Ben Howard will play Dublin’s Phoenix Park on July 14th, supporting Mumford and Sons. Edward Sharpe and The Vaccines will also be playing. Howard will play across the UK and at a number of European Festivals, including a slot at Glastonbury, before this Irish performance.

Tickets cost €61.50 and are available here www.ticketmaster.ie/event/18004A6D9583151D

Ben Howard will be playing at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on Friday November 9th, two days after his scheduled performance in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre. If his show earlier this year in The Academy was anything to go by, expect tickets to sell fast.

Tickets priced from £20.00 and available here
www.ticketmaster.ie/event/1800489EBF188413

Ben Howard will play the Olympia next November, in what will be his first Irish appearance since his sold out gig at The Academy in early March. Ben had a single released in America for the first time only yesterday, and with an appearance at SXSW already under his belt and an American tour on the cards, his stock his surely set to rise in the coming months.

Catch a glimpse of his live performance on Other Voices tonight on RTE2.

Tickets are priced from €22.90 and available here
www.ticketmaster.ie/event/18004846CD207025

The final night of the St. James’ Church recordings and it’s possibly the best of the lot. We begin with an unknown which we quickly want to find out more about. Ben Howard is an English singer songwriter recently signed to Communion Records (and now Island Records). Home to a slew of interesting folk artists like Michael Kiwanuka, Daughter and Matthew & The Atlas, Communion has become a mark of quality of late. Howard is no different. The surfer acoustic singer songwriter carries with it negative connotations these days but Howard is a way more interesting proposition than many of that ilk. His woolen voice is set against a folk sound that has a dark edge to it as heard on set standout ‘Black Flies’.

The second Dingle welcome of the night goes to a band that have already proved themselves as considerable talents over three albums. Wild Beasts’ latest album Smother is their most masterful of the three to date and the entire set is drawn from it in St. James’ Church. The setting being as intimate as it is, the lights being so much brighter than regular gigs due to the TV recordings, there is nowhere to hide. If a band aren’t up for the challenge, they’ll soon be found out. The Cumbrian band have no such worries. It’s rare to see a band so locked in to their music, so comfortable and talented and knowing about their playing, that they instantly create a magical atmosphere, taking advantage of the reverence that the church affords. The set is taken from the first eight tracks on Smother performed in order (Watch the entire set at The Guardian) While the songs are great ( ‘Lion’s Share’ , ‘Bed Of Nails’, ‘Albatross’ and ‘Plaything’ in particular if pushed) the performance is magnetising. There’s a sprawling sound to Wild Beasts that they create with such control. Hayden Thorpe’s voice is so much less dramatic and jerky than it used to be, his operatic tones smoothed out with texture. Watching him lunge around the stage as if waltzing with an invisible ghost is a highlight while the band’s secret weapon, their drummer Chris Talbot makes excellent use of two bongos on his kit to produce unique rhythms. Wild Beasts are easily one of the most important AND interesting bands around if this set is anything to go by.

By contrast, Spiritualized’s set consists almost entirely of songs from a forthcoming LP due in February that no one has yet heard. Project main man Jason Pierce has spoken of it as his attempt to make a pop album but there’ll be no three minute ditties here. As is standard for most of the Spiritualized back catalogue the songs are sometimes elongated by guitar and psychedelic freak outs but at their core they are based on simple ideas. Bluesy guitar riffs, organ, gospel style backing singers, three guitarists, drummer and Pierce holding court on his stool facing the band is how it looks and sounds. The lyrics of the new songs are soul and gospel inspired as ever with songs about a girl called Mary, talk of souls bring saved and the connection to Pierce’s old band Spacemen 3 is clear when the band finish with ‘Take Me To The Other Side’. You can watch ‘Hey Jane’ and ‘So Long Pretty Things’ via The Guardian.

The penultimate set of Other Voices 10 is also the one that looks to be the most divisive on paper. SBTRKT’s self-titled debut album this year confirmed a electronic subgenre-shifting talent in Aaron Jerome but would it really in a church?
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Other Voices 10 have announced a number of new artists who will perform at this years recordings in Dingle. St. Vincent, Band of Skulls and Ben Howard are among the exciting talent who will be heading to the Kerry town for the TV show. Other Voices takes place in St. James’ Church in Dingle from December 1st to 4th, with the IMRO Other Room recordings taking place on December 5th. The line-up has now been confirmed.

Tickets for Other Voices are only available through competitions which are currently running online on the Other Voices Facebook page and Twitter (@OtherVoicesLive) as well as radio stations and print outlets around the country. Dingle will be a the ultimate weekend destination for all music fans – no ticket necessary – from December 1st to 4th, as Intune Networks will streaming all the action from the church, fully live to five locals – Geaneys, McCarthys, An Droichead, Foxy Johns and Benners.

Dingle’s Christmas Festival of Light also takes place that weekend, featuring Other Voices Music Trails, farmers markets, guided walks, treasure hunts, book readings, theatre, street music, Christmas craft market, Santa at Oceanworld with the penguins, Christmas caroling and a children’s lantern parade that will light up the whole town. See www.facebook.com/DingleFestivalofLight for more details!

Thursday December 1st
The Frames
The Coronas
Little Green Cars
St. Vincent
Truir (Martin Hayes, Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh and Peadar O’Riada)
Iarla O’Lionaird

Friday December 2nd
Lisa Hannigan
James Vincent Mc Morrow
Mick Flannery
Cold Specks

Saturday December 3rd
Cherry Ghost with Jimi Goodwin ( Doves )
Edwyn Collins
Frank Turner
Band Of Skulls

Sunday December 4th
Wild Beasts
Spiritualized
SBTRKT
King Charles
Ben Howard

Other Room December 5th
Rams’ Pocket Radio
Fred
Ham Sandwich
The Ambience Affair
We Cut Corners
Gypsies on the Autobahn
Inni-K