We all know that story of the small town band that gets noticed on YouTube and makes it big. Boyce Avenue are the latest band in this trend. However, they are not just another name to add to the ever-expanding list! The band deliver fresh acoustic sound and songs with real sentimental meaning. They embody what all music should be in this time of dance and techno takeover!
BY CHRISTOPHER SHARKEY Continue reading
Returning to Belfast for a second time, Kristian Matsson – or as most people know him by his stage name, The Tallest Man on Earth – performed to a most reverent crowd in the Mandela Hall. Support act and fellow Swedish songster, Amanda Bergman, opened the show. No one in the crowd was prepared to hear such a strong performance from the supporting act. Lulling the crowd into silence with a rendition of Cat Power’s ‘Naked If I Want to’ among many other covers and some of her own songs, Bergman appeared lost in the music and playing only to herself, seemingly unaware that she had the whole audience entranced.
BY JANETTE LOUGHLIN
With catchy songs, great stage presence and a talented support act, Jimmy Eat World pleased the crowd on their return to Belfast. Opening for the band were More Than Conquerors, replacing the scheduled Minus the Bear who had to cancel during to ferry crossing problems. The band and its members are relatively young and unknown on the local scene, yet they are still talented musicians making them a good support act for the American band.
BY MARK STEVENSON
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2010 saw The Drums quickly climb in to position as one of the most name-dropped bands around. They went from being placed fifth on the BBC’s Sound of 2010 list to playing venues all over the UK on NME’s Awards tour a month later. With influences such as The Smiths, Joy Division and The Shangri-las it’s not surprising that the four New Yorkers had the Mandela Hall audience under their spell in no time.
BY ABBYE NELSON
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Porcupine Tree appeared on the cramped stage of the Mandela Hall and struck their first ever chord in Belfast. They didn’t look like much at first, stumbling around the stage like Ann Widdecombe giving it her all on Strictly Come Dancing. After launching so unassumingly into their first song, however, the band made it clear that after years of touring they knew how to give a solid performance.
BY EAMONN CUNNINGHAM
Mumford and Sons returned to Belfast with a decidedly louder bang on Saturday night, finding their audience swelled both in number and enthusiasm, since playing the Open House Festival here in September. The sold out gig had been upgraded from the Spring and Airbrake due to excessive demand, and Mandela hall was packed to the rafters with a rather eclectic collection of fans. Hailing from the same London folk scene as Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale, the band has received considerably more media attention than their contemporaries, and many would claim, rightly so.
BY ROISIN MURRAY