Heroes, hits, and controversies: 13 talking points from the world of music in 2025
It's been quite the year for music, with some interesting breakthroughs, several sad losses, and the issue of Palestine being front and centre.
The three-part Sky Documentaries series in February 2 turned out to be a surprisingly gripping watch - even for sceptics. With interviews from Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch, and Mikey Graham, plus rare archive footage, it peeled back the glamour to reveal the toll of fame: tabloid scrutiny forcing Stephen Gately's outing, internal rivalries, and raw grief at his 2009 death. Louis Walsh, the architect of their success, emerges as the pantomime villain, of course.
Chappell Roan pulled the biggest crowd in 20 years of Electric Picnic on the Friday night this year (the Wolfe Tones may dispute this) - Ireland was eager to finish off their summer with the Pink Pony Club. What an interesting, outspoken superstar she is. In February, she donated $25,000 to a US-based charity supporting artists' mental health, after an emotional speech on stage as she collected a Grammy Award for best new artist. Charli XCX matched her donation in the following days. The pair, alongside Sabrina Carpenter, headlined festivals all over the world. This was the year the girls finished the job they started in 2024.
In January, artists including Olafur Arnalds and friends associated with the biennial arts and music festival Sounds from a Safe Harbour performed a heart-rending version of We Didn’t Know We Were Ready on The Tommy Tiernan Show. It was in honour of the late Eoin ‘Talos’ French, who had died the previous August. A posthumous album, completed by Arnalds followed in July, while the festival kicked off this year’s edition with a sold-out concert at Cork Opera House. It was an emotional triumph, as myriad artists covered Talos’ songs. Eoin, much missed, would’ve been proud.
This year is closing out with the news that Ireland is among the countries who have withdrawn from Eurovision due to the ongoing participation of Israel. It is the culmination of a couple years of pressure, from participants themselves such as Bambi Thug, and ongoing vocal support for Palestine from copious Irish acts. While the likes of Taylor Swift stay mum on the genocide, Kneecap led chants of 'Free Palestine' at Glastonbury (not that you’ll have seen their outing as the BBC decided against screening it; Bob Vylan was vilified for his chants of ‘death, death to the IDF at the festival); at Primavera in Barcelona, Fontaines DC displayed the message: “Israel is committing genocide. Use your voice.”
Hozier called for a free Palestine during his Reading Festival headliner. Meanwhile, the Murder Capital had a show cancelled in Berlin in March after a venue refused to allow a Palestinian flag on stage. The Mary Wallopers faced a similar situation at Victorious Festival in Portsmouth as organisers cut the sound as they came onstage.
Kingfishr and Amble both released their debut albums in 2025 - of course Halycon and Reverie hit top spot in the charts. The former’s cover of Killeagh coincided with Cork’s surge through the hurling summer - we won’t mention the final. Kingfishr packed Live at the Marquee for two July nights - fans belting the song back at them like a national anthem - and are rounding off the year with a couple sold-out shows around the country as well as a starring cameo on the Toy Show. Amble, meanwhile, have sold out every show from Philadelphia to London on a three-month tour that culminates in a trio of gigs at the 3Arena.
Is Zach Bryan this generation’s Garth Brooks? His trio of Phoenix Park sell-outs in the summer evoked Garth Brooks' Croke Park frenzy. He’s got some relatively ‘intimate’ shows lined up at Cork’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh next summer. Meanwhile, Luke Combs was the top-searched artist of 2025 in Ireland — he’s got two dates booked at Slane Castle next July, with The Script as special guests. Country music has taken over the US charts and Ireland is powerless to resist.
Tickets were like gold dust even before they went on sale in September 2024. Eleven months on, as the Gallagher brothers rolled into Croke Park, any cynicism, snobbery, and sneering was left at the canal outside - this was weepy nostalgia writ large and it was beautiful. The world tour has since concluded, but there are so many that missed out that Noel and Liam could play it all back again in 2026.
From hanging out with Nick Grimshaw at the Brit Awards to potentially having an influence in Fianna Fail deciding against a Bertie Ahern presidential run - that worked out well for them - nobody did it better than the Dunboyne Diana in 2025. Back in lockdown, CMAT just wanted to be a cowboy, baby, but now, she’s writing state-of-the-nation call-to-arms such as the title track to third album “All the big boys, all the Berties, all the envelopes, they hurt me. I was 12 when the das started killing themselves.”
The handwringing about Oasis ticket prices - and scalping - might have been forgotten about by the time the first bars of Hello hit, but gigs haven’t escaped the cost-of-living crisis. Three-figure sums for the big shows are becoming the norm - tickets for Electric Picnic 2026 are already sold out, with prices topping out at over €325. And for anyone travelling from outside Dublin for shows in the capital, the real pain comes after the purchase: Hotels, trains, buses, taxis. A night at a big gig is now a full financial undertaking.
Cork marked the 30th anniversary of the sad loss of Rory Gallagher (June 14, 1995) this summer. Cork Rocks for Rory saw exhibitions, talks, and tribute shows to the virtuoso guitarist. The highlight was blues legend Joe Bonamassa playing three sold-out shows Live at the Marquee.
There were any number of stories about AI in music that might make you worry about the future for real artists. Timbaland, one of the definition producers of the noughties, launched an AI entertainment company, Stage Zero, and released a single with AI artist Tata Taktumi. Meanwhile, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard were among a number of acts to leave Spotify due to owner Daniel Ek’s ties to an AI drone company.
Yet they found themselves cloned almost immediately after leaving the platform by an act called ‘King Lizard Wizard’ with fake tracks algorithmically pushed under the band’s abandoned profile. A stark illustration of just how messy — and ungoverned — the AI music landscape has already become.
A sobering year of farewells: Linda Nolan, Paddy Cole, Rick Buckler, Angie Stone, Roy Ayers, Dave Allen, David Johansen, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Wilson, Sly Stone, James Prime, Mickey MacConnell, Ozzy Osbourne, Nicky Ryan (the architect of Enya’s sound), JD Twitch (Optimo), D’Angelo, Johnny Duhan, Sam Rivers (Limp Bizkit), Dave Bell, Todd Snider, Mani, Jimmy Cliff, Chris Rea.
The Eras Tour finished up in December 2024, but Taylor Swift was still busy in 2025. She announced her engagement to Travis Kelce, went on his podcast to reveal news of her 12th studio album, and released a docuseries about the Eras Tour in December. She always dominates the headlines, but was a stumble, met with bad reviews and disappointed fans. The less said about Wood, the better.
