This is a summary of the year 2007 in the Irish music industry. 2007 was described as "an annus horribilis for Irish music" by the Irish Independents rock critic, Eamon Sweeney.
Summary
January Changes to the Irish chart rules, which allow for downloads to be taken into account in formulating the music charts came into force at the beginning of January. This sparked an unpredictable trend in old songs returning to the charts (for example "Bohemian Rhapsody" which returned to the charts for a week in February). Radio DJs (including Today FM's Ray Foley) were able to use their influence by requesting that the public download specific songs allowing them to return to the charts. On Tuesday 2 January, while being interviewed by Jo Whiley on BBC Radio One, Bono spoke of his desire to reinvent U2's sound for their next album due to be released at the end of the year. Hot Press announced their "Out A Tout campaign", following revelations that a number of touts selling on tickets for an Arcade Fire gig in Dublin's Olympia Theatre at inflated prices. Tickets for the gig sold out inside ten minutes but 24 hours later turned up on eBay for €250 (increasing to €350 48 hours later). Concert promoter MCD urged the Government to act on closing down online touts and pointed an accusing finger at "media outlets who carry advertisements on behalf of ticket touts". Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions proffered: "...these professional American-style 'brokers' could be shut down overnight. The same goes for the guys you see selling tickets outside venues, ours included."
February On 1 February, Snow Patrol dominated the 2007 Meteor Awards, where they collected four awards. Legendary 2fm DJ, Larry Gogan won a Meteor Award for his Outstanding Contribution to Music. Meanwhile, head of 2fm, John Clarke, announced the latest in a spate of reschedules for the station, which would see Gogan move from weekday afternoons to a new shoe on Saturdays and Sundays, Rick O'Shea move to Gogan's earlier afternoon slot and Colm and JimJim and their Strawberry Alarm Clock being poached from FM104. The changes would come into play on 5 March. On 19 February, Aerosmith announced that they would be playing Marlay Park in Dublin on Tuesday 26 June as part of their European tour. This follows announcements that The Who will also play Marlay Park and Arctic Monkeys and Bell X1 would be playing Malahide Castle in June. On Thursday 22 February, tickets for Arctic Monkeys performance at Malahide Castle in June went on sale at 9 a.m. On Thursday 22 February, Paul Noonan of Bell X1 was guest presenter on Today FM's Pet Sounds between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Also on Thursday 22 February, the Oxegen 2007 line-up was officially announced. Amongst the first acts announced were Snow Patrol, Muse, Arcade Fire, Daft Punk, Bloc Party, The Fratellis, Kings of Leon, Cansei de Ser Sexy, Interpol and Amy Winehouse. The festival was officially launched on 27 February, with the announcement that The Killers would be headlining the Main Stage on the Sunday night."The Killers to Headline Oxegen ", Hot Press, 14 December 2015 Also on 27 February, the death was announced of legendary Irish music promoter Jim Aiken, the founder of Aiken Promotions. He was best known for the recent series of concerts in the grounds of Stormont in Belfast and for travelling the world to encourage bands and singers to come to Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. He was also revered for closely associating with stars such as Elton John, Cliff Richard, Luciano Pavarotti and Garth Brooks. The Choice Music Prize for the Irish Album of the Year 2006 was awarded at Vicar Street to The Divine Comedy for the album Victory for the Comic Muse on 28 February 2007.
March Tickets for Oxegen 2007 went on general sale on 3 March at 8 a.m. and sold out within an hour and a half. March also saw the announcement of another Marlay Park gig for the summer. Foo Fighters played Marlay Park on Wednesday 22 August as part of the Bud Rising concert series. On 22 March, The Rolling Stones confirmed they would be headlining Slane 2007 on 18 August. Tickets went on sale on Friday 30 March. Tickets for The Garden Party went on sale on Saturday 24 March at 9 a.m. The festival took place at Ballinlough Castle in Athboy, County Meath on Saturday 9 June and was headlined by Pet Shop Boys. On Thursday 29 March, Bono was presented with an honorary knighthood by the British ambassador to Ireland in recognition of his services to the music industry and for his humanitarian work.
April On Monday 2 April, Electric Picnic 2007 was officially launched with the first acts to be confirmed including Beastie Boys, Björk, Iggy and The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Jarvis Cocker, The Go! Team, LCD Soundsystem, Primal Scream, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Undertones, Modest Mouse, The Magic Numbers, Damien Dempsey, The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Good, the Bad & the Queen. Also on 2, 18 April more acts were announced for the Oxegen 2007 festival. These included Queens of the Stone Age, Bright Eyes, Ocean Colour Scene and Avril Lavigne. Tickets for Electric Picnic 2007 went on sale on Tuesday 3 April. On Friday 13 April, Nine Inch Nails were confirmed as the main support act to Foo Fighters for their Marlay Park concert on 22 August 2007. On the same day, The Police confirmed they would be playing a concert in Croke Park on Saturday 6 October 2007 as part of their first European Tour since their reformation. Tickets went on sale on Friday 20 April and sold out within 90 minutes. On Wednesday 24 April, Bono appeared in a prerecorded segment of American Idol's two-hour special Idol Gives Back, where he talked about the work of ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. On the same day, the full line-up for Damien Rice's Saturday 25 August gig in Marlay Park, Dublin was announced. It included KT Tunstall, Guillemots, Willy Mason and Fionn Regan.
May The May bank holiday weekend was the occasion of the first festival of the Irish summer. On Saturday 5 May and Sunday 6 May, Heineken Green Energy at Dublin Castle was headlined by Kasabian and Sinéad O'Connor with support coming from The Blizzards, Future Kings of Spain, Kíla and Delorentos. On Friday 11, 14 May new acts were officially announced for the Oxegen 2007 festival. These included: Sinéad O'Connor, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Satellite Party, Badly Drawn Boy, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Albert Hammond, Jr., The Blizzards and The Immediate. Also on Friday 11 May, the annual Trinity Ball took place at Trinity College Dublin. Headlined by Ash, CSS, Director and The Blizzards, it was also The Immediate's last public performance before their subsequent demise. On Sunday 13 May and just two days after being officially announced for Oxegen, The Immediate announced on their MySpace page that they were "splitting up due to existential differences". They later released one last tune, "The Mist Above The Mind" (recorded in demo form), on their MySpace page which could be downloaded for free. On Saturday 26 May, Red Bull X-Fighters came to Ireland. The show, at Slane Castle, was watched by over 35,000 spectators with music was provided by Ash, Director and The Blizzards. The Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival took place in Ballyshannon, County Donegal from Thursday 31 May until Sunday 3 June.
June Garden Party took place at Ballinlough Castle in Athboy, County Meath on Saturday 9 June from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m. It was headlined by Pet Shop Boys, Burning Spear, Carl Cox and Hot Chip. The festival was a resounding success and the organisers immediately announced its return in 2008. Organiser John Reynolds said: "This is the second year and like everything it takes two or three years for a festival to find its feet but if all goes well, it'll be an annual event from now on." On Tuesday 12 June, the full line-up and stage breakdown for five of the six stages for Oxegen 2007 was announced. New acts to be officially announced included Director, The View, Maxïmo Park, Editors, The Bravery, The Cribs, The Thrills, The Twang, Calvin Harris, Jet, Delorentos and David Kitt. The New Bands Stage line-up was announced later. On Wednesday 13 June, Ash confirmed their forthcoming album, Twilight of the Innocents would be their last album. Arctic Monkeys played Malahide Castle on Saturday 16 June. Tickets sold out immediately and a second date at the same venue was announced for Sunday 17 June. Support came from Supergrass, The Coral and Delorentos. It was to be the first of many occasions that the castle would be used as a concert venue. Crowded House and Peter Gabriel played a rain-soaked Marlay Park on Friday 22 June. They were supported by Starsailor. Aerosmith played Marlay Park on Tuesday 26 June as part of their European tour. They were supported by Chris Cornell and The Feeling. Live at the Marquee took place in Cork between 26 June and 7 July, with headlining acts including The Who, Slayer, The Flaming Lips, Bell X1 and Status Quo. The Who played Marlay Park on Friday 29 June and were Live at the Marquee in Cork on Saturday 30 June as part of their European tour of 2007. They were supported by Velvet Revolver and Biffy Clyro at the Marlay Park gig. Bell X1 played Malahide Castle on Saturday 30 June. They were supported by Duke Special, Jape and Herman Düne. Gates opened at 4 p.m. Herman Dune began proceedings at 5:45 p.m., Jape were on at 6:45 p.m. and Duke Special at 7:45 p.m., before Bell X1 took to the stage at 9 p.m. Bell X1 were also Live at the Marquee in Cork on Sunday 1 July where they were supported by Duke Special.
July Damien Rice and Snow Patrol were amongst the acts that played the Live Earth series of concerts that took place around the world on Saturday 7 July. This occurred on the same weekend as this year's Oxegen festival, of which Gary Lightbody also confirmed that Snow Patrol would be playing on the same day as Live Earth. Oxegen 07 took place at Punchestown Racecourse in County Kildare on Saturday 7 July and Sunday 8 July. It was headlined by Muse, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Arcade Fire and Scissor Sisters. On Friday 13 July, The Aftermath were involved in a near-fatal bus crash just outside Kilbeggan in County Westmeath. Four members of the band and two members of their crew were treated for injuries after the accident. The band were in the middle of an extensive Irish tour. On Tuesday 17 July, it was announced that Fionn Regan had been nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize for his debut release, The End of History. The first Lovebox Dublin took place at Malahide Castle in County Dublin on 21 July, headlined by Super Furry Animals, Groove Armada and The Rapture.
August Castlepalooza 2007 took place at Charleville Castle in Tullamore, County Offaly over the August Bank Holiday weekend (4 and 5). Indie-pendence 07 also took place on the same weekend (Friday 3 and Monday 6). Ireland's only free independent music festival took place at New Square in Mitchelstown, County Cork. Bands that played included Ham Sandwich Republic of Loose, The Chapters, Director, Delorentos, The Aftermath, The Sultans of Ping FC, Fight Like Apes and Vesta Varro. On Friday 10 August, tickets went on sale for the "Big Top" Arcade Fire gig in Phoenix Park on 24 October. The gig sold out within ten minutes despite it being the band's third appearance in Ireland in 2007 (following the similarly quick selling Olympia date in February and their Oxegen date in July). Slane 2007 took place on Saturday 18 August and was headlined for a second time by The Rolling Stones. The band last played Slane in 1982. Support came from The Charlatans, The Hold Steady, Tinariwen and Frankie Gavin. It was the band's last ever performance on Irish soil. In the first of two Bud Rising Summer outdoor concerts, Foo Fighters played Marlay Park on Wednesday 22 August. They were supported by Nine Inch Nails and Silversun Pickups.