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Pat Carty

@patcarty.bsky.social
684 followers 78 following 306 posts

Arts journalist all over the place but always open for offers. Weddings, parties, anything. And Bongo Jazz, a specialty.

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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Reviews at linktr.ee/PatCarty
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Reposted by Pat Carty
Patrick Freyne @patrickfreyne.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
lovely review of Experts in a Dying Field from @patcarty.bsky.social www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
independent.ie
‘Experts in a Dying Field’ review: Patrick Freyne puts band back together for cosmic, comic meditation on music and grief
The writer and former singer is on form with this soulful novel about love, friendship and redemption
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Reposted by Pat Carty
Eamon Carr @carrport.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
As you can see, there was a varied turnout in Rush yesterday to hear myself and the great @patcarty.bsky.social shoot the breeze at the Festival of Writing 😁
Photo of family Butchers shop with double show windows and four upstairs windows. On the footpath, facing the street, is an array of garden ornaments and statuary Inc gnomes, religious figures and animals
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Like A Starving Dog Let Loose In A Deli: U2 roll away the stone with the marvellous Easter Lily. @independent.ie
m.independent.ie
Pat Carty on U2’s new ‘Easter Lily’ EP: Surprise release of the second batch of songs in just weeks shows how great a band they still are
I was packing a bag when the phone rang. Deirdre’s name, one of U2’s people, came up. “Typical,” I swore to myself. “It’s probably the Bono interview I’ve been angling after for years!” Ol’ Bug Eyes f...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
All these - and more! - at linktr.ee/patcarty
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
A great honour - and great sport - to interview Earl Slick in front of a kind crowd for the Dublin Bowie Festival. The stories and laughs kept coming so hats off to Earl who’s a lovely chap. Sitting beside him as he played those Station To Station riffs was pretty cool.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
"Rocks like a battleship balancing on a bottle of milk..." I wrote about being caught on the hop by Days Of Ash, the new EP from U2 in today's Irish Independent.
m.independent.ie
A band revitalised and full of political fire – U2’s surprise ‘Days of Ash’ EP is their best release in decades
It’s tricky, if not near impossible, to keep things under wraps in this information-saturated age, but U2 just about managed it.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
In the new issue of Classic Rock Magazine I report back from Mike the Pies in Listowel where Ash proved yet again how marvellous they are, and the Dedication to Philip Lynott gig at 3Arena. In your newsagents now (with a few photos by me n’ all).
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
A review of Art Cure: The Science Of How The Arts Transform Our Health by Daisy Fancourt for last week's Sunday Independent that didn't make it to their website...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Still All Biker Jacket Cool, And Still Swinging: Lucinda Williams at 3Olympia. @irishexaminer.bsky.social
irishexaminer.com
Lucinda Williams review: US country star marks birthday with fine gig at Olympia in Dublin
Amidst all the great music, Lucinda Williams also took time to rail at Trump and the awful goings-on in her homeland. And one of Rory Gallagher's guitars even made it to the stage
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
There are people who don’t like Hothouse Flowers. Those people are wrong. The Flowers At Dublin Trad Fest at the National Stadium. @irishtimes.com
irishtimes.com
Hothouse Flowers at Tradfest: Powerful night of music from a band with real soul
Hothouse Flowers are joined by several special guests, from Susan O’Neill to Steve Wall and more
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Leonard and Doubting Thomas. Reviewed The World Of Leonard Cohen for @independent.ie
m.independent.ie
A melodic gift and a focus on female characters: Why there’s more to Leonard Cohen than ‘Hallelujah’
Leonard Cohen was only nine when his father passed away. After the funeral, the boy wrote his first poem which he placed in one of his father’s bowties and buried in the back garden, “confronting unha...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
David Bowie in Ireland (with me down near the front). @davidbowiereal.bsky.social @independent.ie
m.independent.ie
Pat Carty: My one evening with David Bowie in Dublin was worth a thousand nights in the doghouse
My mother remembers the death of JFK being announced during a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. She says she left the cinema on O’Connell Street in shock at the loss of the American president...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
A moving farewell from Emmylou Harris @3arena.bsky.social @aikenpromotions.bsky.social @irishexaminer.bsky.social
irishexaminer.com
Emmylou Harris review: Fond farewell to American country star at final gig at 3Arena, Dublin
Emmylou Harris impressed in Dublin with a combination of her own songs and well-chosen covers from the likes of Gram Parsons and Gillian Welch
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
The quiff of Elvis, The moptops of The Beatles, Jagger's seismic style, Rod's pineapple, the dead animal on Bono's head, and my own tonsorial troubles - all are examined in depth in this @independent.ie investigation...
m.independent.ie
Pat Carty: Which came first, the rockstar or the rock-star hair? And what happens when you can’t field a mullet anymore?
Far be it from me to suggest you fashion a tinfoil hat but your phone is listening to you. The Ma asked about a Christmas gift and I suggested a luxury timepiece for a laugh. Cue an instant bombardmen...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Ferocious: Ash in Mike The Pies, Listowel.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Marty & Bob's Wild Weekend: reviewed Insomnia by Robbie Robertson on RTÉ Radio 1's Arena with Evelyn O'Rourke. @rteradio1.bsky.social @robbierobertson.bsky.social
rte.ie
Insomnia by Robbie Robertson - review
Pat Carty reviews Insomnia, the posthumously released second memoir from The Band's Robbie Robertson.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
And what’s he, then, that says I play the villain: reviewed We Did OK, Kid by Anthony Hopkins for the Irish Independent/The Sunday Independent. @simonschusteruk.bsky.social @anthonyhopkinss.bsky.social @independent.ie
independent.ie
Anthony Hopkins’s memoir is a forthright portrait of a Welshman who has no truck with ‘touchy-feely’ stuff
After almost eight months in a West End production of M Butterfly, Anthony Hopkins was “bored and irritable” and fed up with “doing the same thing night in and night out” for what would become his fin...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
What Paul Did Next. Reviewed Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run by Paul McCartney for the Irish Independent. @independent.ie @paulmccartney147.bsky.social @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social
independent.ie
What the McCartneys sent in the post after a Wings concert got a bad review
Dealing with failure is one thing but handling success is likely another matter altogether. Just imagine for a minute that at 27 you’ve already created a peerless body of musical work that literally c...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Reviewed the 40th Anniversary Edition of Rum, Sodomy & The Lash by The Pogues for Classic Rock Magazine (not on the web). @thepogues.bsky.social @warnermusic.bsky.social
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Reviewed The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie for The Sunday Independent.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Interviewed Tim Wheeler out of Ash for @independent.ie
independent.ie
Tim Wheeler on early fame: ‘I got hammered during the gig. The next day we were doing MTV interviews but I woke up in my own vomit. Management were really upset’
Anyone with any sense joins a band as a teenager and dreams big. Once reality lashes out a few kicks, the majority get on with their lives but that’s not how it panned out for Downpatrick native Tim W...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Good-humoured and Arse-kicking: reviewed the deluxe edition of Who Are You from The Who for @classicrockmag.bsky.social
loudersound.com
This deluxe makeover of The Who's Who Are You is interesting and exhaustive
"How all deluxe releases should be done"
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Disagreeing about agreeing to disagree... @independent.ie
m.independent.ie
Pat Carty on the trials of music criticism: ‘People can take it very personally when you express a preference contrary to their own’
It might seem obvious, but it’s OK not to like things. It’s fine not to like a presidential candidate or the last Mission Impossible movie (bit slow to kick off, I felt). What is not OK is the way peo...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
"A burgeoning superstar unsure of everything apart from the music." Reviewed Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere for @classicrockmag.bsky.social @brucespringsteen.net
loudersound.com
Jeremy Allen White shines in Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere
The review of the film of the book about the making of Bruce Springsteen's bleak masterpiece, Nebraska
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Go get the Sunday Indo!
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
He knows how to tell a story. I reviewed Truly by Lionel Richie for @irishtimes.com @harpercollins.bsky.social
irishtimes.com
Truly by Lionel Ritchie: A cut above the usual music memoir
Highly enjoyable read doesn’t shy away from discussing racism, money or personal struggles
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
From tectonic tremolo rumbles to a librarian’s dream of a hush. Went to see the great Richard Hawley at 3Olympia Theatre for the Irish Examiner. @richardhawley.bsky.social @irishexaminer.bsky.social
irishexaminer.com
Richard Hawley review: Songs of magnificence at the Olympia in Dublin
Richard Hawley revisited his classic Coles Corner album for a fine gig in Dublin
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Reviewed Softly As I Leave You by Priscilla Presley in today’s Irish Independent @headlinebooks.bsky.social @independent.ie
m.independent.ie
Priscilla Presley recalls her complicated love for Elvis in a tale of heartbreak and survival
Much like the one that surrounds The Beatles, the Elvis Presley book industry shows no sign of abatement. This year alone has seen, amongst others, Preston Lauterbach’s excellent examination of the mu...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Down the back of the new issue (with free Motörhead sticker!) of Classic Rock Magazine waxing about Ron Sexsmith, Buckingham/Nicks, Tom Petty, and Queens of the Stone Age. @ronsexsmith.bsky.social @qotsa-official.bsky.social @classicrockmag.bsky.social
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
Wrote about the €13,000 copy of Patrick Kavanagh’s Tarry Flynn for The Sunday Times. Abridged, of course. Not on website.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Listen back to me waxing about Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run at 50 with the lovely Ciara King on RTÉ's Arena. @brucespringsteen.net @sonymusicofficial.bsky.social @rteradio1.bsky.social
rte.ie
Born To Run at 50
Pat Carty on Bruce Springsteen's legendary album Born To Run, which turns 50.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Celebrating Van Morrison at 80 in The Sunday Independent. Features Aunts, Uncles, funerals, weddings, and mysticism. Read it here - shorturl.at/YNtsJ
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
"One of the greatest rock’n’roll bands in the world cutting loose like sailors on a weekend pass and a set that was lean as a holy man in a desert." Went to Queens Of The Stone Age in Kilmainham for @irishtimes.com @qotsa-official.bsky.social
irishtimes.com
Queens of the Stone Age in Dublin: Kilmainham erupts with cathartic glee during this ferocious gig
Josh Homme was having a great time, diving over the barricade and wading through the crowd
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
I'll be discussing the new Billy Joel documentary with @rickoshea.bsky.social on @rteradio1.bsky.social Arena this evening. It's pretty good, even if you're not his biggest fan.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
"There's a ticket for you, Carty." Well, sure, I might as well so...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Robert Redford?!? Read more here - shorturl.at/kbyMi @independent.ie @jonathanmahler.bsky.social
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Letters page @independent.ie Thanks John, obviously a man of taste and discernment. Read the article he’s referring to here - shorturl.at/rZxac
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
As colourful and fascinating as the city it captures. I reviewed The Gods Of New York: The Tumultuous Eighties, from Donald Trump to the Tompkins Square Riots by Jonathan Mahler for the Irish Independent. @jonathanmahler.bsky.social @independent.ie
independent.ie
‘Even his enemies admired his chutzpah’: How Trump became a God of New York in the 1980s
The back cover of this history of New York calls it “a real-life Bonfire of the Vanities”. Tom Wolfe’s bestselling 1987 novel about a bond trader who comes a cropper in a very serious way is also refe...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Dodgy Fs and Questionable Question Marks. I reviewed The Book Forger: The True Story of a Literary Crime that Fooled The World by Joseph Hone for The Sunday Independent @independent.ie @vintagebooks.bsky.social ‪‪ @josephhone.bsky.social
independent.ie
How a book forger fooled the literary world until his audacious ruse was rumbled
Controversy in the book world, like the debate around the veracity of The Salt Path, is nothing new. Excerpts from Konrad Kujau’s faked Hitler Diaries were published through various outlets in the 198...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? My 'opinion piece' (it says here) in The Sunday Independent uncovers the hitherto unknown connections between Oasis, Lad, Shakespeare, Baudelaire, ponytails, U2's 'brother', Fungie, and a lot more... Warning: contains video of me. @independent.ie
independent.ie
Pat Carty on the New Lad: ‘Wherever they ended up, the Oasis reunion was like a bat signal, calling them out of the shadows for one last adventure, one last moment of belonging’
Whatever happened to the likely lads? If you’re old enough to remember the 1990s, then I’m afraid at this point you are officially getting on a bit. It’s now 31 years since Oasis released their debut ...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Seán Rocks was a lovely man - intelligent, warm, & funny. Every time on Arena with him was a pleasure, sparring with his wit & charm on air, and having a laugh when the light went off. My deepest condolences to his family and friends, a number I’m proud to count myself amongst.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Groovier Than A New Set of Tires: Went to see a mighty despite the rain Leon Bridges at Iveagh Gardens for The Irish Examiner. @aikenpromotions.bsky.social @irishexaminer.bsky.social
irishexaminer.com
Leon Bridges review: Soul power of Texan star shines through at rain-soaked Iveagh Gardens, Dublin
The weather gods may not have been on his side, but Leon Bridges still delivered in Dublin
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Warrants corresponding amounts of applause and envy: I reviewed Pure Gold - Memorable Conversations With Remarkable People by Eamon Carr for The Sunday Independent. @carrport.bsky.social @independent.ie
independent.ie
Dinner with Charlton and backstage with Nureyev - an ode to the golden age of the celebrity interview, recounted by a master practitioner
After steering Celtic rock heroes Horslips’s unique course, Eamon Carr made a poacher/gamekeeper transition and returned to writing to earn his bread. The problem with interrogating musicians is that ...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Down the back of the latest issue of Classic Rock Magazine listening to Find El Dorado by Paul Weller, reading 1975 by Dylan Jones, and visiting Frankfurt to see Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Thanks @wcorklitfest.bsky.social Delighted to be In Bantry.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Cool. I’m quoted in this Paste Magazine Bruce Springsteen article alongside Lester Bangs and Robert Christgau. Thanks Matt Mitchell. @pastemagazine.bsky.social @yogurttowne.bsky.social @brucespringsteen.net
pastemagazine.com
In 1973, Bruce Springsteen Wrote the Greatest Summer Song Ever
Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Tank: The 10 War Machines That Changed the World and the Remarkable Men Behind Them by Mark Urban. Reviewed for The Sunday Independent @independent.ie @vikingbooksuk.bsky.social @penguinbooksuk.bsky.social @markurban.bsky.social
independent.ie
A riveting history of tanks - Mark Urban’s evolution of the military machine hits the bullseye
Volodymyr Zelensky, a persuasive talker when not being ambushed by presidential tag teams, cajoled Western leaders into supplying the hardware that he believed was key “to breaking the Russian occupat...
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Pat Carty @patcarty.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
The True Adventures Of BP Fallon Spoke to Beep for The SundayIndependent ahead of the premiere of the documentary BP Fallon Rock’N’Roll Wizard at the Galway Film Fleadh. He’s got more stories than the Bible. @galwayfilm.bsky.social @independent.ie
independent.ie
‘I said, Geldof, this is gonna hurt but it’ll help, and scratched his back like a maniac. It gave him a sexual identity with the girls’– BP Fallon’s life and times
“I’m amazed there hasn’t been a film about BP Fallon before,” says Bob Geldof, not far into BP Fallon: Rock’n’Roll Wizard. Anyone even vaguely ­familiar with the true adventures of Bernard Patrick Fal...
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