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Matt Berninger
Matt Berninger is the vocalist and lyricist for Grammy Award-winning band The National. His songwriting has long garnered praise for its poignant clarity, jagged-edged wit and intimately emotive melodies. The band’s career spans ten studio albums, including First Two Pages of Frankenstein and Laugh Track, both issued in 2023. Late 2024 saw the release of The National’s first proper live album, Rome. Together with his wife Carin Besser, Berninger produced the band’s 2013 feature-length documentary Mistaken for Strangers, directed by Matt’s brother Tom. Outside of The National, Berninger formed EL VY with Brent Knopf (Menomena) in 2014. The duo released their debut album Return to the Moon the following year. Berninger’s “gorgeous” (Rolling Stone) solo debut, Serpentine Prison, came out in 2020, produced by the legendary Booker T. Jones. His second solo effort, Get Sunk, was released in May 2025.
Lisa O’Neill
Renowned for her distinctive voice, fearless songwriting and spellbinding stage presence, O’Neill has become one of the most vital and respected figures in contemporary folk music. Her songs weave together history, politics, compassion and myth, delivered with a rare emotional honesty that has earned her widespread critical acclaim.
It’s been an extraordinary period for O’Neill, whose recent releases have cemented her reputation as a singular artistic voice. Her work has been critically acclaimed across the globe, by the like of BBC 6 Music, The Guardian, Mojo, Uncut, NPR, The Irish Times and The New York Times. Her album All Of This Is Chance was widely ranked among the best releases of that year, with BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe naming it Album of the Year.
A compelling live performer and natural raconteur, O’Neill’s concerts are known for their intimacy and intensity, moving effortlessly between stark, socially engaged songs and moments of warmth, humour and reflection. Audiences can expect material spanning her celebrated catalogue, alongside newer work that continues her tradition of giving voice to the unheard and overlooked.
Engine Alley
Formed in 1989 by brothers Canice and Brian Kenealy with fellow Kilkenny man Eamonn Byrne, Engine Alley brought a sorely needed splash of surreal colour to the somewhat beige Irish scene of the early 1990s. They released two award winning albums A Sonic Holiday and Shot in the Light as well as the singles Mrs Winder, Infamy and the Flowerbox EP. Finding their ultimate drummer Paul O´Byrne in 1997, the band continued as an exciting live proposition into the 21st century and released their third “lost” album Showroom in 2018. This is their first show in 2 years - featuring songs from their heyday, some tasty covers and a slab of ad lib diversions that are always part of the Alley adventure.
Public Image Ltd
After fronting the Sex Pistols, John Lydon formed post-punk originators Public Image Ltd (PiL). Widely regarded as one of the most innovative bands of all time, their music and vision earned them 5 UK Top 20 Singles and 5 UK Top 20 Albums.
With a shifting line-up and unique sound – fusing rock, dance, folk, pop and dub – Lydon guided the band from their debut album ‘First Issue’ in 1978 through to 1992’s ‘That What Is Not’, before a 17 year hiatus.
Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009, touring extensively and releasing three critically acclaimed albums ‘This is PiL’ in 2012 followed by ‘What The World Needs Now...’ in 2015 and ‘End of World’ in 2023.
PiL continue to challenge and thrive.
Kerbdog
Kerbdog rapidly rose to fame in the mid-90s with and were set to rock the world with their eardrum battering melodies which were a clash of indie and metal. Battle’s songwriting nous married with simple, dropped D riffs with a pop sensibility had A&R managers from around the world seeking to sign the band. They relocated to London and signed with Mercury Records and the four decamped in the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales to record their debut album with Jack Endino, the producer responsible for Nirvana’s debut Bleach.
“We were fans of that album, but we enlisted him after we’d heard what he’d done on Push, an album by a little-known Seattle band called Gruntruck,” says Battle. “We went to the studio where Queen did Bohemian Rhapsody and worked very hard on the album and put in the hours. Brazilian metal titans Sepultura were recording there at the same time and we could hear their album Chaos AD coming together. I think some of what they were doing seeped into what we were doing. It made the record heavier and chunkier than we intended, but we were happy with the results.”
Their 1993 eponymous debut was impressive enough and spawned four singles, hitting a sweet spot in a Venn diagram marked metal and grunge. Their follow-up, On The Turn, saw the band truly find their feet, and they spent the full summer of 1995 in Los Angeles in the legendary Sound City Studios and A&M Studios working hard to craft their next set of hit singles with producer Garth Richardson (Rage Against The Machine).
Unfortunately, Kerbdog were unlucky with timing and after an unbelievable summer in LA and a potential hit record waiting to be released, their return to Ireland saw fate conspire against them. Their album was delayed and when it was released in 1997, mainstream music press' attention had moved on from alternative rock to Britpop. Their momentum was lost and effectively changed the trajectory of the band which at the time, struggled to gain airplay and opportunities, which resulted in the then trio parting ways. “To cut a very long story short, On The Turn was the right album at the wrong time,” says Battle.
Kerbdog’s loyal fans however have kept the faith over the decades and fans of alternative rock who had bought their albums, raved about their music with an evangelistic vigour. The band became a cult concern years after the fact, thanks largely to On The Turn. Although the band split in 1998, they reunited in the mid-2000s for several live shows which resulted in the 2014 live album Congregation, recorded at Sonisphere Festival, Bristol and Dublin. The band have played a string of sold out dates and tours up to now. 2025 has been a very busy year for Kerbdog on the live front (Festivals, touring with Kaiser Chiefs and Reef to name a few) and their story continues…….