The Goo 1
Reviews onymous with them. What strikes you is ho
w well both records, Midas and Cub translate to a live setting. Every tiny intricacy from every track is included with the addition of some slightly different live arrangements that add a great degree of charm to the set. Every detail of the show was textbook and it further gave justification for the bands soaring success over the past several years. It was an unforgettable show. Sepultura, Jinjer, Obituary, Jesues Piece - 3Olympia - Oran O’Beirne A Saturday night saw Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre packed to capacity, a testament to the enduring pull of Sepultura and the power of a killer lineup. With their Irish debut cut down due to Covid back in 2022, Jesus Piece finally scratched their Irish itch with a strong set which went down well. Following them, Death Metal veterans Obituary brought their iconic heavy, grinding riffs, with John Tardy’s guttural growls guiding the crowd through fan favourites like opener, ‘Redneck Stomp’ and the forever magnificent, ‘Slowly We Rot’. The Floridians’ punishing sound resonated through the iconic venue, ramping up the intensity and generating the first real pit action from the excited crowd. Jinjer, one of metal's most exciting modern acts, took the stage next. Front woman Tatiana Shmayluk commanded attention, shifting seamlessly between haunting cleans and guttural roars on tracks like ‘Colossus’ and ‘Perennial’. Jinger's progressive mix of groove metal and hardcore had PAGE 30 the audience in a trance, showcasing their technical prowess and unique style. Finally, Sepultura erupted on stage, with frontman Derrick Green and guitarist Andreas Kisser leading a thunderous set that included classics like ‘Territory’, ‘Dead Embryonic Cells’, ‘Troops of Doom’, the crushing, ‘Inner Self” and ‘Arise’. Their relentless energy had the entire venue pulsing, and the crowd’s response was explosive. As one of metal’s pioneering forces, Sepultura left no doubt of their legendary status, ending the night with a sonic assault that was both nostalgic and vital. What a way to go out. Arooj Aftab - NCH - Billy O’ Hanluain Arooj Aftab’s album Vulture Prince and the Pharoah Sanders/Floating Points collaboration Promises were released within months of each other at the height of the pandemic in 2021, both albums became instant zeitgeist barometers of those gauze-like, ethereal days of solitude and grief; Aftab’s anguished but defiant Urdu ghazals gave expression to the often-unbearable melancholy of those days while Promises posited a cosmic-minimalist sense of transcendence, they were the perfect foil. As Aftab walked on stage dressed in a black leather coat and dark shades, looking more like a Goth rocker than the purveyor of songs that are steeped in the poetic tradition of her native Pakistan, she was rapturously applauded, and I wondered, was this as much an applause of gratitude from an audience who’d been helped through the darkest days of Covid by the secular balm of her music as it was a holler of anticipation for what was to be a concert of beguiling paradoxes. Accompanied by a quartet of harp, bass, guitar, and violin that played throughout with an audiophile, digital clarity and a lightness of touch that at times might have benefited by being somewhat “Lankum-ed” by a touch of dissonance and abrasion, it was Aftab’s voice that made the most indelible impression. Her between-song banter is sardonic and redolent of the Brooklyn streets where she now lives, but when she sings, she transforms into a chanteuse of powerfully cathartic songs that are both ancient and compellingly contemporary. Her voice is imbued with both absolute authority and an aching vulnerability, and it is this very paradoxical feature of her singing that makes her so great, the effect of her voice is not unlike that of a flamenco or Sean Nós singer, when they defiantly frack the rock bottom of tragedy. Songs sung in languages not our own allow us to project private narratives onto the song-scapes being conjured before us. Aftab and her group allowed us ample opportunity to do just that, and the sense of release was immense. So-Young Yoo - Arthurs Blues & Jazz Club - Billy O’Hanluain Thelonious Monk created one of the most singular bodies of work in the cannon of jazz composition. His pieces, much like his piano style, are instantly recognizable as his alone, with their exquisite, jagged dissonance, and almost sculp