REVIEW: LITTLE GREEN CARS ☆☆☆☆☆

Venue: The Pavilion, Cork, Ireland.

Little Green Cars are an indie rock band from (our very own) Dublin. Following the release of their first and ragingly successful album 'Absolute Zero' in 2013, they seem to be selling out pretty much every Irish date they announce.

With support from Gypsies on the Autobahn, who- despite the dodgey Dodgey DODGEY haircuts- had all elements required to make a decent alternative indie band. Perhaps dodgey haircuts are also included in those set requirements. They're a mishmash between Villagers and Two Door Cinema Club, and yano what else? I kinda like 'um.

Little Green Cars graced the stage not long after. Their music is totally diverse, fronted by Faye O'Rourke and Stevie Appleby. Songs alternate between leading man and woman, but quality certainly doesn't vary. With magical diversity accompanying each tune, I could have listened to their set for hours. Five part harmonies accompanied each melody, with personality shining through each member of the band. There was a tangible friendship in the group, which made their performance all the more mesmerizing.

They gave me goosebumps.

With this leg of the tour finished, they have already announced dates across Ireland in March. It's not too late to add another pair of tickets to your Santa list, is it?

REVIEW: JAGERMEISTER FREEZER SESSIONS ☆☆☆

Hotpress magazine hosted their Cork contribution of the annual Jagermeister Freezer sessions in Crane Lane, Thursday 28th November. The sessions take place in various venues around Ireland and showcase only the best of what our beautiful nation has to offer. I was shnakey enough to apply for tickets and, as luck would have it, was given a pair. The Freezer Sessions are yet to hit Dublin, Limerick or Waterford- so it's not too late for you to apply for yours. With acts like The Hot Sprockets, The Riptide Movement and O Emperor- I really can't see why you would want to miss out.

The line-up in Cork consisted of some real gems. Raglans (my new favourite band), Leaders of Men and the INFAMOUS Hot Sprockets.

(Crane Lane is one of those venues where the phrase "likeminded people" is used frighteningly often, and the Freezer Session was no exception. If you are unfamiliar with this terminology, you've obviously never strayed far enough from the mainstream to encounter these feral "likeminded people". Don't fret, they're all the same anyway.)

The Raglans are an up-and-coming indie band consisting of Stephan Kelly, Rhos Horan, Conn O'Runaidh and Sean O'Brien. Words just don't do them justice....

My money is on these guys.

Next up were Leaders of Men, described as the Irish answer to Kings of Leon stroke Stereophonics. I wasn't overly impressed, but still, I can see LOM going far in the Irish rock scene. Nothing on the Raglans though. And, alas, frontman Brian Ashe has a really distracting blinking-thing going on, that, unfortunately, makes their performance look like its inflicting horrific pain upon him.

Last on stage were the headlining Hot Sprockets. The HS's are on everyone lips at the moment. They seem to have an attribute of some kind that grants eternal popularity upon you if you publicly admire them. Five friends from Dublin; Wayne Soper, Timmy Cullen, Joey Lynch, Frankie Kelly and Andy Sutton; that are forever going to shake it down and do-see-do in the ripe old days of Rock'n'Roll. Their rocking blues put me right into festival spirit, and I can't wait to catch them live again over the summer.

As one would expect, Hotpress selected only the best Irish acts for this marvelous showcase of Irish musical elitism- 'coz let's be honest, we are elite- and they certainly didn't disappoint.