Soulé, Maria Kelly, John Cummins
St John the Baptist Church, Drumcondra, Dublin Friday September 29th 8pm €15 glasdrum.ie
Acoustic music and subtle spoken word in a 17th-century church deliver a certain level of classiness that is often aspired to yet rarely attained. This gig won’t have that problem. With separate sets from songwriters and musicians Soulé and Maria Kelly – each of whom is so cool and hot right now – as well as our favourite poetician, John Cummins, you can assuredly bet there won’t be room to budge in such a beautiful, compact venue.
Shellac
Róisín Dubh, Galway Friday September 29th 9pm €25/€23 roisindubh.net
Tivoli Theatre, Dublin Saturday September 30th 7pm €25 tivoli.ie
Black Box, Belfast Sunday October 1st 7.30pm £18 blackboxbelfast.com
It doesn’t matter what flag of convenience you cover them with, Chicago’s Shellac is one of a kind. Formed in 1992 by guitarist/producer Steve Albini and drummer Todd Trainer, the band’s initial loose, collaborative style fused into a post-hardcore sound where traditional verse/chorus/verse structures don’t get a look-in. Expect sparse, minimalist and asymmetric music delivered with vigour. You might want to check out the support act, too: Il Sogno Marinaio features Mike Watt, a one-time member of Minutemen, Firehose, and The Stooges. Oh, yeah.
Indoor Garden Party
Olympia Theatre, Dublin Sunday October 1st 8pm €39.50 ticketmaster.ie
The last time Australian actor Russell Crowe was in Ireland he ended up blasting out a few tunes on The Late Late Show. He was pretty good, too – loose, well suited to performing, handy with a guitar. Indoor Garden Party, as the name suggests, inhabits a similar space, as Crowe – in cahoots with Canadian musician Alan Doyle, Swedish producer Carl Falk and vocalists Scott Grimes and Samantha Barks – delivers original material in rock/pop/soul/folk areas, as well as some well-known cover versions.
The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble
National Concert Hall, Dublin Sunday October 1st 8pm €30/€25 nch.ie
Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and Portishead’s Adrian Utley oversee an ensemble cast of musicians that opens up what Moog synthesisers can with a variety of forms: original compositions (one of which, by Gregory, was written to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the instrument’s creator, Robert Moog), classical works (Bach, Messiaen), film soundtrack (John Carpenter) and pop music (Burt Bacharach). A one-off concert? Definitely that, and a must-see, too. A pre-show public interview with Gregory and Utley, conducted by this writer, takes place in the venue at 6pm.
Grizzly Bear
Vicar St, Dublin Wednesday October 4th & Thursday October 5th 7.30pm €32 ticketmaster.ie
With a new record label (a major one – Sony) now pushing and shoving Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear even further into the centre of the spotlight, it remains to be seen whether the band's two linchpins, Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen, can advance their love of progressive Americana to an audience that could well sustain them for another few years. New album Painted Ruins certainly has the songs, so let's hope they and the fanbase can stick together. Special guest act is Liima, a side-project from members of Efterklang and Finnish drummer Tatu Ronnko. In other words – a support act you shouldn't miss.
John Murry
Whelan's, Dublin Wednesday October 4th 8pm €17.35 whelanslive.com
Now living outside Kilkenny city, US songwriter John Murry has a deserved reputation for writing and delivering songs that are closer to the edge than most. Reasons for this become all too apparent when you know the man's backstory, but another factor is Murry's innate, and intense, sense of purpose. His latest album, A Short History of Decay, is imbued with flawed personal experiences and visions of better things to come. If you haven't seen him perform before, then get to this one – someone like Murry doesn't come around too often.
Lady Antebellum
3Arena, Dublin Thursday October 5th 8pm €79.28/€69.28/€59.28 ticketmaster.ie
Back in 2007, Lady Antebellum (Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood) played small Nashville venues, waiting and hoping to be signed by a major label. Up to this point, Scott hadn't got past the audition stages for American Idol, while the lads worked construction jobs to make ends meet. When Capitol Records Nashville came a-knocking, however, it resulted in a series of hit songs, albums, and so many awards that the rest of Nashville almost gave up. Firm Irish favourites, the band return to plug most recent album, Heart Break.
