The Blackpool Sentinel

totally... looking forward to that.

THE FRANKS AND DAMO: A TALE OF TWO CITIES A December run of shows with The Frank and Walters in Cork and Damien Dempsey in Dublin prompts a look at ageing, live music, and loyal hometown crowds. It’s a reflection on two enduring acts and w…

In our first post of 2026, we look at two hometown heroes: The Frank and Walters in Cork and Damien Dempsey in Dublin: and what their live shows say about ageing, loyalty, and the lasting pull of the Irish gig scene

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2026/02/03/t...

Back at you Pete… 🤘

BRIAN: WHATS SO FUNNY ABOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING? On April 10, 1999, I was in the producer’s chair in Studio 4 in RTÉ while we aired a special episode of a live Saturday night chat show called Kenny Live, hosted by Pat Kenny. The show was paying i…

In our latest post on The Blackpool Sentinel @colmocallaghan.bsky.social revisits Brian, (the work of Ken Sweeney)
A remarkable body of songs worth another listen. (check out the recent rerelease on @needlemythology.bsky.social
Read here theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/09/07/b...

OASIS AND THE IRISH IN THEM For the week that’s in it, we asked our Toronto Bureau Chief – and long-time Oasis anorak – Eoin O’Callaghan, to file a guest post about the Irish influence on Noel Gallagher’s work.    M…

For the week that’s in it… a guest post on Oasis… courtesy of Eoin O Callaghan…

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/08/14/o...

A photo of a wooden desk with two black-and-white prints lying on it. One print shows a man with his arm extended, mid-performance on stage. The other print shows a young man in sunglasses standing in front of a barbershop with signs reading "COMO GENTS HAIR". Nearby are a white Apple keyboard, a white Apple Magic Mouse, a hard drive, and some medication sachets. The desk surface has light scuff marks and scratches.

Jarvis Cocker paused during Pulp’s 3Arena show last week to remember their first gig in Dublin — The Rock Garden, March 1993. A £10-a-night hotel, missing gear, and one unforgettable punchline.
Read the full tale of Pulp’s curious Irish beginnings here
theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/06/16/p...

A yellow sign reading - Danger, this road leads to Dublin

Good evening from Cork… saying it as it is..

YouTube video by Nicky Fennell Them Ghosts Do Come - The Swinging Swine

I've started playing one classic Irish song every day and I'm going to share them here.
Today's is Galway's 'The Swinging Swine' Them Ghosts Do Come (1987).
Joanne Loughman has one of the purest voices I've ever heard, and that wonderful jangly guitar? Pure magic.
youtu.be/a4m2gDMbVNI?...

YES, DISCO In this evocative and sharply tailored piece, David Heffernan takes us back to the dancefloors of 1970s Ireland — a world of mohair suits, platform shoes, and Dubonnet-fuelled dreams. From the revo…

Remember the buzz of a good disco?
Dave Heffernan captures it beautifully in our latest guest post - “Yes Disco.”
A lovely read for anyone who was ever there — or wishes they had been: theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/04/24/y...

Finally got around to actually doing another @libfocus.bsky.social post after what seems years. It's one I've been playing around with for ages... Some of my favourite records about libraries and librarians... I hope you enjoy (or at least enjoy the music 👇

BOYZ, OH BOYZ There’s much to admire and plenty to recommend about Sophie Oliver’s documentary series ‘No Matter What’ which, over three episodes, looks at a careful selection of the colourful life and times of …

Boyzone’s story gets the documentary treatment in No Matter What—a sharp, stylish look at fame, media, and music

@colmocallaghan.bsky.social gives his take in our latest post.

#Boyzone #NoMatterWhat

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2025/02/12/b...

Well, a few days late posting this… but still… 😊

DAVID BOWIE: THE CORK YEARS ‘Him ? Sure, he doesn’t know if he wants to be a man or a woman’. It was the end of the summer, 1980, and David Bowie at his most theatric, glamorous, playful and compelling, wasn’t convincing my m…

Bowie and Cork via The Blackpool Sentinel.
theblackpoolsentinel.com/2016/01/19/d...

YouTube video by johnniejukebox Virgin Prunes -R.T.E. Late,Late,Show -6.Oct.1979.

RTE’s Late Late Show has some amazing performances of Irish bands in their archives.
Can you imagine what god-fearing Ireland of 1979 thought of this Virgin Prunes performance.

youtu.be/hyFHn_IWMQQ?...

MICK LYNCH Mick Lynch, the Cork-born musician, singer, actor and performer who passed away yesterday after a long illness, will be familiar to those of us who served our time around the margins of left-field …

Remembering Mick Lynch - gone 9 years today. @colmocallaghan.bsky.social wrote a lovely tribute to Mick at the time theblackpoolsentinel.com/2015/12/18/m...

HA’WAY THE LADS The actor, Kevin Kennedy, takes the lead role in ‘Cinderella’, this year’s pantomime at The Empire Theatre in Consett, a small town in the Northeast of England. Best known for playing Curly Watts, …

New post alert.
Just back from the Kane Gang’s recent gig in Sunderland, we dive deep into the Kane Gang and reflect along the on the iconic Kitchenware Records scene, touching on Prefab Sprout, Paddy McAloon, and Martin Stephenson. theblackpoolsentinel.com/2024/12/04/h...

Ronnie Spector in "Beatles '64": "I'll tell you the truth. They had to escape."

Ronnie Spector in "Beatles '64": "I said, I'm taking you to Harlem. Nobody will notice you up there."

Ronnie Spector in "Beatles '64": "And they didn't. They thought they were a bunch of Spanish dorks."

Ronnie Spector has what is easily the funniest quote in that new Beatles '64 documentary.

We’ve started a starter pack for those who post about Irish rock music.
If you want to be added, or know somebody who should be on this list please let us know!
Let’s connect this scene up

THE POGUES: KISS ME, I’M IRISH A week or so before The Pogues headlined the closing night of the Féile festival  in Thurles in August, 1991, I saw them play live in one of their regular and most boisterous U.K. haunts, The Bri…

Shane McGowan died this day last year.
Here’s a piece on Shane and The Pogues, one of the first ever pieces on the TBS - “Kiss me I’m Irish”

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2015/03/17/k...

❤️

We've started a starter pack for those who write about Irish rock music... if you're one of those, or know others let us know we'll add you / them. Thanks. #irishmusic #irishrock go.bsky.app/JfybWJS

PREFAB SPROUT: FROM CROKE PARK TO LANGLEY PARK TO MEMPHIS “From the echoes of Croke Park’s battlefield to the timeless melodies of ‘From Langley Park to Memphis,’ Prefab Sprout’s brilliance offers solace on the darkest days.

A new TBS post is coming soon, but in the meantime, we'll be posting some of the most read posts on the blog...
First up "Prefab Sprout: From Croke Park to Langley Park to Memphis"
#prefabsprout

theblackpoolsentinel.com/2024/08/19/p...

David Long & Shane O’Neill: Peace, Love, Forgiveness and Redemption. David Long and Shane O’Neill have been friends since they were six years old and were neighbours in Churchtown a half century ago.  They have been close ever since – there’s a lovely description of…

"whoiwasandwhatiam" is a beautiful, emotional, enthralling single piece of music, 37 minutes long, with the only lyrics having been written by Dennis Potter. Lots to talk about, which we did a week or two ago." ~ Niall Crumlish
psychiatryandsongs.com/2024/10/01/d...

Happy to be hanging out in the @bsky.app In the words of a famous John... "it's just like starting over"...

Do say hello, follow us and let your friends know we are here 🙂