“The closest Western Civilisation has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper album was released.”…
Another Fine Mess – Laurel & Hardy’s Month in the Royal Marine
Photo: Laurel & Hardy silhouettes on the sea front at Redcar, North Yorkshire, England “We are very pleased to be…
Forty Shades of Brexit
Why painting London town green this Friday is a good idea, and how art will help forge our post-Brexit future…
The xx – A Sort of Homecoming
Photo credit: O2 Academy, Brixton The xx presents Night + Day, Various venues, Brixton, London It started by announcing three homecoming…
Lost in Scotland starring John Peel
“We all have appointments with the past.” – W.G. Sebald While watching Lost in France recently, my mind wandered back…
Girl Band: Best Irish act since Villagers
Until Friday night, I hadn’t seen Girl Band play their own headline show, and despite briefer encounters at festivals, I…
xx marks the spot
The xx, Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Hamburg, Germany When I last saw the xx, they were performing two spellbinding Christmas shows in…
First Look: Beyond Carvaggio
It’s finally here. Hailed by The Irish Times as the Spring blockbuster exhibition where “painting’s bad boy rock star comes to…
25 years of UNKLE
Prepare to feel old. UNKLE are 25 years young this year. To mark the occasion, UNKLE’s maverick lynchpin James Lavelle…
The Man Who Fell to Leith
Photo: Alberto Gamazo Irvine Welsh is Scotland’s leading chronicler of all manners of junkies, miscreants, schemies, hooligans, psychos and misfits. His…