high pitched, slidey rhythmic riffs, as bassist Aoife Anson O’Connell completed it with a heavy bass buzz and beautifully melodic backing vocals that floated behind the lyrics from the two boys.

Photo by Max Falvey

The stand-out was the *incredible* ‘Don’t Throw Rocks’, with its crescendo-ing solo and overt-emotion evoking a memory of the first time I heard Wunderhorse’s ‘Teal’. An overwhelming chorus of cheers rang out as the set was ended in unplugged form, with everyone in the crowd now having a new ‘Geese-approved’ band to obsess over. An excitable murmur washed over the tightening crowd as the lights came up and the support stage was dismantled, as eager prep was underway for the main event. And after a long, squashed half hour, the lights went out.

The floor of Docks began to shake as five figures emerged in the minimal stage light. The band’s heart and soul Emily Green equipped her telecaster to the left, Dominic Digesu plucked a few bass notes on the right, Sam Revaz sat in a castle of synths, Max Bassin peaked his head out with a smile over his cymbals, and Cameron Winter grabbed his already Rock and Roll Hall of Fame worthy cherry-red Gibson SG Junior. No entrance music, no theatrics, no f*cks given. Just Geese, and a surging audience on the brink of combustion.

“This song’s called ‘Apollo’.” It was obvious that following the skyrocketing success of Getting Killed, Geese were going to try and push the boundary further, and intergalactic is definitely where they’ve set their sights. Performed for the first time the night before in Berlin, a driving steady drum beat is met with the repetitive line from Cameron of ‘I’m goin’ to the moon’, which builds upon a droney bassline and groovy guitar interludes from Digesu and Green. Cameron’s vocal wails continue to layer the track until it builds and expands and climaxes with monstrosity as Winter screams ‘and you’re buying the ticket motherf*cker!’ with drums and guitars exploding around the room as the band breaks the ice of new material with an already-moshing crowd. It ends with a bang, thunderous applause, and a new sound already unleashed.

Opening the set with an unreleased song set the precedent of an unpredictable setlist, but when the beautiful, awe-inspiring riff of ‘Cobra’ floated into the room, the tissues were already out. It was a very soft performance of one of Getting Killed’s best and definitely calmed the crowd, and when ‘Husbands’ was to follow, the room was hanging on Winter’s every word. I feel that the balance between Geese’s quite heavy, chaotic style and these softer, melodic pieces is why they’re such an interesting band, it’s pure diversity that captures such a spectrum of emotion.

Photo by Max Falvey

For the rare Geese fan that dislikes the softer moments, the following 20 minutes of headbanging, crowd-surfing chaos is where they’d feel more comfortable. Getting Killed’s title track erupted from the band's five members, followed by an insane run of 3D Country’s ‘2122’ and the spiky, brilliantly raw ‘100 Horses’. Crowd surges and tension at the barrier didn’t affect the ever ready crowd, who screamed every single lyric and riff melody back at their creators. The band sounded absolutely fantastic, relishing in these smaller, sweaty rooms where they honed their skills, prepping for the upcoming summer of festival crowds high in the five figures.

The Hamburg audience became one of the few from this tour to be treated to two unreleased tracks, as the extremely rare ‘I Will Let You Down’ emerged live for the first time since 2024. The unfamiliar audience enjoyed a rest from the endless movement, and the band seemed to enjoy flexing their malleable ability of switching styles on the fly. Following this, I smiled at the very small but cute moment of a fan simply waving at Cameron while he was tuning, and he smiled and waved back. You could call it nonchalance, but I found it quite sweet.

Moments of calm where breaths could be caught and water cups could be passed around were always gone as soon as they came, as another armed explosive, ‘Bow Down’, my personal favourite, was unleashed. Cameron’s vocals and Dominic’s bass make this one so powerfully emotional, heavy and thumping, yet weirdly groovy, that I feel it mixes all of Geese’s elements so, so perfectly. Fan favourite and Getting Killed’s most emotional ballad, ‘Au Pays du Cocaine’ was to follow, sounding so huge in the room whilst being such a beautifully soft song, where Emily and Revaz really shine, and finally had me wiping tears from my eyes.

For the first time that evening, Cameron retreated from centre-stage into Sam Revaz’s synth area, hunching over the keys and elegantly backed by spotlight as the crowd watched his every move. After a short, sweet moment of messing around with the pitch of the keys and making Emily laugh, Winter kicked off the band’s absolute opus, their longest and most chaotic art-piece, the mind-boggling ‘Long Island City Here I Come’.

Photo by Max Falvey

The closing track off their latest record has every band member not only firing on all cylinders, but playing to their maximum musical ability. It’s a chaotic cacophony that fires up to 200mph as Winter wails like never before, Dominic plays the nastiest bass riff you’ve ever heard and Max is smashing his drums like he has 4 arms. It’s their masterpiece, and once the song crashed to its end as the room eased its apparent elevation, the crowd simply looked on and applauded in disbelief. Off the band walked to an outpouring of adoration, with each one of the 1,500 crowd members aching from limb to limb yet proudly wearing smiles on their faces. But we all knew the best, and most violent, was yet to come.

Geese emerge for their encore, with everyone in the room knowing that only one song must remain. Winter plucks the opening, delicate chime. Green fires off the two-string riff. And with Bassin’s snare hit, ‘Trinidad’ begins. For its three verses and nuclear explosions following the line ‘There’s a bomb in my car!’, I wouldn’t be surprised if Docks' concrete floor cracked. Emily Green’s vicious guitar thrashing and Winter’s wild vocals rattled the crowd into a frenzy. It was joyous to take part in, painful, uncomfortable, chaotic, wild, beautiful. I’m not sure how they can ever close a set with anything else ever again.

So with that, without a goodbye, Geese retreated like nothing had happened. The most talked about band on the planet, clearly worthy of their stature, and still without a single f*ck given. The Reeperbahn hadn’t felt such a shockwave since Lennon and McCartney played the Star Club, and while taking over the mantle, Geese seem fully prepared to go stratospheric.

Live: Just Mustard's Wall of Sound Rocks NYC // 09.09.25

A rainy night in Brooklyn saw Dundalk expert experimentalists Just Mustard shake the foundations of Williamsburg’s National Sawdust this week, just over a month before their hotly anticipated third record ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’ explodes and distorts its way into the world. Despite being 10 years into their journey, the five-piece band fronted by Katie Ball showed that their best work is right on the horizon.

Photo by Max Falvey

A healthy amount of tote bags and doc martens fill the room to begin the night. Friends are met and made, conversations about the band and recommendations of similar, brilliant Irish noise electrify the room. Something is happening here tonight, and all those in-the-know are eager to be a part of it. 

The packed out audience wasn’t only treated to one brilliant set of experimental guitar music however, as Queens-based solo artist Miss Grit played a beautifully haunting set to open the show. With a mix of unreleased tunes and a couple from her 2022 album ‘Follow The Cyborg’, her unorthodox riffs and fuzzy, brain vibrating tones had the crowd begging for more. 

The songs she performed with her Fender Jaguar and heavy backing beats were tough and abrasive, a sharp contrast to her very sweet and shy anecdotes between songs. A large boo from the audience after the announcement of ‘one song left’ gave her the highest honour an excellent opening act deserves. However, the anticipation for what was to follow couldn’t be higher.

Photo by Max Falvey

Just Mustard absorb the stage in silence. A forceful wave of cheers from an audience that hails 3,000 miles from Dundalk fail to affect the band’s stoic and focused faces. With no introduction, we’re straight into ‘Seven’. The first of only two offerings from their last record, 2022’s brutally powerful ‘Heart Under’, really helped to emphasise the evolution of the band’s sound, as a definite shift from moody, brooding sounds has led to this new era being brighter, fuzzier, and more lyrically positive. ‘POLLYANNA’ was next, raucously opened by bassist Rob Clarke, and instantly the room was alive and dangerous.

Guitarists David Noonan and Mete Kalyoncuoğlu have always been a spectacle to watch live. One with the fastest guitar picking in the west and the other always fiddling with pedal faders to make your bones shake with telecaster distortion. The new stuff from ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’, six of which we were treated to, emphasise this more than ever. ‘Silver’ sees Noonan firing between chord changes like no Mustard song has ever seen, and ‘Somewhere’ has Mete exuding Kevin Shields levels of noise. Katie Ball, of course, looms over these new tunes with a familiar grace.

After a few deeper cuts from their fabulously dark debut record ‘Wednesday’ and a brief announcement from Katie that merch will be available after the show, it was three songs left to see if National Sawdust’s decades old foundation could withstand the amplified earthquake coming its way.

Photo by Max Falvey

The title track and my personal favourite of all the singles released so far, ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’, marked the beginning of the end. This song is so sonically complicated, so full of fury and layered with effects, that it's an extravaganza to see the band effectively build the song on stage. And once it’s all up and running, it didn’t seem like an easy beast to tame. Effects and notes can sway and surge uncontrollably, drummer Shane Maguire strains to keep the whole thing afloat, but my god it sounds fantastic and a wonder to see performed live. 

The noisiest of them all, ‘Seed’, the band’s classic closer for the last 3 years, has finally been bumped to penultimate status. Mete still spends 90% of the song on his hands and knees wrestling with his pedal board to keep the whole thing moving, but it’s the new ending, ‘Endless Deathless’ that warrants attention. Good christ, never before have I heard something so furious sound so magical. This song is a true force of nature, one that has each member of the band firing on every element of their ability. After a 4 minute explosion of guitars, drums and haunting vocals, it was with a brief thank you that the band retreated into the darkness.

A seemingly never ending queue of New Yorkers then swirled around the venue to get their purple ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’ tees as compliments for the band were passed between semi-muted and tinnitus-threatened ears. I imagine I wasn’t the only one strolling around Greenwich Village the next day proudly repping the Mustard, and the rest of the world better be ready to take notice.

The Voidz' 'Human Sadness' - A Lesson In Unusual Music

It's very rare for a song to exceed 10 minutes, an implausible feat in the modern age of music you could say, but if one does attempt such an outrageous runtime could it ever possibly be coherent or even listenable? Well, in this case, it's absolutely not - and that's what makes me love it even more. One of my favourite songs EVER is the maddening, overdramatic brain-breaking soliloquy that is 'Human Sadness', an 11-minute genre-less and chaotic masterpiece courtesy of The Voidz, a side-project from The Strokes' leading man, the ever melodramatic eccentric, Mr. Julian Casablancas. The song was released in late 2014 as the lead single from the band's debut record 'Tyranny', and ironically releasing through Cult Records, has since become somewhat of a cult classic, falling quite a bit behind in popularity compared to the bands more successful and ever-so-slightly more mainstream material from their second album, the brilliant 'Virtue' from 2018. For me, however, this song's alien-like weirdness, overflowing with emotion, reaches as far as anyone could possibly venture into the sonic capabilities of what we call music.

The opening bass-line of 'Human Sadness' instantly hypnotizes you, almost luring you into a false sense of security that this song will maintain such a peaceful vibe throughout, but there is something off-putting about the calmness of the first section of the song, almost like a threat is looming over it. Casablancas' hummed opening lyrics of "Vanity, overriding wisdom..." give a hint of this song's self-reflection as well as personal deflection which will continue to evolve and eventually attack your ears across the next 10 minutes. One of my most adored aspects which manages to survive through the chaos and re-appear later in the song is the auto-tuned verse, roughly quoted from a poem by Rumi which says; "Beyond ideas of right and wrong, there is a field, I will be meeting you there". Ugh, how beautiful is that? The Voidz' use of auto-tune, while weird, could now be considered their trademark as its use here and on their 2019 banging single (which is currently my ringtone) 'Did My Best', and only adds to their artistic weirdness. From a lyrical point of view for the entire Voidz catalogue, the words peak here.

'Tyranny' Album Cover (left) and Single Artwork for 'Human Sadness' (right).

While 'Human Sadness' does have it's beauty, most of the middle section even I would say is quite harsh to listen to. Part of why I love the song is that it trudges through it's self-made storm. Once the opening fades out past it's quirky double-guitar solo and briefly enters this phase of what feels like being above the clouds during a brutal storm,  it quickly barrels back toward earth and the song gets caught up in a musical hurricane to the point where every instrument and Casablancas' voice all meld together into one. It's not merely a wall of sound, but a universe, and in moments it becomes purely incomprehensible. BUT... it finds it's way out, and eventually the beautiful bassline reveals itself to you once more which is a very welcome return, and Jules' strained and almost relieved voice closes out the song, still holding on to the desperation he began it with. "All is lost, I'll find my way. I say, to be is not to be. To be is not the way to be..." Now, while I could argue that this is my favourite song of all time, the album that beholds it I don't have too much praise for. The other 11 tracks on 2014's 'Tyranny' are mostly, for me, brutally unlistenable. I can honestly appreciate the harsh musical abandonment from Casablancas' usual style, but man, this album just isn't it. Aside from the hardly bareable 'Nintendo Blood', I don't think I'll ever be able to name another record that reeks this badly yet also somehow manages to have one single saving grace in the most beautiful piece of music that has ever graced my ears.

The Voidz performing live in 2018.

Anyway, not much information about the creation of the final song can be found online, however the 2-minute long demo surfaced not too long after the song's release as it plays over the credits for the track's music video, and can be found here. This softer, more synth-centric version was co-written by songwriter Simon Taufique and used in the short documentary 'The Unseen Beauty' about New York painter, Sam Adoquei. The demo is a fascinating listen if you're a fan of the final 11-minute version or just Jules' music itself. It's only the final section of 'Human Sadness' played very softly on a synth, absent of chaos and incessant production, but lends itself more to a softer Strokes style track, or Daft Punk's 'Instant Crush' featuring Casablancas. I love that it shows a different side to the final product. But that is all! One of the songs that lives proudly in my heart, and I hope that one day Casablancas will knock us out with something that's 12 minutes long. Thank you for reading.

Slowdive's 'Hide Yer Eyes' - An Unreleased Masterpiece

Unreleased albums are fascinating, aren't they? From The Beatles' self-rejected 'Get Back' record in 1969 to Green Day's 'Cigarettes & Valentines' which was stolen from their studio in 2003, most artists always seem to have material that was never supposed to make it beyond the studio. But in the case of Slowdive, one of the pioneers of the 'shoegaze' genre of the 90's, their catalogue of unreleased material that has eventually leaked onto the internet is easily two albums worth of absolutely stunning ethereal music, songs so good that it's mind boggling to think that they were never supposed to be heard. And now, almost 30 years since it was recorded, Slowdive's 'Hide Yer Eyes' is their unofficial masterpiece that was never meant to leave the vault. This is its story. 

Fanmade Cover Art for 'Hide Yer Eyes'

Slowdive are a band who were never allowed to have their moment on top. After their first 3 (brilliant) EP's blew critics away, the band caught the attention of a certain Alan McGee who himself was still a few years away from discovering Oasis. McGee promptly signed the band to Creation Records in 1991 and their first LP 'Just For A Day' was released only a few months later. When it looked as if nothing could go wrong, not just negative but almost hateful critical reviews for their debut completely derailed the band's momentum and the relationship they had with their fans, critics and even management was damaged. 

The following year was bleak for the band as lead vocalists/songwriters Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell ended their romantic relationship, and despite the band itself not breaking up it didn't help morale as they were already trudging their way through a tour for an album that nobody, including the band themselves, even liked. Once the gruelling UK tour was over, Halstead locked himself away in order to write material for a new album, in an attempt to get the band's momentum going again. Despite the reception for 'Just For A Day', Alan McGee still had faith in Slowdive, but he made sure to be strict on what they would release in the future. Throughout 1992 Halstead and the band brought over 25 songs to McGee to be approved for their next record, and he proceeded to turn down every single one, deeming them 'just not good enough'.

Slowdive in 1991.

Now, while many would say that Alan McGee was a genius at discovering and recognising quality music in the 90's, myself included, in my personal opinion he was embarrassingly wrong here. In the late 2000's, long after the band's demise in 1995, fans were finally given the opportunity to listen to not all, but some of the Alan McGee rejected tracks when previously unreleased Slowdive songs began to randomly appear on the internet. Songs like 'Joy', 'Sleep' and 'I Saw The Sun' revealed a divinely otherworldly sound that drew on the band's early EP's, only now boasting much wider personality and even more reverb. It's still unknown where these songs came from or who found them, but their distinct lack of quality despite being studio recordings suggest they were taken without permission. Each unreleased track has a sort of fuzziness about it, as if they're on a very dusty record playing through an old set of speakers. But don't let that deter you, if anything their 'old' sound adds to their mysticism, and each and every one is utterly brilliant. 

In 2011, a record label called Ali Philosophy pressed a 10 track bootleg LP under the title of 'Hide Yer Eyes', named after one of the unreleased, now unofficially released, tracks. Complete with new original artwork, their self-curated album brought together 10 of the rejected tracks from 1992 and to date, this bootleg record is the only evidence of any of these songs being pressed to vinyl or having any sort of release to the public, outside of Youtube videos. The album's tracklist is below. 

'Hide Yer Eyes'

1. Summer Day

2. Bleed

3. Sleep

4. Silver Screen

5. Dagger (Electric)

6. Ending

7. Joy

8. Hide Yer Eyes

9. Richard

10. I Saw The Sun

A 2011 Alt Philosophy pressing of 'Hide Yer Eyes' with alternate artwork.

Each of these songs and more unreleased Slowdive material that wasn't put on this 'album' was written for Slowdive's proposed second record as I mentioned earlier. After the 25+ songs were rejected by Alan McGee, Neil and Rachel, still drowning in their respective heartbreak, conjured up 10 more songs which turned into 'Souvlaki', Slowdive's 1993 album which is their undisputed magnum opus and I would possibly say is current favourite album and has been for some time. But as much as I adore it, I can't help but feel as if some of the 'Hide Yer Eyes' stuff is even better than bits of 'Souvlaki'!

The opener, 'Summer Day', is less 'shoegazey' than your average Slowdive song, still featuring the eclectic and dreamy guitar tones but a driving drum beat and deep vocals reveal a slightly heavier sound for the band, and Halstead's cinematic storytelling within his lyrics is as captivating as ever. And with 'Bleed' and 'Sleep', I've always sort of seen them as a pair. With each being respectively sung by Neil and Rachel, it's almost as if they're talking to one another through separate songs. 'Bleed''s strange and hypnotic like riff is quite a contrast to 'Sleep', which to this day remains one of Slowdive's only acoustic-like songs. I love them both, but how 'Sleep' was deemed not good enough is f*cking stupid.

Rachel Goswell (left) and Neil Halstead (right) in 1991.

Track 5, 'Dagger' will seem familiar to Slowdive fans as it's also the emotionally battering final song on 'Souvlaki', however the 'Hide Yer Eyes' version features a beautifully moody electric guitar rather than the officially released acoustic version. Either way, it's such a beautiful song that sees Neil in his most vulnerable state, and I'm grateful we get to see two sides to it. But as we move onto 'Joy', the fact that these songs were rejected becomes even more baffling. As per it's namesake, 'Joy' is Slowdive's attempt at a Joy Division song, starting out with a eerily strange guitar riff that's quickly joined with a intensely powerful drum beat, and Halstead's vigorously winding lyrics are so good they would've made Ian Curtis proud. This may be my all time favourite Slowdive song, and despite being performed live a handful of times in 1991, it's a crime this never made it on an album.

And to end, while the title track of 'Hide Yer Eyes' is a gorgeous blend of acoustic and shoegaze vibes, it's the closing song of 'I Saw The Sun' that should be regarded, with no shadow of a doubt, as shoegaze royalty. If you work your way through all of Slowdive's unreleased material you'll quickly notice that so much of it focuses on the sun, or summer, so whatever motivated Neil Halstead's obsession with the sun certainly manifested it's way into some beautiful music. 'I Saw The Sun' is this almost-operatic shoegaze treasure that makes you feel like you're dreaming. How this seemed out of place next to the (also stunning) material on 'Souvlaki' literally doesn't make sense, but I suppose that could be said for most of the tracks 'Hide Yer Eyes'. A beautiful hidden album that's cherished by those who yearned for more Slowdive for so many years, and I'm so glad it now exists in some form. Thank you for reading.

Live: Green Day's 'American Idiot' - The Musical Rocks The Gaiety Theatre // 23.03.19

Green Day's 'American Idiot' is my favourite album, ever. From all song writing, story telling, and emotional perspectives, it's perfect. In 2009, five years after the album was released, it's story was adapted into a Broadway Musical, which toured the world with multiple variations of cast and in different languages, until 2014. This year marks the 15th Anniversary of the American Idiot album itself, and the 10 Year Anniversary of the Broadway Adaptation's birth, and with this came a Re-Run of the Broadway show, which is able to harness the powerful political, life and love messages of American Idiot's story, while having you singing along to every word through tears and laughter. It's brilliant.

Sam Lavery as 'Whatsername' (left) & Tom Milner as 'Johnny' (right).

I saw this show in 2012, but since then my memory of the show had faded. I remember it being amazing but back then the message of the album hadn't really hit me yet, and I didn't understand the story. So going into seeing it on Saturday night, I was so f*cking excited. The show begins with a TV on stage playing news highlights of multiple George W. Bush Press Conferences around the time of 9/11, since the story of the album is set within his presidency. It then jumps straight into the entire cast singing 'American Idiot', then straight into the 9 minute masterpiece 'Jesus Of Suburbia'. Now I hate to say it, but even though it was just the first two songs, I wasn't that impressed.

The way these songs were sang, seemed to be very 'cheery', if you know what I mean. The tone of everyone singing sounded positive, optimistic, rather than the pain, angst, and anger that's meant to fuel the first two opening tracks of the album. But after that, everything is pretty much nailed from a singing and performance perspective. Tom Milner is brilliant as the lead, Johnny. There's a scene about three quarters of the way through, where his character takes a hit of heroine. It's about a 6 minute performance where no words are spoken, and there's silence around him and from the crowd as he injects himself and suffers the sudden consequences. His acting here was just fantastic, it seemed real, he showed pain and relief, confusion and anger. That scene hits hard.

Luke Friend as 'St. Jimmy' (left) and Ton Milner as 'Johnny' (right).

Stand out tracks from the whole show are 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams', which is performed mostly acoustically just by Tom Milner, and he nails it. I'll save my favourite song from the show for a bit later on, but 'She's a Rebel' was brilliant as it was mixed with 'Last Of The American Girls' from '21st Century Breakdown', which was a nice surprise. 'Homecoming' was also fantastic.

Sam Lavery as 'Whatsername' is very good, and her rendition of the song 'Letterbomb', in which she tells Johnny that she's leaving him, is amazing. If there's one negative I have to talk about though, is Luke Friend as 'St. Jimmy'. I loved his voice, god it was great, but I feel that the role was completely mis-cast. If you watch the Music Video for 'Jesus Of Suburbia', you'll see the St. Jimmy character. It's a punk, a rebel, if anger could be portrayed through a person. That character shouldn't be represented through long blonde hair. I did like the outfits, it made the character, which is an altar-ego of Johnny, look like a God or a Prophet, a figure of power as he takes control of Johnny. But his look was completely off. Was a fan of Friend's voice, outfits and style, but sadly I think this could've been cast better. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day actually portrayed St. Jimmy during a few shows of the Musical in 2010, I'm not saying that's what it should still be, but he has the perfect look for the character.

St. Jimmy in the Music Video for 'Jesus Of Suburbia'.

There is one thing that I need to talk about though. My favourite thing about this show, the main thing I took away from it. The show implements many B-Sides from American Idiot, like the brilliant 'Too Much Too Soon' and 'Favourite Son', and also unreleased song 'When It's Time', but it also heavily features a lot of '21st Century Breakdown', Green Day's followup album to American Idiot. Songs like 'Know You're Enemy' and 'Before the Lobotomy' are perfectly used to advance the story, but oh my god, 'Last Night On Earth'. This is Green Day's most beautiful song in my opinion, and I didn't ever expect to hear it featured in the musical, I only expected '21 Guns' from 21CB to be featured, and it actually wasn't. But when Last Night On Earth started to play, it was an indescribable feeling. Goosebumps, it hit so f*cking hard. This song fits perfectly into the American Idiot story, and it's such a beautiful song. I just can't describe how perfect it was here. Listen to the original recording, it's just so good, and was my favourite part of the musical. A live acoustic performance from Green Day is below, please watch it, it's one of my favourite songs.

So overall, the 'American Idiot Musical' is brilliant. A dodgy start which is quickly perfected with stripped back acoustic performances, stunning emotional scenes, a great mix of love, comedy and sadness. A great story, brilliantly executed. Still can't get over last night on earth. I give the show 8/10. Thank you for reading.

Live: TOUTS & Inhaler Light Up The Academy as Ireland's Next Guitar Generation Emerges // 20.03.19

The Academy is a Music Club situated right in the heart of Dublin, and is the ideal place to hear the best music Ireland has to offer, with gigs from all walks of music being performed literally daily, there's always something on for everyone. Last night I attended a Gig for 'TOUTS', a Teenage 3-Piece Punk Group from Derry, Northern Ireland. They were being supported by another up and coming Irish Band, 'Inhaler', a Pop/Rock 4-Piece who are fronted by Elijah Hewson, the son of U2 frontman, Bono. Now I went into this blind, with my interest being fully focused on Inhaler due to their hype and story, basically seeing if they could live up to what everyone is saying about them. They were fantastic, but I left the Gig being f*cking blown away by TOUTS. Overall, the night was brilliant, but for a €10 ticket? Insane.

TOUTS - From left to right; Jason Feenan (Drums), Matthew Crossan (Vocals & Guitar), Luke McLaughlin (Bass).

I'll get onto Inhaler later on, but now I just want to give my opinion on TOUTS. I knew nothing about this band going in to last night, no clue about genre, look, members, nothing. It was a €10 ticket that I bought for the support act, and left in confusion about why I hadn't already discovered this Undertones, 2006 Arctic Monkeys and Ramones Crossover Group where every song has this Punk anger, mixed with comedy and angst that will at the same time make you want to dance. The voice of lead singer Matthew Crossan really has that Feargal Sharkey Undertones feel, with both singers being from Derry, but TOUTS' sound is louder, angrier, happier, and more punk than even The Undertones themselves. Bassist Luke McLaughlin also performs vocals on many songs, and he has a great voice which when backed by Crossan's piercing guitar riffs it makes the band sound unstoppable.

They also really have that early Arctic Monkeys era feel about them, the sound is obviously different but the feel and energy is spot on to those 2005/6 AM performances from dingy London, Manchester and of course Sheffield Clubs. They played mostly new material during the gig, which left the crowd more paying attention than moshing, and I'm sure this was the case as a sighting of a phone was actually quite rare during their performance. But towards the last few songs, a good section of the crowd was head banging away. After now copping on and investigating the band, my favourite songs are 'Political People' and 'Saturday Night Scumbag', these two stuck out to me most at the show. I highly encourage you to dive into their material, it's punk through and through.

TOUTS performing at The Academy in Dublin on March 20th, 2019.

So, it could be said that Inhaler have big shoes to fill. But I do get the feeling that they're not trapped inside that U2 or Bono shadow, I think they have this young cult following right now, that treat them for what they are rather than what they're expected to be. Inhaler took the stage first last night, and walked out to zero reception. The place was about a third full, and the crowd was dead silent for their arrival. Elijah's only words before the opening song were, 'We're Inhaler', spoken with calmness and confidence, almost knowing that despite the sh*t crowd reaction, they were about to f*cking rock the place. By the end of their brief 6/7 song set, the crowd was fully behind them. They were very good, but they've only four songs released as of now. I think a full album release could propel these guys to the f*cking moon.

Inhaler performing at The Academy in Dublin on March 20th, 2019.

So all I can say is, check out these two bands. They compliment each other very well, live and just for listening, and are two hidden gems inside of Irish Music, which cannot go unnoticed. Thank you for reading.