March Gig Guide: Mick Jenkins, Emotional Oranges & More
The days are getting longer and the gigs are getting more abundant. It’s touring season baby and March is absolutely stacked. From Scandanavian cult heroes to hip hop legends, have a gander at this month’s gig guide.
Lime Garden
Doors: 20:00
Venue: Workman’s Main Room
A band that came to fruition from four best friends learning to make music together has turned into a critically acclaimed well-established group. Their self-described “wonk-pop” sound is reminiscent of the like of Girl in Red mixed with Big Thief. Fresh off their debut album drop only two weeks ago, Dublin will be one of the first to listen to it live.
Tickets: €16.00 available here
Mick Jenkins
Doors: 19:00
Venue: The Button Factory, Dublin, D2
Drink more water. A man who contributed heavily to the pedigree of underground hip hop in the 2010s and with some absolutely beautiful projects rolling through the ’20s. His latest project The Patience saw the likes of Freddie Gibbs, JID, Benny The Butcher and Vic Mensa over some heavenly beats for one of the most underrated rap albums of last year. Tap in.
Tickets: €25 available here.
Mechatok
Doors: 23:00
Venue: The Racket Space
One of the producers who lays the foundations for the chronically online Scandinavian sounds that have achieved a cult following. Mechatok is the backbone of Drain Gang, frequently collaborating with Yung Lean, Bladee and Thaiboy. You can’t help but float when listening to his tracks. What’s more impressive is that he crafted this aesthetic all when he was in his teens.
Tickets: €10.00, available here
The Pharcyde
Doors: 19:30
Venue: The Sugar Club
The Pharcyde are the original alternative. Weirdos in their era and weirdos now and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Dublin has been blessed with some fantastic legacy acts recently, and with the group not dropping under ‘The Pharcyde” title in 20 years, we’re guaranteed to hear the classics.
Tickets €32.50 available here.
The Smile
Doors: 18:30
Venue: 3Arena, Dublin
One for the pretentious mate who says he prefers The Smile to Radiohead. All jokes aside though, Thom seems to be in his element with this group. Two perfect records full of signature psychedelic melancholy with that nouveau twist. It seems like Mr. Yorke has a new, all but still somewhat depressing, lease on life.
Tickets €60 available here.
Pixies
Doors: 20:00
Venue: 3Olympia Theatre
You can’t describe a Pixies fan, because everyone is a Pixies fan. Almost 40 years of dropping album after album that just does not miss and does not age either. Pioneers of their genre and as good as ever, it’s no wonder they’ve sold out three nights.
Tickets €62.00 available here
The Workmná’s Club
Doors: 20:00
Venue: Workman’s Main Room & Cellar
An all-woman takeover of Workman’s to celebrate International Women’s Day. The Cellar and Main Room are splitting three different events, platforming some of the best Irish artists out there. EFÉ, Qbanaa, Rudy and many more give us a smorgasbord of female talent.
Tickets: €8.00, available here
CASISDEAD
Doors: 19:30
Venue: The Button Factory
CASISDEAD is a modern-day renaissance man, director, producer, MC and entrepreneur. Masked up in public, his music speaks for itself. He has a sound you can’t really pin down. Jumping from grime production, to rock to 80s synthwave, truly nobody does it like him. Cas dropped his debut album last year, after 12 years of being in the spotlight and it was everything we could’ve hope for.
Tickets €28 available here.
Strandz
Doors: 19:00
Venue: Academy 2
Strandz has taken the energy of 2000s British rap and RnB, sprinkled in some eclectic sampling and topped it off with memorable delivery. Epitomised in his track that dropped just two weeks ago “No Peace, No Time”, a naughties feel with a modern flow.
Tickets €17.95 available here.
Master Peace
Doors: 20:00
Venue: The Workmans Club, Dublin
Master Peace touched down in Dublin last year alongside The Streets and now he’s back after dropping his his debut album How To Make A Master Peace. Tickling that nostalgia nerve in the back of our brains, the only way we can describe his sound is FIFA music. Fun, electronic and energetic, much like his live shows.
Tickets €14.95 available here.
Barry Can’t Swim
Doors: 20:00
Venue: Vicar Street, Dublin, D8
Barry Can’t Swim makes music that lures you from the smoking area right into the centre of the dance floor. Absoliutely infectious enegy throughout his sets with maximum groove.
This gig is sold out.
Essiray and Friends
Doors: 19:30
Venue: Whelan’s Upstairs
An all-girl, Irish ethereal masterclass right here. Neo-soul, bedroom pop and distinctive new-wave trad are to be expected at this one, maybe a bit of drum and bass if you’re lucky also. All these artists have been on impressive runs lately: Saoirse Miller’s ‘Birds’ , Pippa’s ‘Angels’, HANNABELLA’s ‘spin’ and Essiray’s ‘Bullshit‘ with Rory Sweeney.
Tickets €11 available here.
Sky Ferreira
Doors: 19:00
Venue: The Academy, Dublin
Sky Ferreira has excelled in so many areas of performing but it always comes back to music. One of the OG viral sensations, when she posted her music to Myspace. Sky is really a time capsule of the Tumblr era. You think it’s hard waiting for a Frank Ocean album? Try being a Sky Ferreira fan.
Tickets available here
Emotional Oranges
Doors: 20:00
Venue: The Academy
There’s something about when music is associated with oranges that just makes it so smooth. It’s always appreciated when international artists collaborate with Irish acts and the duo’s work with Biig Piig is *chefs kiss*
tickets are available here
Veeze
Doors: 19:00
Venue: The Green Room, Academy
Veeze represents yet another shift in what’s bubbling in the underground, with names like Lucki and Sickboyrari popularising this laid-back slacker sound. Blink and you might miss an entire scene with how fast hip hop is moving.
Tickets €28 available here.
Thundercat
Doors: 19:30
Venue: Vicar Street
Every time Thundercat comes to town, a wave of FOMO hits the nation. Pure head-bopping bass guitar from front to back of the set. Thundercat, as well as being an amazing artist in his own right, has been the backbone of bass in hip-hop for over a decade now. Nobody does neo-jazz quite like the man himself.
Tickets are sold out.
DJ Shadow
Doors: 19:00
Venue: The Academy, Dublin
When we talk about the Blueprint for that 2000s alternative hip hop production, you can’t skip over DJ Shadow. Entroducing encapsulates that messy sound that was just booming 20 years ago and has been built on ever since. The crate-digging god, shown in the cover of his iconic debut record, captured by none other than Limerick’s B+.
Tickets are sold out
Lucy McWilliams
Doors: 20:00
Venue: The Grand Social, Dublin
District Future of Irish Music Alumni, not many artists have no misses in their catalogue. Lucy’s pensive and cinematic sound can spark feeling of Lana Del Rey. Yet on the other hand, she moulds perfectly to more animated production. Following her latest track dropped in February, ‘Old Ways’, Lucy has Dublin and London dates coming up, so you London-Irish won’t miss out.
Tickets €15 available here.
A Litany of Failures
Doors: 16:00
Venue: Button Factory
There’s nothing better than Irish artists collaborating on projects together. Litany of Failures has seen four renditions of homegrown talent coming under one banner and bringing a wide range of sounds all into a single project. Here, various artists are performing and hosting talks in the Button Factory including M(h)aol, Search Results and many more.
Tickets €25 available here.
