Conor McCaffrey previews all of this week's biggest concerts, including two shows from British icon Elton John, along with Ed Sheeran's much-anticipated return to Ireland.
Fight Like Apes
3Olympia, Dublin - Tonight, €25.90
After splitting in 2016, Fight Like Apes are reforming for two nights only — one in Dublin and one in London.
The indie-electro act were a high-profile casualty of the the Irish scene’s ability to wear bands down financially until they’re running on fumes.
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They’re marking the 15th anniversary of their debut album, which kicked off a decade on the outskirts as a gleeful two fingers to sombre indie and drab singer-songwriter fluff.
They did it with a a ragged, raucous vibe, sarky humour and the best album and EP titles: The Body of Christ and the Legs of Tina Turner; David Carradine is a Bounty Hunter whose Robotic Arm Hates your Crotch.
MayKay and Pockets haven’t mentioned any new music, so this’ll be a full-on nostalgia-fest.
Snoop Dogg
3Arena, Dublin -Sunday, €95
Snoop Dogg is a meme at this stage — more likely to end up on viral Instagram reels smoking weed or throwing shade at modern mumble rappers.
He’s also the ultimate hip-hop dilettante. He’s been an actor, film producer, chef, sports commentator, vintner, among many other bit parts including the bizarre face of JustEat.
He’s also now the CEO of iconic rap label Death Row, the label that released his debut album Doggystyle in 1993.
That album got the green light after his appearance on Dr Dre’s The Chronic, with his languid, hazy flow the perfect pairing with Dre’s slinky G-funk beats.
Doogystyle was another G-funk classic, with the sound woven through most of his 20-odd albums.
In between being born again twice — as a Christian and as ‘Snoop Lion’ the dub reggae Rastafarian — he’s become one of the most revered West Coast rappers and characters in the game.
Tori Amos
Ulster Hall, Belfast - Monday, SOLD OUT;
Olympia, Dublin - Tuesday & Wednesday, €53.50-€61.90
2022 marked 30 years since Tori Amos’s debut album Little Earthquakes, but she didn’t go on one of those heritage act anniversary tours.
Instead, her first gigs back after the pandemic were love letters to her hardcore fans — cult classics, B-sides, album deep cuts and covers and interludes of Kate Bush, REM, Depeche Mode and Fleetwood Mac.
OK, she didn’t go deep enough to play her infamous cover of Slayer’s Raining Blood, but there was zero pandering to the part-timers.
The pandemic was a particularly painful time for Amos, who had depression during lockdown.
She did release her 16th album Ocean to Ocean, a late career highlight of orchestral melodrama, lush electronic arrangements and delicate solo piano moments.
In an interview last year, Amos says she can’t remember ever learning the piano, but she simply started playing when she was two-and-a-half, and wrote her first song when she was three.
It’s the type of mystical claim that has her disciples swooning in the aisles.
Henry Rollins
Vicar Street, Dublin - Sunday, €35
Cyrpus Avenue, Cork - Monday, SOLD OUT;
Limelight 1, Belfast - Tuesday, £30
Now 62, Henry Rollins is still a tightly wound ball of energy, only for the last two decades he’s toned down his decibel level.
No longer writhing about the stage in just a pair of shorts, screaming and strangling himself with a mic lead, the one-time Black Flag and Rollins Band singer puts all his energy into spoken word gigs, writing, podcasting, acting, TV hosting and political campaigning.
His spoken word gigs are part stand-up, part memoir, part motivational speaking. His latest show flits between Black Flag tales, travel recollections, support for marginalised groups and odd, random Covid happenings, all told in his hyper articulate fashion.
Elton John
3Arena, Dublin -Tuesday & Wednesday, €160-188;
SSE Arena, Belfast - Friday 31st, SOLD OUT
Elton John will never be accused of doing an Irish goodbye, slipping out quietly without making a scene.
He began his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in 2018, and as usual for Elton, he’s making a big meal of it.
It won’t finish until July 2023, and he’s got nine shows in London’s O2 Arena.
Of course Covid played a big part in this extended farewell, but a goodbye that takes five years is probably time enough to wrap it up.
As one of the most OTT legacy performers of all time, you can’t take his claim lightly that this tour is the “biggest and best production” he’s ever had.
From glammed-up rock’n’roll bangers like Crocodile Rock and Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, to the supreme pop of Sad Songs, the schmaltz of The Circle of Life and his crossover pop hits with the likes of Dua Lipa, there’s no filler at an Elton John gig. A chance to say farewell to a pure one-off.
Ed Sheeran
3Arena, Dublin - Thursday, SOLD OUT
Until he was overtaken by Elton’s blockbuster Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, Ed Sheeran’s ÷ Tour from 2017-2019 was the highest grossing of all time — and he’s up there with the all-time giants like U2, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Madonna, AC/DC and the Rolling Stones.
On this tour he’s taking it to more “intimate” arenas rather than stadiums.
There’s probably no way he can top his record-breaking 2018 Irish stadium tour that sold 405,000 tickets in a few hours, with still thousands are begging for tickets.
His upcoming album – [Subtract] is finishing his decade-long project of mathematically-named albums, then he reckons he’s got a new five-album arc ready — including a posthumous record.
It all seems very high-concept for the singer-songwriter who has always revelled in his ordinariness, from his busker approach to stage craft, to his simple, universal themes and deconstruction of the pop song — he once challenged a talk show host to list off random chart hits and he could play every single one with four chords.
In recent years he’s moved to a full live band setup rather than solo acoustic and loop pedal, but the biggest cheer will still come when he inevitably takes the stage himself.
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