Former Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll tells Richard Purden about the mad times when five Manc-Irish lads became one of the biggest rock bands in the world

Although hyped as a 'Dublin band' after the city in which they were formed, both the singer and guitarist of the Murder Capital are from Cork, writes Ed Power.

To the centre of the city where all roads meet, waiting for New Order. It’s 26 years since Manchester’s gloomiest played a non-festival or support show in Ireland and much has changed in the interim.

Paul Linehan, from Cork, is the singer and bass player of The Frank & Walters. On Friday, May 10, the band headline the entertainment at the Barry Group Race & Taste Festival which takes place at Cork Racecourse Mallow on May 10 and 11.

UK folk hero June Tabor returns to Cork, a city she first played in the 1970s, with her genre-defying trio Quercus, writes Ed Power.

90 minutes of irresistible alt.pop.

Although he is slow to distance himself from his biggest hit, Mike Rosenberg tells

The duo behind I’m Too Sexy are back – but they never really went away, they tell Ed Power.

The Electric Picnic headliners are relevant again, despite four decades on the road, writes Ed Power

Editors, stronger and as stable as ever, are looking forward to returning to Ireland for their headline slot at Indiependence, writes Ed Power

4/5

MUSIC NEWS: Perhaps it’s fortunate for the Glastonbury organisers that Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs isn’t on their bill this weekend. 

Jesse Armstrong’s observations on posh people have borne fruit in his debut novel and his writing for sitcoms such as Peep Show, says Richard Fitzpatrick

Tom Cruise, Tim Curry, Bear Grylls and Joy Divison

What is immediately apparent on Johnny Marr’s new record is that there are elements of all the stages of his career dictating proceedings.

Contented and writing the best songs of his career, Lloyd Cole really is a merry old soul, says Joe Dermody

Conversations

Martin Phillips wasn’t sure he wanted to come back. It’s 15 years since his band, the Chills, toured Europe. He worried whether anyone still cared — if the 40-hour flight from his home in Dunedin, New Zealand, was worth the inconvenience and expense.

PETER HOOK emits a blokey chuckle. "Ian Curtis had very big shoes to fill," says the former Joy Division and New Order bassist. "Bernard Sumner’s shoes aren’t that big actually — about the same size as mine. So that worked out okay."

Peerless punk poet John Cooper Clarke will be in Dublin and Cork over the next week. The first time he gigged in Ireland was back in "1979ish" at the Project Arts Centre. He was then at the height of his fame.

Leopardstown Racecourse have announced the line-up for Bulmers Live at Leopardstown.

FAITH HOLGATE doesn’t understand the fuss. “Everyone is going on to us about being a ‘girl band’,” shrugs Holgate, lead singer with buzzy Manchester guitar act Pins. “We didn’t realise people would make such a big deal of it.

MUSIC NEWS: Singer, opera composer and champion of African music, Damon Albarn can now add radio presenter to his list of talents.

ONE of the strangest sights at the recent Electric Picnic festival was the mass exodus from the main stage ten minutes into the swoonful noise-rock of My Bloody Valentine.

Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division

Paul McCartney joined Damon Albarn at his Africa Express show in London this weekend.

When I gave up my job on the docks to be a musician, my mum thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life.

MUSIC NEWS: If you’re not a fan of Olympic boxing, some of the best sporting fun of recent days has been the verbal sparring between Elton John and Madonna.

Australian duo Dead Can Dance have ended a long silence by recording their new album Anastasis in Ireland, says Ed Power

New Order were the festival circuit veterans at Forbidden Fruit in Kilmainham.

Manchester legends New Order are heading to Ibiza to play their first gig on the island more than 20 years after they adopted its Balearic sound for one of their most successful records.

The pioneering indie-dance band New Order have reformed without bass player Peter Hook for a series of live shows across the world and singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner hopes they eventually get to record new material.

The Drums’ frontman Jonathan Pierce has alienated his pastor parents by turning his back on religion, says Ed Power

U2 closed the first day of Glastonbury tonight with a greatest hits set.

SLANE is over for another year but Irish festival season is only beginning.

U2 frontman Bono contacted UK band Joy Division after their singer died to tell them U2 would take their place.

THE west Clare area is set for a major “surf” dividend with a two day surf and music festival over the June bank-holiday weekend.

Bjork is halfway through making her seventh album.

Late broadcasting legend John Peel is to return to the airwaves, as the BBC airs a series of his finest moments.

WHAT with all the young people planning to leave the country apparently, now’s the time to brush up on those foreign sports.

IT WAS supposed to be a beautiful day.