Now that Summer Festival Season is nothing but a distant fond memory again, we are faced with a WHOLE BLOODY WINTER to get through before the madness starts again. Never fear, for those lucky enough to reside in the cosmopolitan metropolis that is Dublin city, there is a lovely little selection of winter gigs to choose from to warm your cockles and lift your spirits.

Jape – The Button Factory, 9th October. Richie Egan at his finest, promoting his latest endeavour, Ritual.

In The Country and Susanna (of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra) bring a Norwegian double bill to Whelans on Saturday October 25th. Check out her amazing cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. Possibly one of the most widely covered songs around yet, unlike most, Susanna does it justice. Check out this clip of U2 and Arcade Fire making a haimes of the song for easy comparisons on how to and how not to do an Ian Curtis impression.

Roots Manuva – 1st November, The Academy. London based rapper Roots Manuva brings his mix of dub/funk/ragga/hip-hop (!) to Middle Abbey Street. Expect a cult following.

Cold War Kids – The Academy, 5th November. I’ve been raging that I missed their Ambassador date in November ‘07 for almost a year now. I won’t be making that mistake again, no sir-ee, uh uh. I suggest you don’t either.

Hot Club de Paris – The Button Factory, 8th November. I can’t recommend this Liverpool-based band more. A little bit indie, a little bit punk but also a little bit different to the usual blah blah indie-punk.

Bestival Reunion Tour feat. Florence & The Machine, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, DJ Yoda, 808 State and more – Tripod, Friday 14th November. Ahhh…. now this is the one that has me jumping up and down with excitement. 808 State, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip AND Florence and the Machine, all in one night!!! I’ve developed something of an obsession with young Florence since hearing her mind-blowing cover of the Cold War Kids song Hospital Beds – see clip posted a few weeks ago, fantastic stuff altogether.

If that’s not really your bag, you could hop, skip or jump down to Middle Abbey Street on the same night – November 14th – to indulge in a spot of dubstep. Benga plays Traffic as part of the Twisted Pepper line-up (formerly Bodytonic). Altogether now… be be be be boo boo boo boo…….

Bon Iver – National Stadium, 3rd December. If you didn’t manage to get tickets for thew now sold-out Tripod show on the 7th October, then beg, steal or borrow a pair for Juston Vernon’s 3rd Irish date of the year.

So there you have it. For the time being. Ok so you’ll be poor. But we’re in the midst of a recession, you may as well be poor and happy.. and you don’t have to stand in a field.

Video Clips

Benga & Coki – Night

Cold War Kids dabbling in some pretty impressive instrumental ad-libbing…

Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip -Thou Shalt Always Kill

I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes. I’ve heard people raving about Florence and The Machine since her performance at SXSW earlier this year. I didn’t pay much attention, until now. Silly me. Shes got that kind of ‘raving lunatic with a voice from heaven’ vibe going on that only PJ Harvey and a select few can get away with and she pulls it off incredibly.

She’s been compared to everyone from Feist (mmm… can see this) to Kate Nash (sooo much better), but comparisons are easy to make. Check out her myspace and have a listen – Bird Song (rehersal version) is brilliant. Also, have a goo at this cover of the Cold War Kids fantastic song, Hospital Beds.