This week is a celebration of Irish music. From the international superstars U2, who will be coming to Croke Park tomorrow night for a three-night run, to the vibrant and exciting homegrown music scene right here, right now.
U2’s 360 tour is well under way and if you want to get a taster of the set list and crowd banter so far, look no further than the official blog.
This has good-quality video clips from each night on the tour, complete with some of the highlights, including Bono’s Monday night speech about the 40th anniversary of the moon landing: “I remember it so well, an image of making the impossible possible and I’ve held on to that with more earthly problems …” Looking forward to it yet?
Cluas is a faithful and decade-old documenter of the Irish music scene, packed full of interviews, album and gig reviews, but the most interesting thing about this site is its eclectic collection of music blogs.
We have French Letter and Beijing Beats, both an Irish perspective of the music scene in these climes, while Short Cuts takes in the beats of Sydney. Key Notes explores the alternative Irish music scene, with a particularly amusing post on the Oxegen Festival entitled ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugg Boots’.
Since 2005, the Kilkenny Music Blog has been documenting the music and art happenings in this small, but beautiful, city.
There’s also a link to Carlowmusic.com, so if you live in the Carlow/Kilkenny area, like music and like to write, I suggest you email these guys to get involved and put these counties on the music-blogging map.
I have seen the quirky Brazilian band CSS in Carlow and the jazztastic Finnish Five Corners Quintet at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. There is a music scene – make it stronger!
The Irish music video site Muzu.tv has all the hot videos you could ask for, following it deals with Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI. It is also the official video partner site for both Madonna and Michael Jackson’s websites.
The Muzu.tv blog, which aims to help bands, artists and producers maximise their visibility, will also keep you up to date on new artists added and music news.
By Marie Boran
