JIM CARROLLon music
ONCE UPON a time, it was only the poor sods in the music and showbiz hackery game who had to put up with the desperation of the ticket- selling promoter. In the lead up to a major outdoor summer show, the emails and phone calls were ceaseless as the promoter and their spin doctors tried every trick in the book to gain column inches and radio show mentions in an effort to flog some tickets.
Back in the dark days when I did PR, I once spun a Fats Domino gig as “your very last chance to see the New Orleans legend in Dublin!” The show sold out so the promoter decided to bring him back a year later. That gig, though, didn’t do as well.
Thanks to social media, these dodgy machinations, such shady sleights-of-hand and incredible claims are now lobbed at the Twitter timelines of the masses.
There will be a few tweets about the weather and how the sun happens to be shining on that particular patch of grass when it’s strangely absent everywhere else. There will be a clarion call to “get your tickets early”, as if all 45,000 tickets for the gig might sell out.
Promoting live music at a time of austerity and cutbacks is a hard game. People still want to be entertained, but the cost is often beyond them. Without those ticket sales, the promoter can’t put on the show. Cue the cycle of desperation, retweeted again and again and again. Something to bear in mind when you see promoters throwing optimistic long-range weather forecasts for the August bank holiday at you.
KODALINE
Anthemic, widescreen, emotive rock from the Swords band now signed to the RCA label. Debut Steve Harris-produced EP is released in early September, but check out Lose Your Mind for now or catch them at the Indiependence and Le Chéile festivals next week.
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MINER
Folky harmonies and hooks to make you beam with delight from the LA band. Frontman Justin Miner was formerly of Fight From Above but is finding new momentum from recording with friends and family at home in Silver Lake. Check out Hey Love from the band’s forthcoming debut EP.
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STEALING SHEEP
Anyone for some medieval psychedelic folk? Liverpool trio Emily Lansley, Becky Hawley and Lucy Mercer are the ones behind this superb racket, which has already had them touring with Tune-Yards and St Vincent. Debut album Into the Diamond Sun is out next month.
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Jessie WareDevotion (PMR)
Soulful, deep, intense pop from the English singer- songwriter who made a mark through collaborations with Sampha, SBTRKT and The Joker.
Alt-JAn Awesome Wave (Infectious)
One of the finest alt art-rock albums of the season chock-a-block with impressive twists and turns.
Bruce SpringsteenRocky Ground (Columbia)
One of the standout performances from the second of last week’s Springsteen shows in Dublin.
Owiny Sigoma BandDoyoi Nyajo Nam (Quantic remix) (Brownswood)
Booming remix from Quantic of the London-Kenyan band playing Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on Sunday night.
