Listen to the Land Speak review: A meandering love letter to a half-forgotten Ireland Television: Manchán Magan’s latest documentary is set against the backdrop of his stage four cancer diagnosis Thu Jul 17 2025 - 23:10
Mix Tape review: Unspools like a glorified cover version of Sally Rooney’s Normal People Television: Set in Sheffield but filmed in Dublin, the story hangs on the implausible premise of a rekindled teenage crushTue Jul 15 2025 - 21:30
Bill Callahan, high priest of 1990s bedroom angst: ‘Dublin was an early adopter of me’ For many years the indie songwriter refused to talk to journalists, but middle age and parenthood have brought a new mellownessTue Jul 15 2025 - 05:14
Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale: ‘I’m doing sexy body rolls, but I’m wearing lobster claws’On Moisturizer, the post-punk band’s thrilling second album, the Grammy-winning singer flexes her rock-star musclesSat Jul 12 2025 - 05:27
No laughing matter: Poor Creature on goth folk, Kneecap’s Gaza stance and their love of Philomena BegleyRuth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada talk about how the themes of the 18th- and 19th-century songs on their new album All Smiles Tonight still resonateSat Jul 12 2025 - 05:17
Dexter on Paramount+ review: One of modern pulp TV’s great creations is still tremendous funTelevision: This sequel series is grippingly giddy viewing – with the ever-reliable Hall joined by a high-wattage cast including Uma Thurman, Krysten Ritter and Peter DinklageFri Jul 11 2025 - 16:00
Wet Leg: Moisturizer review – Furious guitars, hummable melodies and pure, uncomplicated joyRhian Teasdale and co’s second album brilliantly refines all that was great about their brash, bouncy debutFri Jul 11 2025 - 04:59
Too Much review: This is the Netflix viral hit that everyone will be talking aboutLena Dunham, star and creator of Girls, has returned with a whipsmart comedy that is endlessly amusing in its idea of London Thu Jul 10 2025 - 14:00
RTÉ’s Noraid: Irish America and the IRA leans towards the Che Guevara version of history Television: First of two episodes leans ever so subtly towards Che Guevara version of history – never mind the body count; look at the cool poster we got out of itWed Jul 09 2025 - 22:35
Jessica Pratt: ‘I’m not in awe of many people’s bodies of work in the way I am with Brian Wilson’s’The creator of the extraordinary album Here in the Pitch discusses The Beach Boys, California and her dreamlike confessional popWed Jul 09 2025 - 05:10
Debbie Harry turns 80: what next for Blondie? The band have a new album on the way – although, following drummer Clem Burke’s death, it is unclear if they will tour againSun Jul 06 2025 - 06:00
Talos: Ólafur Arnalds on finishing Eoin French’s final album – ‘A lot of the time I could feel him next to me ’ For the Icelandic musician A Dawning is not a project about death so much as an outpouring of joy and an acknowledgment of the preciousness of lifeSat Jul 05 2025 - 05:31
Ólafur Arnalds & Talos: A Dawning review – Five stars for this emotion-filled celebration of Eoin French’s lifeThe musicians were so dialled into each other that it’s hard to say where one’s contribution ends and the other’s beginsFri Jul 04 2025 - 05:10
Squid Game review: A rewarding third season filled with thrills, spills and a gripping final twistTelevision: Impactful the end of Squid Game certainly is, and a marked improvement on underwhelming second seriesThu Jul 03 2025 - 17:40
The Phone Box Babies review: Hugely moving account from Ireland’s Handmaid’s Tale eraTelevision: The RTÉ documentary on three siblings abandoned as babies in the 1960s is grim and fascinatingWed Jul 02 2025 - 22:35
1923 review: Yellowstone prequel is a well-put-together drama apart from Helen Mirren’s Irish accent Television: More about mood than plot, this violent melodrama is filled with hard-bitten tales of inexpressive men bending the world to their willTue Jul 01 2025 - 22:00
Lana Del Rey in Dublin review: By far the strangest performance the Aviva has hostedThis gig raises the question of where artistic expression ends and doing right by your fanbase beginsTue Jul 01 2025 - 13:45
The days of families huddling around the Late Late Show or Glenroe are gone - and that’s no bad thingTV standouts such as Adolescence or Squid Game only underline a sense that the era of truly popular culture is slipping awaySun Jun 29 2025 - 07:00
Lorde: Virgin review – Glittery, gritty and fabulously absorbingElla Yelich-O’Connor’s fourth album is a brooding blockbuster as visceral and emotionally gory as Solar Power was darkly becalmedFri Jun 27 2025 - 12:16
The Bear review: The restaurant needs a recipe for success if it is to survive, both on screen and in realityTelevision: The restaurant needs a recipe for success if it is to survive, both on screen and in realityThu Jun 26 2025 - 12:37
Natasha review: Moving insight into brutal personal experience that became a national lightning rodTelevision: Documentary about assault of Natasha O’Brien and her subsequent fight for justice makes for sober viewingWed Jun 25 2025 - 22:34
Olivia Rodrigo at Marlay Park: A fantastic show in a tremendously awkward venueRodrigo is not just another Disney-approved star but a Gen Zer with a deep headbanging spiritWed Jun 25 2025 - 09:38
The Gilded Age review: Pretty but dour show about snobbish New YorkersTelevision: Julian Fellowes’s spiritual successor to Downton Abbey is lacking in both fun and a true understanding of blue blood upper-crust AmericaMon Jun 23 2025 - 21:00
Lorde: ‘Last time I was in Ireland I was deep in the weeds’When Ella Yelich-O’Connor was last in Ireland she was working through a break-up and the aftershock of an eating disorder. Her new album has helped make her whole again, she saysSat Jun 21 2025 - 05:25
Haim: I Quit review – Ferociously catchy, satisfyingly grudge-bearingDanielle Haim’s had her heart broken, and you’re going to hear all about in the sisters’ wonderfully vituperative songsFri Jun 20 2025 - 12:52
Grenfell Uncovered on Netflix: First-rate journalism highlights how working class victims were left waiting for answersTelevision: Immediate aftermath of tragedy carries clear echoes of official response to Stardust blazeFri Jun 20 2025 - 09:00
Heston Blumenthal: My Life with Bipolar: Gripping account of celebrity chef’s journey from denial to diagnosisTelevision: One of the themes of this fascinating and admirably honest film is Blumenthal’s fear that the drugs that help his mind may have snuffed out his creativity Thu Jun 19 2025 - 21:00
Story of a Song review: How Spandau Ballet’s Through the Barricades emerged from the TroublesTelevision: Engaging Aistear an Amhráin series is the sort of show RTÉ needs to make more ofWed Jun 18 2025 - 15:47
Charli XCX live review: Pop star fails to become queen of Malahide Castle as she brings Brat to DublinThe British singer gives a good account of herself at this fun, upbeat gig – but it is no blockbusterWed Jun 18 2025 - 10:50
Bruce Springsteen: Tracks II – Lost albums brim with emotional generosity, suppressed pain, and machismoThese 83 songs run the gamut from old-school rock’n’roll to rumpled country pop via new wave, indie rock and cinematic mood musicTue Jun 17 2025 - 00:00
Uncharted with Ray Goggins: Once Joe Canning thaws this tropical thrill ride is a fine full stop to a rewarding seriesTelevision: Hurler Canning and athlete Thomas Barr prove unusually personable by sports star standardsWed Jun 11 2025 - 22:35
Brian Wilson: Death of towering figure closes a chapter in music historyAs the tortured visionary behind The Beach Boys, Wilson helped shape the world we live in todayWed Jun 11 2025 - 20:01
Ed Sheeran has as much right to call himself Irish as The Pogues or The SmithsTelevision: What could be more Irish than a singer with a guitar emoting from the bottom of their boots?Wed Jun 11 2025 - 15:04
Love Island review: Even with two Irish hopefuls in the villa I’m ready to pack my bags and head homeTelevision: This year’s lineup is a likeable but pretty unspectacular bunch, lacking in ‘look at me’ reality TV energyTue Jun 10 2025 - 12:09
From that Small Island review: Colin Farrell sounds in pain, as if he pressed on despite urgently needing the looTelevision: RTÉ documentary feels more like a dry academic exercise than something intended to bring history alive for viewersSun Jun 08 2025 - 19:30
Slowdive at In the Meadows review: Forget Oasis, this sonic supernova is the perfect 1990s comebackAlternative-pop underdogs produce a wondrous serving of balmy space-popSun Jun 08 2025 - 12:41
Iggy Pop at In the Meadows review: Old-school rock has rarely felt so timeless and incendiaryThere is never a hint of nostalgia throughout a turn that feels powerfully rooted in the here and nowSun Jun 08 2025 - 12:21
Gilla Band at In the Meadows review: Musical Marmite from Ireland’s own Velvet UndergroundThe listener experiences a sort of indie-rock Stations of the Cross through the band’s brutally uncompromising performanceSun Jun 08 2025 - 12:06
Little Simz: ‘I was about to play the biggest show in my career. Meanwhile, everything behind closed doors is insane’As the rapper, producer and actor releases her album Lotus, a very public falling out has made her reassess who she trustsSat Jun 07 2025 - 05:26
Pulp: More review – Jarvis Cocker and co’s great bait and switchPulp’s first album for 24 years features a fantastic opening track, then a grim drizzle of indie ploddersFri Jun 06 2025 - 00:01
Dept. Q on Netflix: A thumpingly bingable thriller fuelled by mordant wit and a world-weary detectiveTelevision: Starring Matthew Goode, this forensic mystery threaded through a cantakerous cop story gradually reels you inThu Jun 05 2025 - 16:26
Stick review: Owen Wilson is full of charm in this wry, unassuming golf comedyTelevision: The Apple TV show has a satisfyingly ambling quality but there is one caveat for the Irish viewerWed Jun 04 2025 - 11:48
Story of a Song review: Delve into the ballad Grace falls short of filling us in on its afterlifeTelevision: But as a sort of idiot’s guide to Rod Stewart’s favourite Irish weepy, Aistear an Amhráin ticks the boxesTue Jun 03 2025 - 19:30
Putting on an outdoor music festival in Ireland: ‘The bands saw they weren’t going to be up on the back of a truck in Portlaoise’Be it Glasonbury or Forest Fest, a good line-up is key for any music festival. How do Irish organisers attract the biggest names?Tue Jun 03 2025 - 05:20
Housewife of the Year review: A reminder that Ireland of the 1970s and 80s was no country for women of any ageContrast between picture the women presented beside ‘Uncle Gaybo’ and present-day selves is strikingMon Jun 02 2025 - 22:45
Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful review – Like Bangerz without the bangers, or Flowers without the bloomThe star’s first album for two years is an ambitious yet ultimately patchy, underwhelming recordFri May 30 2025 - 10:54
And Just Like That... Season 3 review: Nostalgia served up like a gift box of premium cupcakesTelevision: The sequel to beloved Sex and The City series finds its groove, but still relies on original trioThu May 29 2025 - 14:15
Nessa Barrett in Dublin review: A star on the rise in need of time to find her voiceTikTok singer with a cult fanbase has a few good songs, but needs to up her game if she’s to shed the ‘internet famous’ tagTue May 27 2025 - 12:30
Death Valley review: Timothy Spall effortlessly commands the screen but this BBC drama strugglesTelevision: Cosy crime series set in Wales is well intentioned but an odd character pairing fails to deliverMon May 26 2025 - 15:49
The Last of Us finale review: A nerve-shredding, bloody conclusion that leaves us wanting more, and soonTelevision: The series has delivered a riveting portrayal of the tragically unintended consequences that can flow from revengeMon May 26 2025 - 06:00
