Oh Yeah Music Centre has launched a competition to find a ‘wildcard’ for their forthcoming showcase CD, part funded by the Arts Council for Northern Ireland. The compilation follows on from the 2008 Carling sponsored Oh Yeah Sessions CD which featured artist like And So I Watch You From Afar, LaFaro, Panama Kings and General Fiasco.

The new CD which is due for release later this year already features ten acts that were chosen from fifty, nominated and selected by an industry panel after lengthy discussion and a voting procedure.

While the number of nominations is an incredibly encouraging indication of the strength of Northern Ireland's music scene, Oh Yeah have said that there are still many young singer-songwriters and bands out there that are yet to be discovered. Therefore, they are extending the search to find a ‘wildcard’; a band or act with little or no profile with a great track that will be selected by a panel to be included on the new collection.

If you are a young band or singer-songwriter, and would like to be in with a chance of exclusively recording your track to be included, then send a demo to the address below, or alternatively e-mail an MP3 of the track you would like to submit to charlotte@ohyeahbelfast.com

Please include your name/name of band, contact details, telephone number, website (if you have one) and the name of song you would like to enter. Entries no later than 5pm Wednesday 4th August

Address to send Demos to:

Oh Yeah Contenders: New Music Compilation
Oh Yeah Music Centre,
15-21 Gordon Street,
Belfast BT1 2LG

Following their headlining slot at the Latitude Festival last weekend, Belle and Sebastian have announced details of their first tour of the United Kingdom since 2006, with some shows accompanied by a forty-piece orchestra.

Starting off in Belfast, the indie-pop outfit are coming to play the city's Ulster Hall venue on Wednesday 1 December 2010, with the tour ending in a hometown gig at Glasgow's Barrowland.

Tickets for all the shows go on sale tomorrow, Friday 23 July at 9.00AM, available from www.waterfront.co.uk and www.ticketmaster.ie.

Passing through security at the main entrance to the Oxegen music festival, the view ahead is of the Blue campsite on the hill. Housing thousands of cheap temporary dwellings within its fences, the coloured flags flapping overhead feel more like territory markers than helpful site navigation.

‘It’s like Darfur,’ says a glassy-eyed neighbour, tent pitched skewiff a couple of beer slabs away. Things aren’t quite that bad, but after bagging some relatively serene space in the Green campsite to call home for three or four nights, it’s easy to be melodramatic about the alternative. Like a honeymooner upgraded to first class that swears blind never to slum it in economy again.

Storm clouds gathering overhead don’t dampen the spirit in the arena, but the inevitable showers bring a subdued atmosphere to those still in the campsite. Most resort to rest up before the day kicks off proper, but the inclement weather has its benefits.

Northern Ireland’s own tent-bound Joe Echo greets the inpouring of new ears on Friday evening with his smooth electronic infused-rock. With plenty of banter, the ex-Leya frontman Ciaran Gribbin (real name) is clearly in his element, giving us the full band experience on the Hotpress Academy stage.

Rousing the crowd into singing along with new track ‘Tilly’s Cowboy’ and testing the water with ‘Wonderful Way’, it's clear why over the last year he's been working with glitterati like Paul Oakenfold and Madonna. Ending on a high, Joe Echo re-energizes revellers into the drizzle with hands-in-the-air anthem ‘The Heart That Knows Desire’. With help from a few friends and a MacBook, Gribbin delivers a perfect soundtrack for early evening warm-up.

Next morning, the neighbour’s dwelling is already showing the strain of last night’s festival fun; broken poles jutting out with tripped-over guy ropes and a waterlogged entrance. They don’t seem to notice the flooding or perfect circle of litter around them. The concern this morning is what to have for breakfast, ‘Heineken or Stella?’

That’s not to say the conversation raises its game elsewhere. On route to see Panama Kings kicking off the day’s proceedings in the Green Sphere’s Tent, a pit stop is made in the VIP area. Here, you wouldn’t even know there was a 60,000 – 75,000 strong contingent of revellers outside, among six stages and hundreds of world-class music acts.

‘Maybe we should go see a band,’ says one festival goer to his colleague with a genuine sincerity, this overheard epiphany causing a momentary beer-choking incident. ‘What was the point in coming all the way down here to hang out playing mini-golf?’

It’s day two though and we're not just here for the chat, it's about the music and those in search of a grittier sound have dropped into the Heineken Green Sphere’s stage. A hefty crowd gather to half-fill the sizable tent, choosing shelter and dance-rock over the afternoon’s Main Stage opening from The Stranglers.

It’s a ballsy performance from Panama Kings' Niall Kennedy, the frontman making full use of the whole stage with confidence and vocal clarity. With belter of a single ‘Children’ and the hook-laden ‘Mobilise The Kids’ echoing out, Panama Kings show they can hold their own on the festival circuit.

Nashville-inspired Cara Cowan joins the party on stage as a guest vocalist in a sublime cover of Pixies classic ‘Where Is My Mind?’. This goes down an absolute treat with the crowd; they may have come looking shelter, but they leave dancing to Belfast’s rock royalty.

Saturday afternoon sees Bangor’s Two Door Cinema Club upgraded to the Main Stage, and they’ve never looked more suited to the task. Rocking some denim-on-denim, flame-haired Alex Trimble leads the band into a blistering set, consisting of the bulk of their debut album Tourist History.

Songs like ‘Come Back Home’, ‘Do You Want It All’ and ‘I Can Talk’ have a life of their own now, with much love held for the Bangor lads down south if the thousands singing along in the sheets of rain are to go by. The gruelling tour schedule earlier this year has made sure Two Door Cinema Club have honed their craft, their live show tighter than ever before. Despite this, Trimble is still visibly blown away by the reponse of the crowd, telling them: ‘You’ve danced along and that’s what we love. You’ve sung the words and that’s what we love.’

This leaves just enough time to catch a couple of tracks spun by Jack Hamill, better known as intergalactic funk traveller, Space Dimension Controller. By this stage of the set the Red Bull Academy tent has turned into a bit of a rave, with SDC’s loose electro funk replaced with crowd-pleasing classics. Hamill knows this is a festival, not a chin scratching contest, so who are we to argue with the dude in retro gold Adidas and purple glow shades?

On Sunday the pop-up tent proves its weight in gold, folding into the carrybag within seconds. The neighbours look on, curious about the early pack-up. ‘Leaving so soon?’ a girl chirps. ‘Just getting ready for a quick getaway’, comes the reply.

Afternoon on the final day brings with it some sunshine for General Fiasco, the last Northern Irish band of the weekend, who kick off proceedings in the Green Spheres tent with a stampede of teenagers trying to get as close to the front as possible.

The trio lap it up and the short-but-sweet half hour set engages, with furious pop tunes like 'Ever So Shy' and 'I'm Not Made Of Eyes' more than satisfying the young crowd. The highlight, however, is an acoustic version of 'Sinking Ships' which is delivered with passion. This isn't the end of General Fiasco's festival ambitions; next year, bigger stage please.

It's surely the maddest event in Ireland’s music calendar, but come rain or shine, seeing headliners or hanging out in the campsite, people will undoubtedly still have the ‘best weekend of the year’ at Oxegen. As Eminem starts belting out 'Sing For The Moment', others start the car with wheels spinning in the muck to make quick their escape from the revelry of County Kildare countryside, to join the motorway back to sanity.

Make a trip to the Glasgowbury Music Festival this Saturday 24 July and check out some of Belfast's best musicians, including acts like Not Squares, Duke Special, Yes Cadets, the Lowly Knights and La Faro.

With the 'small but massive' music festival this weekend, the full stage times have been announced:

Small But Massive Main Stage
11.00 - 12.00 - Fighting With Wire
9.45 - 10.30 - LaFaro
8.30 - 9.15 - Fight Like Apes
7.15 - 8.00 - Cashier No.9
6.20 - 6.50 - Yes Cadets
5.30 - 6.00 - mojoFURY
4.40 - 5.10 - Rams' Pocket Radio
3.50 - 4.20 - Strait Laces
3.00 - 3.30 - The Jane Bradfords
2.10 - 2.40 - More Than Conquerors
1.20 - 1.50 - Wonder Villains
12.30 - 1.00 - Axis Of

G Sessions
10.00 - 11.00 - General Fiasco
8.50 - 9.30 - In Case Of Fire
7.40 - 8.20 - A Plastic Rose
6.30 - 7.10 - Not Squares
5.40 - 6.10 - Panama Kings
4.50 - 5.20 - Furlo
4.00 - 4.30 - Guests
3.10 - 3.40 - The Q
2.20 - 2.50 - Colenso Parade
1.35 - 2.00 - Gascan Ruckus
12.50 - 1.15 - Key of Atlas
12.05 - 12.30 - Futurechaser

Spurs Of Rock
10.00 - 12.00 - Deep Fried Funk DJs
9.00 - 9.45 - Here Come The Landed Gentry
7.50 - 8.30 - Pocket Billiards
6.40 - 7.20 - Adebisi Shank
5.50 - 6.20 - Triggerman
5.00 - 5.30 - Swanee River
4.10 - 4.40 - Team Fresh
3.20 - 3.50 - The Riptide Movement
2.30 - 3.00 - The Last Tycoons
1.40 - 2.10 - Standup Guy
12.50 - 1.20 - Fingersmith
12.00 - 12.30 - The Rupture Dogs

Eagle's Rock
10.30 - 11.30 - Duke Special
9.15 - 10.00 - Joe Echo
8.00 - 8.45 - Lowly Knights
6.55 - 7.40 - Keith Harkin
6.05 - 6.35 - John, Shelly & The Creatures
5.15 - 5.45 - The Vals
4.25 - 4.55 - John Edgar Voe
3.35 - 4.05 - Paddy Nash & The Happy Enchiladas
2.45 - 3.15 - Silhouette
1.55 - 2.25 - Henrietta Game
1.05 - 1.35 - Jackson Cage
12.15 - 12.45 - Captain Kennedy

G Spot
9.30 - 10.10 - Chipzel
8.30 - 9.10 - Paul Casey
7.30 - 8.10 - Bronagh Gallagher
6.30 - 7.10 - Building Pictures
5.30 - 6.10 - Aaron Shanley
4.30 - 5.10 - Junior Johnson
3.40 - 4.10 - Paul Shevlin
2.50 - 3.20 - Little Hooks

Glasgowbury Festival takes place on 24 July, at Eagles Rock Valley, Draperstown. For more details, see www.glasgowbury.com.

Well loved clubnight 'Animal Disco' goes weekly, from Friday 20 August at Auntie Annies, Dublin Road.

The event was originally formed as a place for local bands to try their hand at being DJs, becoming popular amongst the Belfast scene, only to become a much larger force on the city's entertainment circuit by staging live shows with touring bands and international DJs alongside NI music talent:

DJ Format, Filthy Dukes, Oppenheimer, Not Squares and a host of Irish bands took to the stage in Belfast. Touring acts included Sub Pop's Blitzen Trapper and Wolf Parade's side projects Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown.

For their second birthday celebrations, Animal Disco launches the weekly show at Auntie Annies Attic with the Panama Kings taking center stage on 20 August, fresh from their tent-brimming Oxegen festival appearance. Check out the excellent 'Mobilise The Kids' from the band below:

The line-up for upcoming months has been announced:

Friday 20th August: Panama Kings
Friday 27th August: Girls Names
Friday 3rd September: Kasper Rosa
Friday 10th September: Continuous Battle Of Order
Friday 17th September: Jogging (Dublin)
Friday 24th September: The Alice Kona Band
Friday 1st October: Colenso Parade (Single Launch)

Visuals are provided in multiple form by the fine people at the Belfast Film Festival and music from Animal Disco’s Pablo and Dino (The Limelight) with Declan Gallen (QUBSU/Stiff Kitten).

Tickets for the Friday night shows (including the second birthday) are available in advance up until 6pm every Friday from Auntie Annies Bar.

For further details, check out Animal Disco twitter, facebook or www.cdcleisure.net.

The first night of the 12th Open House Festival is revealed to be London’s nu-folk finest, Mumford and Sons, headlining the marquee at Custom House Square on 6 September.

It's already shaping up to be a phenomenal line-up with Wilco, Iron and Wine, Seasick Steve, Modest Mouse, White Lies, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Felice Brothers, Dave Rawlings Machine, The Low Anthem, Field Music and Villagers all recently confirmed for the Cathedral Quarter-based festival, including a large marquee in Custom House Square.

This latest announcement from Open House represents a major coup considering Mumford and Sons' stratospheric rise in the UK music scene since releasing their debut 'Sigh No More' in 2009. Support on the evening will come from Americana star in the making - Lissie, and new English folk artist Andrew Davie.

Fans of Mumford and Sons should also be interested in checking out Completely Banjaxed, a night of Ireland's top banjo-pickers in the intimate surroundings of the Black Box. This is just one highlight of the festival's full Irish Traditional Music line-up which also includes a tongue in cheek concert challenge, "Girls are better than Boys... Or are they?" featuring leading Belfast musicians Meábh O'Hare and Barry Kerr. Check out the full line-up of traditional gigs and sessions.

Belfast’s own folk royalty, the Lowly Knights, are also announced for the launch of the nu-folk club night, Communion Belfast, the Northern Irish premiere of this London based clubnight and record label which was originally started by members of Mumford and Sons. The show takes place in the Black Box on the festival closing night on 12 September.

Finally, Open House also features an old favourite as Chillifest returns to the marquee - a fiery food & music phenomenon that features funky festival sideshows such as helium karaoke and beard grooming and Ireland's only hot chilli pepper eating contest. Hayseed Dixie have been confirmed as the ChilliFest headliners for the afternoon on Sunday 12 September.

View the current line-up of Open House Festival gigs and find further details and tickets available from coorsopenhousefestival.com.

Boots still muddy from playing in front of thousands of fans on the main stage at County Kildare's Oxegen festival (see video) and Scotland's T In The Park last weekend, electropop outfit Two Door Cinema Club have confirmed they will be playing at the boutique music festival Electric Picnic, over 3 - 5 September, 2010.

The fresh-faced boys from Bangor join instrumental post-rockers And So I Watch You From Afar and Derry electronic trio the Japanese Popstars, in the latest wave of acts announced to play the arts and music festival in County Laois.

Belfast fans don't need to pitch a tent to catch the band play this summer though, as today saw their addition to the Belsonic lineup, supporting 2manydjs/Soulwax on 26 August at Custom House Square. Downpatrick heroes Ash have also been added to the bill, on stage with Kasabian on 17 August.

Two Door Cinema Club's increasing international popularity has secured the act appearances this summer at music festivals worldwide including Spain, Japan, Switzerland and Australia. With Florence and the Machine already sold out, other Belsonic events are expected to follow, so grab your tickets while you can. See the full line up here.

BRIT award-winning Florence and The Machine, indie rockers Kasabian, singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini and Stereophonics have been added to the Belsonic 2010 festival lineup, it's been announced this week.

Building on the massive success since the first Belsonic in 2008 and due to the overwhelming response to the current lineup, organisers have doubled the amount of events to deliver a total of eight nights at Belfast's Custom House Square this August.

The extra concerts add to the diverse range of artists already on the bill including Paul Weller, 2ManyDJs, Biffy Clyro and David Guetta, with the second phase of announcements marking Belsonic as a landmark annual cultural event for the city.

NI bands also feature this year, with Cashier no 9, General Fiasco and the Japanese Popstars playing alongside international icons, representing one of the largest Northern Irish outdoor music events to date.

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Pat Convery said the announcement was 'fantastic news for local music fans'

'Belsonic is a fantastic festival for the city, bringing together international and local musicians to produce really exciting events in the unforgettable surroundings of Custom House Square and there's no doubt that this programme will help to attract even more visitors to come and enjoy Belfast's welcome.'

Building on their 2009 sellout Belfast performance at St George's Market, Kasabian headline the opening night on 17 August. Now three albums in, the band are truly realising their ambition of becoming the UK's biggest rock act.

Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini returns to the city as headliner on 18 August. His last Belfast appearance last year at the Waterfront hall, sold out an impressive eight months in advance. Despite crashing into the mainstream in 2006 with his record breaking debut LP These Streets, the 23-year-old became a household name following the release of his 2009 follow-up Sunny Side Up, debuting at number one in the album charts, and going on to sell over one million copies in the UK alone.

The indie-rock songstress Florence Welch, better known as Florence and the Machine has shot to fame over the last 12 months, with her BRIT Award-winning debut LP Lungs, including the hit singles 'Dog Days Are Over', 'Drumming Song' and a cover of the Candi Staton classic 'You've Got The Love'. Florence and The Machine returns to Belfast on 19 August to headline day three.

Stadium-rocking stalwarts Stereophonics need little in the way of introduction, with seven studio albums under their belt, five of which were UK number ones. The Cardiff four-piece boast a huge back catalogue of hit singles including 'Mr Writer', 'Dakota', 'Have A Nice Day' and 'Local Boy In The Photograph', while their latest LP Keep Calm And Carry On was released to critical acclaim in 2009. The band come to Custom House Square on 19 August.
 

Tickets for the second wave of headline artists at BELSONIC in association with ABSOLUT are on sale now from The Kitten Bar, Ticketmaster Easons (Belfast City Centre), belsonic.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, and their 24 hr line 0870 243 4455.

Day tickets are priced at £27.50 plus booking fees. A limited number of VIP tickets (including improved facilities for 2010) are also be available at £42.50 plus booking fees. Tickets for the first phase of headline acts are still on-sale from the above outlets and you can view the full Belsonic 2010 lineup in our Gigs section.

Trans Belfast organisers have confirmed that Josh Davis, the US producer better known as DJ Shadow, will play the Ulster Hall's Mulholland Organ at his first show in the city for ten years. On the festival website, Trans stated:

'Yes, you heard it right. DJ Shadow will be playing the Mulholland Grand Organ in the Ulster Hall, one of the oldest examples of a functioning classic English pipe organ, at his show on Sunday evening. The idea was first suggested to DJ Shadow when Rigsy was interviewing him for BBC Across the Line.'

Festival organiser Adam Turkington said that bringing DJ Shadow back to Belfast was simply a dream booking:  '(DJ) Shadow in particular, just invented a new art form as far as I'm concerned, just a genius.'

His first full-length album, Endtroducing..., was released in late 1996 to immense critical acclaim in the UK and America, including the now classic track 'Organ Donor', (listen to snippet in player above).

The Ulster Hall's own organ donor was the wealthy industrialist and former Lord Mayor of Belfast Andrew Mulholland, who gave the fantastic instrument built by William Hill & Son to the hall after it officially opened in the 1860s.

DJ Shadow makes his return to Belfast this Sunday to perform live as part of the Trans Belfast festival at the Ulster Hall on 4 July.

Eddie Mullan

The name on the ticket is ‘The Beach Boys’, but the band onstage is something else. Founding lead singer Mike Love and long-time sideman Bruce Johnston are joined by five backing musicians, including Love’s son Christian.

There’s not a Wilson in sight, but it’s hard to begrudge Love the right to tour with this nostalgia show. He’s having fun, making money and putting smiles on a lot of faces (there’s a full house of 2,250 here tonight).

But what this performance at the Waterfront – the Beach Boys’ first Belfast gig since 1991 – underlines is just how good the original group were at producing clever, hook-laden pop songs.

Love, the Wilson brothers – Brian, Dennis and Carl – and Al Jardine were the first and greatest American rock ‘n’ roll band, influencing everyone from the Beatles to the Ramones. It’s sad that surviving members Mike, Brian and Al can’t bury whatever hatchets are preventing them from getting together for one last hurrah.

Perhaps next year’s 50th anniversary will lead to such an event, but for now we have Mike and Bruce’s travelling jukebox. Sixty-nine-year-old Love is in fair voice, though he is propped up somewhat by the sweet harmonies of drummer John Cowsill, bassist Randell Kirsch and guitarist Scott Totten.

The ever-affable Johnston tackles Carl Wilson’s ‘God Only Knows’ vocal, while Christian Love handles Jardine’s parts on ‘Help Me, Rhonda’. It’s a hugely enjoyable, slickly executed run-through of the back catalogue, if a tad crass.

There remains something creepy about Love, as he moves stiffly around the stage, wearing a Beach Boys baseball cap to cover the bald spot he’s been cultivating since 1963 and waggling gold-bedecked fingers at the audience. Still, the frontman certainly has the credentials to pull this off.

He co-wrote and sang lead on many of the Beach Boys’ major hits, and is the only person to have played on each of their 28 albums. Perhaps more pertinently, he is the only Beach Boy not to have died, gone mad or left to launch a rival group, (a recent lawsuit involved Jardine’s ‘Beach Boys Family and Friends’, later renamed ‘Alan Jardine Family and Friends Beach Band’ and finally ‘Al Jardine’s Endless Summer Band’).

Johnston, for his part, spends more time urging the seated crowd to clap and dance than playing keyboards or singing. At times, the closest person Love has to a fellow original member (Johnston replaced the ailing Brian in 1965, and has been there or thereabouts since), seems more like a mascot than a musician.

This one-hour-45-minute concert is equal parts great gig and train wreck. But in the end, regardless of who is onstage or who is doing the lights (judging by the regular plunges into darkness and misdirected spots, it could well be Brian), you can’t argue with a setlist that includes ‘Do It Again’, ‘I Get Around’, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, ‘Barbara Ann’, ‘Sloop John B’, ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Surfin’ USA’, ‘California Girls’ and ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’.

It has been a riotous summer so far for erstwhile Guns n’ Roses and Velvet Revolver guitar hero Slash.

The axeman’s debut solo album has stormed charts around the world, he stole the show at the UK’s Download festival and he won kudos for his cool handling of an over-friendly stage invader in Milan. The burly fan grappled with Slash midway through ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’, but the guitarist simply shrugged and played on. Axl Rose would surely have flounced off and cancelled the next 10 dates.

At tonight’s Belfast gig, things are no less intense, as a capacity crowd greets the top hat-wearing one’s arrival on to the tiny-by-his-standards Mandela Hall stage. Tickets have been selling for upwards of £100 on eBay, and this audience is in the mood to party like it’s 1989.

Happily, Slash and co – Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy on vocals, plus rock-scene veterans Bobby Schneck on rhythm guitar, Todd Kerns on bass and Brent Fitz on drums – are in the mood to give the people what they want.

That means some well-appointed Guns n’ Roses classics, a generous sprinkling of Velvet Revolver material and a selection of tunes from the self-titled solo release. There is no room for Slash standout ‘Beautiful Dangerous’ – sung on record by Black Eyed Peas diva Fergie – but Kennedy wraps his powerful pipes around ‘Ghost’, ‘Back from Cali’ and ‘Nothing to Say’, expertly backed by Schneck, Kerns and Fitz.

Between them, the guitarist, bassist and drummer have put in time on the road with Green Day, Weezer, Aerosmith, Faster Pussycat, Vince Neil, Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons.

The five-piece – with Kennedy on third guitar – also wheel out ‘Watch This’, an instrumental jam recorded on the solo CD by Slash, fellow ex-Gunner Duff McKagan and Dave Grohl. They even throw in a couple of numbers by Slash’s Snakepit, the guitarist’s first stab at a solo career.

‘Mean Bone’ and ‘Beggars & Hangers-On’ sound much stronger live than they did on the LPs. For the encore, Slash and chums blast through Thin Lizzy’s ‘Are You Ready’.

Yet, of course, it is the Guns n’ Roses songs that truly bring the house down. ‘Nightrain’, ‘Civil War’, ‘Rocket Queen’, ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ and ‘Paradise City’ sound simply huge – and Kennedy sounds uncannily like Axl Rose.

Unlike the members of the current, travelling circus version of Gn’R, Slash has always remained a rock star of the people, in tune with what makes he and his fans tick.

Throughout this near-two-hour show, he maintains an aura of chilled-out affability, coupled with an amazing skill on the electric guitar. For a man who is probably the closest thing to a rock icon the 1980s or ’90s produced, Slash seems utterly down to earth.

There are no tantrums, no airs or graces and no ideas above his station – just driving, hard-edged music played with passion. Tonight’s sweat-drenched, fuzzy-haired performance is a masterclass in heartfelt rock ‘n’ roll.

Raucous rockers LaFaro launched their own iPhone app today, coinciding with the release of a second single 'The Ballad of Burnt Dave', taken from their eponymous debut album on Smalltown America Records:

Having played a series of intimate gigs in the Menagerie during April to launch the album, Bandwidth were on hand to capture some great live moments from the third night of the sell-out album launch residency.

By downloading the app to their phone, LaFaro fans can listen to the band's music in full, read the latest news, find current shows, follow the band's latest tweets, browse photos, and watch music videos.

Download the LaFaro app from the iTunes app store and their new single 'The Ballad of Burnt Dave' here, which includes an exclusive free track, 'Climate'.

Eddie Mullan

This week In Stores Now celebrated its first birthday with some exclusive B-side material, and some performances that never made it to the final cut.

When the series first started we had a list of bands in mind who would suit the style of the series perfectly. Pretty much top of that list was The Lowly Knights, and its a great privilege to finally present this session – and it was worth the wait.

So, better late than never, here’s 4 tracks recorded in Belfast’s Common Grounds Café. Two tracks, Even Keel and This Other Boy will feature on the new EP coming this September, so this is an exclusive first listen.

The Lowly Knights play Belfast Empire Music Hall on Thursday 1 July with Queer Giraffes, Rams’ Pocket Radio and Farriers. Babysweet Session’s Gregg Houston will MC the proceedings. Check out more music from the band on their MySpace.

Will McConnell

This feature first appeared on Bandwidth - the place to go for great local, independent music videos. Featuring promos from A Plastic Rose, The Jane Bradfords, Dutch Schultz, General Fiasco, Panda Kopanda and others - Bandwidth also hosts awesome live concert footage from Therapy?, Pocket Promise and more. To find out more about Bandwidth or to check out some of their brilliant videos click here.

Organisers of Northern Ireland's largest dance music festival have announced that one part of the act Run DMC - widely credited as bringing hip-hop to popular mainstream - has been added to this year's Planet Love Festival.

Held over 10 and 11 September at the King's Hall Showgrounds, the 12th annual multi-arena event will play host to a diverse range of artists, with some of the biggest names in popular and electronic music including stars like Calvin Harris, DJ Armin van Buuren and London rapper Example.

The performance by the right Reverend Run will be the US artist’s only UK and Ireland festival appearance this year. Organiser Eddie Wray says it's going to be an excellent weekend for music fans:

'The whole ethos of this year's festival is to give our music fans the biggest and best line up we've ever had at the best price possible. We are going for the ultimate "wow" factor with Planetlove this year and we have enlisted the most amazing and broad line-up that Planetlove has ever enjoyed.'

Around 40 artists have been so far confirmed for this year's festival with around the same number yet to be announced. In addition to the music arenas, there will be a specially constructed festival village hosting a funfair, stalls, merchandise shops and world foods.

This year's event also sees the return of house music after a notable absence from the event for the past few years with Eric Prydz, Mark Knight, Chris Lake, Funkagenda and Funk D'Void on the bill.

Trance heroes Above & Beyond, Ferry Corsten, Gareth Emery and Sander van Doorn, all ranked in the Top 10 in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ Poll, are also performing. German DJ and producer Dash Berlin makes his Planetlove debut at the show alongside acts like BBC Radio 1's Judge Jules, Irish trance sensation John O'Callaghan and Dutch DJ/producer Sander Kleinenberg.

There are also lashes of hard dance and hardstyle for fans of harder-edged music with acts including Showtek, Alex Kidd, Technoboy, Kutski, Zany, Headhunterz, Organ Donors, Noisecontrollers and the Queen of Hard Dance herself; Lisa Lashes.

Revellers can now snap up the festival's Weekend Super Deal tickets, which grant access to both Friday 10 and Saturday 11 September, from £59.95 plus booking fees. Tickets are available from www.ticketmaster.ie, www.plmpromotions.com/shop and Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.

Single day tickets go on sale from 9 August, priced from £39.95 plus booking fees for the Friday 10 September and £49.95 plus booking fees for Saturday 11 September. 

Further acts to be announced on the festival website www.planetlovemusic.com.
 

Eddie Mullan

On the eve of their Oxegen 2010 festival appearance, Ash are to play a special fundraising event. The chart-topping trio will play an intimate gig to 300 people at the Oh Yeah Music Centre, with the aim of raising funds for future all ages gigs in the venue.

Volume Control is a monthly music event, organised and driven by young people. Aimed at the 14-18 year old group, Volume Control allows young performers and audience members to enjoy live, original music.

Along the way, the VC team will learn about promotions, marketing, media relations, poster design, stage production, event management and project financing. Based in the Oh Yeah music centre, this project equips a new generation with the skill sets to make their own mark on arts, business and music culture.

VC member Don Greene says, 'It’s surreal that we can attract an act so huge and successful as Ash, it’s going to be an incredible experience!'

Charlotte Dryden, Creative Development Coordinator at Oh Yeah, is equally excited about the event:

'We are absolutely delighted to have Ash play the centre and we are extremely proud of the Volume Control team and all the work they have put in and the money raised will help us to continue all ages work.'

Ash officially formed in 1992, since then the band has sold 8 million albums worldwide. In 1996 they released the single 'Oh Yeah' which saw considerable success and helped provide the name for the Oh Yeah centre.

Last year saw the band announce the ‘A-Z Series’: 26 singles in one year, a single for each letter of the alphabet, one release every fortnight. Q magazine even went as far as to name Ash as one of the '50 Bands to See before You Die'.

Support on the night comes from two bands that have graced the stage at Oh Yeah before, More Than Conquerors and Key Of Atlas, chosen by the Volume Control team as they continue to impact on the local music scene.

Ash play the Oh Yeah cente 15-21 Gordon St, Belfast, on July 9 at 7pm. Tickets are priced £10 and go on sale Monday June 28 at 9am from wegottickets.com.

Eddie Mullan

There are superstars and then there is Kenny Rogers. The 71-year-old, white-whiskered legend of country music is a man who takes no prisoners, as tonight’s show at the Odyssey proves.

The singer swaggers onstage like he owns the place (and with 105million record sales to his credit, he no doubt could if he wanted to), delivers a roof-raising opening salvo of ‘Love or Something Like It’ and ‘It’s a Beautiful Life’, then stops the band and turns the house lights up.

After 53 years on the road, the crooner has learned how to keep things interesting for himself. He makes fun of a lady in the eighth row for using binoculars. It’s an invasion of his privacy, he says, and what the hell is she trying to see anyway? (Kenny’s strange, plastic surgery-enhanced face, perhaps?)

Then he has a go at Belfast’s vocal ability. Whereas most touring acts suck up to whatever city they’re playing, Rogers says our singing is less than impressive. We’re worse than Paris, apparently, ‘and they don’t even speak English there’.

Next, he picks out a supposedly bored-looking bloke in the front row named Mark, accuses him of not being a real fan and starts throwing money at him – one $10 bill for every of Rogers' hits he can name. Luckily for Mark, he knows his stuff and goes home with at least a hundred bucks.

He also receives a Kenny Rogers t-shirt, which the vocalist insists he puts on immediately. Rogers then instructs the rest of us to follow Mark to his car, and to beat him up if he takes the shirt off before he arrives. You don’t get this with Garth Brooks.

Later, Rogers shows a montage of his much-younger wife and their five-year-old twins, and a series of clips from 1980s TV series The Gambler, mostly of his character punching people out. If you thought Chuck Berry was the master of idiosyncratic stage behaviour, think again.

But what Rogers has going for him that old Chuck tragically doesn’t is that he remains perfectly capable of delivering his classic back catalogue in tune, in key and in time.

The setlist covers all eras of Rogers’ career, with the big guy in fine voice throughout. As well as most of his major 70s and 80s singles – ‘She Believes in Me’, ‘Coward of the County’, ‘Through the Years’, ‘The Gambler’, ‘Lucille’ – there is an outing for 1968’s supremely trippy ‘Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)’.

To give you an idea of how weird this song is, cousin-marrying, bassist-shooting wild man Jerry Lee Lewis rejected it for being too out there.

There is also some newer material. ‘This song is from an album from four years ago,’ Rogers drawls. ‘Ten,’ corrects a band member. Surprisingly, Kenny doesn’t fire the musician on the spot. He simply shrugs and gets on with the gig.

Though short at just 68 minutes with no encore – another example of Rogers’ ‘my way or the highway’ attitude – tonight is a storming performance by an artist who marches to the beat of his own drum.

The very latest technology is being used to promote Belfast's thriving music scene, with the world's first iPhone app on the subject.

The free Belfast Music iPhone app allows local music fans and visitors to find what's happening on the Belfast music scene at the moment.

Here's a teaser video, featuring the dulcet tones of broadcaster Stuart Bailie taking us on a journey of the city's rich musical heritage:

The app also features:
• An interactive music tour, featuring a soundtrack by the likes of David Holmes, Neil Hannon and the Ulster Orchestra, Rudi, The Undertones, Ash, Therapy? and many more;
• Hall Of Fame, introducing Belfast’s music legends;
• Up to the minute gig listings and news, making sure music lovers don’t miss a beat
• Showcase section, introducing the best in contemporary Belfast music.

If you haven't picked it up yet, you can download the Belfast Music iPhone app from the iTunes app store.


Eddie Mullan