Music Reviews

Music Reviews
The best Irish albums of 2023 — ranked
Music Reviews
This Life by Take That: A bunch of middle-aged millionaires with very little to say
Music Reviews
David Holmes’ vital new album is worth the 15-year wait, while John Francis Flynn’s second album likely to get Choice nod
Music Reviews
Dolly Parton’s singular voice takes centre stage with rock’s big names in her new album Rockstar

Albums of the week: Mountain Goats invent a dizzy world in Texan rock opera, and DJ Shadow’s nostalgic return
Fri 03 Nov 2023 at 03:30
The Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’ review – last ever single is a song that sounds like it has always existed
Thu 02 Nov 2023 at 18:16
Corrine Bailey Rae takes Guinness Jazz Festival audience on pulsating journey back to roots of racism
Mon 30 Oct 2023 at 13:24
Albums of the week: Sampha’s dazzling return and Glen Hansard shows off his songcraft
Sat 28 Oct 2023 at 03:30
Barry Egan: Picture This deliver awesome display of brooding emotion that leaves the crowd on its feet
Fri 27 Oct 2023 at 13:22
Rolling Stones get their mojo back in thrilling fashion on Hackney Diamonds
Fri 20 Oct 2023 at 03:30
Album of the week: CMAT keeps it country but sets her sights on the mainstream
Fri 13 Oct 2023 at 11:00
Sufjan Stevens revisits his low-key early style in intimate collection while Ed Sheeran delivers more schmaltz
Mon 09 Oct 2023 at 07:42
Barry Egan: It was weird without Larry Mullen Jnr, the dome was even weirder – but it certainly wasn’t U2 going to the Las Vegas desert to die
Sun 01 Oct 2023 at 12:05
U2, Sphere review: this spectacular concert will change live entertainment forever
Sat 30 Sep 2023 at 12:46

Music Reviews

The best Irish albums of 2023 — ranked

This Life by Take That: A bunch of middle-aged millionaires with very little to say

David Holmes’ vital new album is worth the 15-year wait, while John Francis Flynn’s second album likely to get Choice nod

Dolly Parton’s singular voice takes centre stage with rock’s big names in her new album Rockstar

Albums of the week: Mountain Goats invent a dizzy world in Texan rock opera, and DJ Shadow’s nostalgic return

The Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’ review – last ever single is a song that sounds like it has always existed

Corrine Bailey Rae takes Guinness Jazz Festival audience on pulsating journey back to roots of racism

Albums of the week: Sampha’s dazzling return and Glen Hansard shows off his songcraft

Barry Egan: Picture This deliver awesome display of brooding emotion that leaves the crowd on its feet

Rolling Stones get their mojo back in thrilling fashion on Hackney Diamonds

Album of the week: CMAT keeps it country but sets her sights on the mainstream

Sufjan Stevens revisits his low-key early style in intimate collection while Ed Sheeran delivers more schmaltz

Barry Egan: It was weird without Larry Mullen Jnr, the dome was even weirder – but it certainly wasn’t U2 going to the Las Vegas desert to die

U2, Sphere review: this spectacular concert will change live entertainment forever

Kylie’s new album Tension finds the singer in a feelgood mood before Vegas residency

Album of the week: The National’s ‘sad dad’ songs on Laugh Track warm the heart

Shania Twain at the 3Arena review: Rhinestone sunglasses, fluffy pink boots and leopard skin pants steal the show

Albums of the week: Nation of Language’s retro fascination continues and The Pretenders show they still have swagger

Barry Egan: Elvis Costello leaves Dublin crowd gasping for breath after mesmerising two-hour show

Barry Egan: I’ve been to every Electric Picnic since 2004 and haven’t seen a headliner as powerful as Billie Eilish

Albums of the week: The Hives and Franz Ferdinand herald the return of boys with guitars

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds review: Musical tribute to Sinéad O’Connor echoes into eternity at Kilmainham gig

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds take to the stage in Dublin

Albums of the week: Birdy finds her wings with 1980s pop inspiration, while Slowdive keep shoegaze flame burning

Hozier hints at a break-up, with help from the Divine Comedy – Dante’s, that is

Mick Flannery: ‘I don’t have the answer to save the nation’

If anger is an energy, John Lydon’s seems depleted

The Joni Mitchell gig we thought we would never hear

Album of the week: Julie Byrne paints raw portrait of love and loss

Gig review: Motley Crue at Marlay Park – Eighties hellraisers put on a thrilling, noisy throwback to a bygone era

Album of the week: Fontaines frontman spins eclectic parts into an enchanting whole with Chaos for the Fly

Dermot Kennedy at Marlay Park: ‘He could out-sing Bono with one hand tied behind his back – and that’s not a criticism of Bono’

Album of the week: Ask AI to make a Sigur Rós album and it would sound a lot like this

Albums of the week: Christy Dignam’s glory days remembered, and death, loss and time tackled with a playful touch by Christine and the Queens

Depeche Mode at Malahide Castle review: fans just can’t get enough... just can’t get enough...

New albums: Noel Gallagher on form, a Joycean tribute by Hibsen and Dave Grohl’s stadium-sized grief

Album review: Niall Horan’s ‘The Show’ secures four stars as he comes up with all the right answers

Royal Blood’s onstage strop was pure entitlement – good audiences need to be earned

New albums by Lorraine Nash and Stephen Shannon: Echoes of Laurel Canyon and sounds with a widescreen scope

John Fogerty, the American son who is ‘100pc Irish’, delights Dublin with his greatest hits

Coronation concert review: Katy Perry is a golden Quality Street in this bizarre musical confection

Bruce Springsteen RDS: The week started with divisive Donald Trump but ended with ‘the Boss’ uniting 35,000

New albums from Cian Nugent and Beach House: Languid and laidback music that celebrates the nuances of life

That! Feels Good! review: Jessie Ware follows her heart to give us best album of her career

First Two Pages of Frankenstein review: The National offer a gentle reprisal of midlife melancholy

Multitudes album review: Feist returns with her most personal album yet

The seven best albums released in March

Revenge of the nerd: the top ten moments from Ed Sheeran’s sold-out 3Arena show in Dublin last night

Bruce Springsteen review: The Boss might stop one day. But for now, it’s no surrender

Gig review: Ronan Keating brings the house down at London’s Royal Albert Hall, with the help of a very special guest

The seven best albums released in February

The seven best albums released in January

The 1975 deliver superlative show, from the baffling to the wildly entertaining

Westlife were never cool and they are no longer a ‘boyband’ but their grown up fans love the dad dancing