REVIEW: FRED ☆☆☆☆

Venue: The Pavilion, Cork, Ireland.

After 15 years, 4 albums, numerous members and many good times; Fred the band have decided to call it a day. The decision was accompanied not by grief, but by a celebration of life. A 'fun'eral. A number of testimonials were held around the country; Dublin, Galway, Clonakilty and Cork City amongst them.

The Last Hoorah, as it was known, was a resounding success for the resigning band. I attended the second-last hoorah, December 27th (it has taken me so long to write this blog due to the cocktail of inebriation and poisonous hangover that is Christmastime) in the Pav, Cork. An early show, scheduled purely to accommodate the fan-girling, pathetic fans desperate to see the band perform one last time.

Songs were dragged up from repertoire lists long forgotten, albums of old and tunes of late. Band members down through the ages were summoned to the stage, and the nostalgia was roaring. The gig finished with all attributes of Fred on the stage (spilling over the edges) and the crowd, chanting 'Two Million People Can't Be Wrong'; a momentous moment.

It's hard to believe this Corkonian band that we're all so proud of have packed it in, for once and for all. All the same, a (reassuring) voice in my head says that this won't be the last of Fred the band.......

It can't be, right??

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.

REVIEW: KINGS OF LEON ☆☆☆☆☆

Venue: Boucher Playing Fields, Belfast, Northern Ireland.


The first day of Belfast's Tennents Vital Festival,  August 14th 2013, brought with it a fantastic line up, Northern accents and shoddy, shoddy weather. The bill consisted of Dublin band 'The Minutes', legendary Derry boys 'The Undertones', the old reliable supporting band 'The Vaccines', and our eponymous legends, 'Kings of Leon'.

The grounds were glorious; littered with Tennents pint glasses and plastic Bulmers bottles. (They call it Magners up there, typically complicated of them). As the name suggests, the festival is sponsered by Tennents lager, a beer that tastes mainly of poo and barley, but they put on a good enough fest so I won't be too hard on them.

The festival generally caters to all tastes, and consists of three days, each headlined by (and I'm being hugely stereotypical here) a popular band that have been shoehorned into satisfying a wider target market. A rock/alternative day (KOL), soft pop/indie(Snow Patrol), and lastly a bit of techno(Avicii)- for the diehards like. See where I'm going with this? As a whole package, it lacked personality. Not to mention the OUTRAGEOUS downgrade in quality of acts from 2012 to 2013. 2012 saw the Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, The Stone Roses and Florence & the Machine headlining- the lineups are barely comparable.

LUCKILY, I am an extremist KOL fan. Therefore the day was going to be the best of my life regardless of what happened. The rain, the portaloos- the discovery of the "she-wee" (don't get me started), my boyfriend drunkenly trying to end partition- NOTHING could have ruined this day for me.


The Minutes kicked off. Nothing groundbreaking, the crowd was sparse, we sat with pints on the grass feeling like something was on it's way; the calm (The Minutes aren't calm, at all, but the 'metophorical' calm) before the show.

Next, The Undertones had us all on our feet. The crowd was starting to fill out a bit, and nothing spreads the love more than a couple of rounds of "I WANNA HOLD YA- WANNA HOLD YOU TIGHT, AND GET TEENAGE KICKS RIGHT THROUGH THE NIGHT-" and god love him, Paul McLoone does his name justice.

The Vaccines, a band I've seen a lot live over the last few years, really are influenced by the crowds interest. When the crush is on their side; they can be electric. Alas, it just wasn't working out for them that day in Belfast; wrong crowd (bad craics), and people were really only waiting for the big boys to start performing.

Finally, Kings of Leon hit the stage; and, my gosh; it was a sight to behold. They sound even better live (if that's possible). The set was top class, and the setlist was gorgeous. It seemed as though it had been planned in accordance with intervals of the rain getting torrential. The heavens opened as 'Radioactive' osciallated through the grounds- and I doubt I'll ever again feel so completely necessary amongst a crowd of 13,000 people ever again.

I have heard people say that KOL are a disappointment to see live because of their lack of interaction with the crowd. Well, I can tell you that that is absolute cadswallop- I bet Caleb even knew my eye colour by the end the gig.


They were spectacular. Honestly.

My name is Jess; and I am a Gig Pig.

My name is Jess; and I am a Gig Pig.

The first step is admitting it.

It'll take courage, willpower, familial support, and an acceptance of your ATM being constantly overdrawn. 

Not sure what I'm talking about? Never fear; Jess is near. Who said internet diagnosis was unreliable?

• Have you used the expression "They might never play in *insert city where said band will most definitely reappear at* again!!?"
• Do you find yourself equating restaurant meal prices to gig tickets?
• Have tried to make someone go to an event with you that you described as "that guy that plays that thing with the hair and the eyes in a venue only 4 hours and 2 buses away from our house"??
• Is your alcohol consumtion indirecty proportional to how much you like what you're listening to?
• Do you have recurring nightmares that that album you've been listening to on repeat just won't sound the same live?
• Do you feel anxious that somehow everyone else knows that your last question refers to AM and that they'll judge you for it?
• Do you feel IRRATIONAL ANGER towards GIG CUDDLERS that LITERALLY COULD HAVE STAYED AT HOME and CUDDLED THERE instead of in the front row?
• Have you ever sympathetically offered to take over for the barman for a few minutes, 'cause he was really missing out on a fantastic night, it didn't seem fair, his manager wouldn't have noticed, and no, I didn't need to be escorted out by security; I was just trying to be nice.
• Do you choose to ignore that almost everyone in the music industry is a knob and choose to accept that, actually; if he ever met you, Glen Hansard would be totally interested in your university course, and actually; Winston Marshall really fancies you.
• Have you had regular doctors appointments/funerals on Friday mornings for the past while now?
• Is your love/hate relationship with ticketmaster.ie really upsetting the feng shui in your flat?

(I'm sorry, I take back that last one. Just don't cut me off. I need the hit, come on, I'm sorry, just don't cut me off. I don't care about your ridiculous booking fees, I just wish you'd  advertise at the actual price, not the profit you're making on it. But please, don't cut me off, I'll have the money soon, I swear.)

If you have answered yes to any of the above questions....then I think you and I will get along just fine.