eels in Vicar Street ,May 18. Unmissable Can't wait for Mark Kozelek. Saw him last year as Sun Kil Moon at the crappy Village but even that didn't stop it being one of the gigs of 2004. Will be avoiding JJ72 like one would a Bubonic rat

Vesta Varro in Crawdaddy on May 5 - downloaded some tracks from their website at www.vestavarro.com - really good - video looks professional too.

sons and daughters tonight with Idlewild - new album is incredible micah p hinson in kilkenny on saturday night bruce springsteen in the point on may 24th the magic numbers in the village in june would love to clubbing with JJ72 - me, them and a big fecking club with nails in it.

Why does everyone in Ireland hate JJ72? they're lucky not to depend on record sales here.

maybe because they want it to snow?

There can be only one...John Martyn at Vicar Street. Let's hope the Big Muffin genius turns up in good nick for the show.

I think a lot of it, and I hate to say this, but I think it is to do with begrudgery to be honest. A part of it is that they didn't play 2,000 gigs in Whelan's before they got a deal (at a time when there were very few new Irish bands making a mark internationally). Some of it has to do with idiots saying "Mark sings like a girl" (when noone seems to have a problem with Brian Molko, Jeff Buckley etc singing at a higher pitch), some of it might have to do with their middle class backgrounds, because eveyone knows it's against the law for middle class people to make rock music. Some of it might be their 'anti-scene' attitude. Some of it might be that they don't write 'singer/songwritery' material like most other Irish bands. Some of it might be their incredible success abroad and Irish people being bitter about this because of the reasons above. Some of it might be the myth that the band are in fact assholes perpetuated by people who don't like them becuase of the reasons above. But, I dunno. I don't know why the Irish music scene supports other bands that haven't achieved half as much as JJ72 have, and yet spit on JJ72 when they do so well.

I quite like JJ72s albums, but they really aren't that exciting live, they never really acknowledged their audience. I'm not saying every band has to do the whole "getting the audience involved" thing, but at least you need to be able to relate to them. Maybe they've improved since then or it was just a poor performance, I've only ever seen them live once. As for the ego thing, who cares really? Billy Corgan is supposed to be a total egomaniac (if the stories are to be believed), yet Smashing Pumpkins made some great records even if "Machina" was a pompous concept too far.

I think dude (no idea what his name is) has a great voice, just don't like their songs. At all. On the ego thing, i don't think ego is ever useful, but it's no reason not to like a band. (unless of course they are spouting a lot of s**te in their lyrics)

I think any Irish band that is successful can only be good for other Irish bands, as it puts a degree of attention on what other bands are doing, and adds some vitality to the scene. I think it also offers other hard working bands hope and encouragement that they can also get a deal, or more gigs, or more press or whatever. It's a trickle down effect, I suppose. So, even if you hate a band that's doing well, they may well be responsible for getting another band signed because of the attention they concentrate on a particular scene or genre.

here here!

I think a lot of it, and I hate to say this, but I think it is to do with begrudgery to be honest. Hmmmm, don't think so to be honest. Whenever Irish people slag off other Irish bands it's always seen as 'begrudgery'. We in this country always feel the need to support 'our own' no matter how overrated and talentless they may be. I don't think it has anything to do with Mark singing like a girl. He doesn't sing like girl OR a boy. He sings like he's got his groin area trapped in a vice grip. It's a horrible, horrible voice.Unlistenable in fact. What 'incredible success abroad' exactly? An album review in NME?

Well, I would view their 'incredible success abroad' as selling out shows across Europe. Touring in Asia, touring with Coldplay and Stereophonics (and others) in the US, being on the cover of NME (and not an album review as you suggested), having whole gigs broadcast on MTV2, appearing on Top Of The Pops, Channel 4, CBS, BBC Radio 1 and other European stations (namely German and Dutch), playing festivals across Europe (Bennacassim, Rock Am Ring, Bizarre, T In The Park, Leeds, Reading, Glastonbury), supporting U2 in Europe, supporting Muse in Europe, playing an NME tour, and selling something near a million records. It's not that I'm a superfan, but all these things remain memerable to someone interested in Irish music, as great achievements.

I just sometimes find it a bit much that the Irish music media wets themselves at the fact that BellX1 (good band) have one song on the OC and sell 25,000 albums and offer endless coverage to this particular band (as an example), yet when a band like JJ72 do well, the biggest comment someone makes is , "huh huh, he sounds like he has no testicles". I just wonder why this is.