In an effort to make more frequent (but sadly briefer) updates, here I am, popping in real quick to comment on two shows I went to in the past week. The first was a "Frighten the Horses" event at Block T in Smithfield (a nice easy walk from our house) featuring Ophelia MC, a really impressive rapper, local group FELCH, a band from Berlin called Koolthing, and Brooklyn band MEN, which features JD Samson of Le Tigre fame.

I got the MEN album a few days prior to the show and listen to it about 20 times, so I was well pumped for the show. Unfortulately we missed the first band, FELCH. Ophelia MC was on when we arrived and she has mad skills! But the sound at Block T was inexcusably horrible. Unfortunately things did not improve with Koolthing, and once MEN came on, it was downright embarrassing. They nearly cut the set about two or three songs in, but as it was they only played for 30 minutes or so. The crowd was kind of oblivious to their own personal space, so I was (even more than usual) bounced around like a pinball all night, which made me pretty grouchy. Anyhoo - here's a little MEN video:


Last night we ventured to the Grand Social for D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), an American punk band from the 80s. They hadn't played in Ireland for 22 years! The show was 90% dudes but I really enjoyed the show. Of course I didn't venture into the circle pit, but everyone there was really nice and respectful. Mark had a grand old time getting pummeled in the pit. Here's a youtube video of the show, for anyone interested:

Here I am, trying to keep up with my posting! Yesterday I went to my first festival in Ireland. Well, ok, so some might say it wasn't a proper festival because there was no camping involved, but let's face it, I'm too much of a princess for camping with thousands of drunk people. That just does not appeal to me in any way, shape or form. For those who don't know, a music festival is this large area featuring multiple stages where you can see any number of musical acts and DJs, with stalls that sell food, drinks, snacks, and other goods. They're usually really expensive but ironically mostly only young people go to them.

Yesterday the weather was wonderful and sunny but breezy. After a leisurely morning of sitting in the back garden with the laptop, finding the perfect hotel for our long weekend in London next month, we walked over to the grounds of IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) to the Forbidden Fruit Festival. We arrived sort of on the late side, but managed to catch Wild Beasts. You know that saying, "Hell is other people?" Well, at first I thought, "what on earth possessed me to come to this thing?" because, well, I guess I just generally do not enjoy crowds. The lines for alcoholic beverages were hundreds of people deep, so it didn't seem worth the effort. So we watched the band while drunk people tottered all around us -- and it wasn't even suppertime yet! But somehow I think your mind/expectations adjust and you just get used to it. Wild Beasts weren't that great live (though I do like their music), but after they were done we found a couple of friends and headed over to get some felafel. I think that improved my mood, and we headed over to a couple of the tents, where there was dance music playing. I took a little video of it:


Next up on the big stage was Yo La Tengo. I've always really liked their music but only had a couple of their albums. Mark had seen them once before and didn't like them so we had low expectations. Luckily, the show was entertaining and enjoyable! Here's a crappy photo I took with my crappy camera:

The crowd was considerably different from the Wild Beasts crowd: older folks in their 30s, more conservatively dressed, overwhelmingly male. It was kind of funny!

We checked out the other tents again, and then made it back to the main stage for Flaming Lips. I saw them once before on Lansdowne Street in a somewhat small venue, back in 2002 or so. This was a whole other experience. Here's a little video I took right at the start of the show, to give you an idea:


The show was pretty cool, with confetti and large balloons being shot into the crowd.

As show went on, the sun set, and the show became a bit more spectacular.

As the encore finished, we took off, beating most of the sizable crowd stumbling out of there! But before the show ended, I took a short video of their last song, one of my favorites (unfortunately used for an advertisement, but let's not think about that):

We walked back having enjoyed ourselves, and rewarded ourselves with a couple of pints on the way home!