Gig Reviews - 2026

SHARP have been around since the late 80s.

Yeah I'm sure loads of people genuinely thought that the Talking Heads played their first show in 35+ years in the Pavilion in Dun Laoghaire the other night and no one knew about it

A great nights entertainment, the orchestra were simply brilliant. The setlist was hit after hit, no filler.

Possibly the best value for 28 euro I've spent in years.

The song from Hamnet is actually a 2004 piece by Max Richter, On the Nature of Daylight.

Its been in lots of films over the years, Arrival probably the most famous, I was saying to myself I know the piece but hadnt seen Hamnet and there was some outrageous plagiarism going on. 😄

Damn, I had heard of the piece before but I assumed that it was because of the Hamnet adverts or when Jessie Buckley won the Oscar (I also have not seen that movie), but after searching there, based on your comment, I see that in addition to Arrival, I have seen Togo and The Last of Us, so definitely heard it from those 3 sources.

In fairness, it's a great piece so can't blame the guy from using it time and again. Just like Zimmer reusing parts of Gladiator for Pirates of the Caribbean.

It's a bit of a cheat code now. First time I heard it was Arrival and I found it really affecting but it's been diminishing returns ever since and now I find myself nearly rolling my eyes if it's played over an emotional scene in a new movie or TV show. Just feels a bit lazy.

I was involved in the CCO concert last night and it’s really, really lovely to hear such positive feedback for what is an amateur, project based orchestra (albeit a very committed and hardworking one!). We had an absolute ball with this music and I’m so glad to hear that people enjoyed it.

Was at The Bluetones in Dundalk. Really enjoyable gig. Mark is a witty guy and really suits the intimate nature of the show.

Looking forward to the full band show in Belfast later in the year. Saw them there last year for the first time in about 30 years and it was excellent. Some top tunes back in the day.

The CCO sounded anything but amateur, honestly, it was superb, very professional, and I really hope ye do something again!

I have seen Hans Zimmer himself on a number of occasions and hate how over heavily produced his live performances are becoming. I am a person that prefers to listen to the classical instruments for film scores over their electric version. So what I am saying is that I found the CCO to be better than the real thing!

Btw, this year is the 25th anniversary of the release of the The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie, if ye are looking for some inspiration for your next performance 😉😁

I think he's trying too hard to be a rock star. And what I found particularly disappointing about his shows last December, was that there appeared to be a lot less musicians on stage compared to prior years. I've also noticed a bit of an exodus of some of his old faithful musicians.

I actually prefer the The World of Hans Zimmer, that's the show that is curated by him but he's not there, it's a full orchestra and his right hand man as conductor (who happens to be Irish). I am going to see that again in October in the 3Arena and looking forward to not being blasted out of it.

I think orchestras are just so much more capable of capturing the emotional moments that these compositions are trying to convey, whether that be sadness, anger, joy, fear, etc. It's hard not to be moved.

I was there and I didn't think they were great. Saw them a few years ago in the Olympia and the place was bouncing.

Went to see them in the 3 arena in 2024 and again they were amazing. I just thought last night they were a bit flat. Their new stuff doesn't really hit live and it feels like they are just going through the motions.

Good points.

Serge isn't a great front man and definitely the set order seemed wrong.

Can't really put my finger on it, but it just didn't hit last night.