Sad deaths, glorious sounds, ticket chaos... 12 talking points from Irish music in 2023
L-R: Bono, Radie Peat and the late Sinéad O'Connor
The Dunboyne/Dublin pop star sold out four shows at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre at the start of December before heading to Dingle for Other Voices, and has a headline gig at Fairview Park already set for June 2024.
That’s all off the back of the second album Crazymad, For Me, which features one of the best collaborations of the year in the John Grant-featuring ‘Where are Your Kids Tonight?’.
Add to that appearances on Later… with Jools Holland and the Graham Norton Show, plus perhaps CMAT’s own highlight of 2023, chatting with Marty Whelan on his Lyric FM show, and it’s capped a sensational year for one of our hardest-working musicians.
Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan will always be linked by their 1995 duet ‘Haunted’, but how sad that 2023 is the year the two tortured souls left us.
O’Connor died, aged 56, on July 26, MacGowan leaving us aged 65, on November 30, just as ‘Fairytale of New York’ was getting dusted off for its annual rotation on radio.
The similarly troubled/adored Aslan frontman Christy Dignam also passed away this year, on June 13. Music will never see their like again.
The numbers involved in Las Vegas’ newest venue Sphere are mind-boggling, so what act do you get to open such an outlandish project? U2, of course!
The pictures from their U2: UV Achtung Baby show were jaw-dropping, the band dwarfed by the visuals changing all around them, and reports were overwhelmingly positive of a show that put the veteran Dublin band back on the cutting edge in terms of technology.
Dave Fanning has been a constant on 2FM since it launched in 1979, and while he was only (under-)utilised in recent years on a weekend show, it was still a shock to see he was going to “split the scene for a while”, as he put it on his Instagram page, announcing the decision.
He’s still there on bank holiday Mondays, when U2 have a new song to premiere, has a weekend show on RTÉ Gold, and also hosts Virgin Media’s Fanning at Whelan’s, so at age 67, he’s not gone too far.
The crisis at RTÉ began with the revelations around Ryan Tubridy’s pay but it’s become all-encompassing.
As the Journal of Music pointed out, in the broadcaster’s new vision document, A New Direction for RTÉ, of the 36 photos used in the 32-page manifesto, 25% of them are of musicians - though the word ‘music’ only appears three times. Among a number of swingeing cuts was the axing of digital stations including 2XM - classic-music curio RTÉ Gold is assumed to be safe for now.
It seemed like RTÉ never really knew quite what to do with 2XM, but it has been a proving ground for young and passionate DJs, such as Limerick’s Peter Curtin. Where do they go now to have their voices heard?
Taylor Swift! Coldplay! Two of the biggest acts in the world are pitching up at the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park for three and four nights, respectively, next summer, with about half-a-million people set to experience the spectaculars.
But spare a thought for those of us (ahem) who spent literally hours in the Ticketmaster queues, waiting and waiting before coming up short - at least our wallets were grateful.
It seems to be a regular occurrence now for the biggest shows, that demand is far outweighing demand and TM is creaking with the digital queues.
Allied to all this is the usual Liveline-esque furore about hotel price hikes, lack of accommodation, and outrage at the cost of tickets.
As ‘surge pricing’ sadly becomes part of our musical lexicon - higher prices in line with demand - it’s all only going in one direction.
Speaking of One Direction, Harry Styles headlined Slane Castle on June 10.
His pull is so impressive: Styles played to 50,000 at the Aviva Stadium in summer 2022, and 80,000 less than a year later.
Freddie Mercury crossed with Elton John, as our review put it, Styles put on a colourful show, one that secures his status among the biggest stars in the world.
There were four mentions of ‘rain’ in our ‘festival essentials’ list, so we were prepared.
And yet, not even music offers an escape from the effects of climate change.
Body & Soul and Beyond the Pale (targeting the same demographic, it was an own goal holding them on the same solstice weekend; thankfully they’re a week apart next June) both endured bad weather.
On the August bank holiday weekend, All Together Now was a mudbath and Mitchelstown’s Indiependence (which has announced a hiatus in 2024), told campers to stay in their tents due to wind warnings.
At the boutique Another Love Story in Co Meath two weeks later, it was a similarly muddy story, though organisers at least had plenty of haystacks to hand.
Electric Picnic-goers, though, are probably still suntanned from one of the best weekends of the year.
A House played Whelan’s on September 22, Fight like Apes did the Olympia in March, Simple Kid was in Whelan’s in April, and the Wormholes played the National Concert Hall in June - just a snapshot of acts we thought were long gone but who made triumphant returns across 2023.
They may not have been world-beaters in their (respective) days but considering tickets were snapped up for them all shows they left a big impression.
What nostalgia acts will be dusting down their instruments over the next 12 months?
The Wolfe Tones never really went away, so we can’t count it as a comeback, but the sheer scale of the crowd at Electric Picnic was astonishing to see, about 15 people deep at its second stage.
They’re surfing an interesting wave of momentum off the back of the cultural impact of ‘ooh ahh, up the Ra’ chants that they immortalised in ‘Celtic Symphony’.
It took them to a sold-out show at the Olympia in November and after 60 years together, they’re planning on calling it quits in 2024, with two dates at the 3Arena in October already sold out.
The Gig for Gaza charity show was swiftly transferred from Vicar Street to the 3Arena at the end of November due to demand.
While that’s a testament to Irish people’s relationship with Palestine, musically it felt like a tipping point for our plethora of trad and folk acts.
Lankum - topping myriad albums-of-the-year lists with their fourth record False Lankum - and the Mary Wallopers are the heirs to Planxty and The Pogues, while Lisa O’Neill and her unique voice are nothing short of startling.
Dare we say it’s a golden age?
“Can the Govt say with a straight face that it supports the night-time economy?” asked the Give Us the Night lobby group on X, formerly Twitter, following Budget 2024, pointing out: “Govt had many options to ease pressures on the night-time sector today, and have done literally nothing. Needless to say punitive [special exemptions orders] costs (which should be gone by now) remain intact.”
It is hoped that legislation allowing nightclubs to open until 6am will be in place for next summer, though whether the facilities - transport obviously but also venues themselves - will actually be in place is another thing altogether.
