IT WAS A year of gigs, festivals, books and films – but which ones were your favourites?
We want to know what got you reading and going out in 2016, and the shows, books and experiences that got you talking.
Here are some of our favourite moments – tell us yours in the comments.
Christine Bohan:
The Solange album was amazing. Managed to be both deeply personal and also say a lot about being black in America today. It was a brilliant year for television, but the two programmes that stood out were The People vs OJ Simpson and Stranger Things, while Girls and Broad City both had excellent seasons. Favourite books of the year were Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead, Evicted by Matthew Desmond and The Power by Naomi Alderman, which were all complete headfucks in their own ways.
Cormac Fitzgerald:
Kendrick Lamar at Longitude was damn good.
Aoife Barry:
Stranger Things and Insecure were the TV highlights, while on the big screen I loved Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Lobster, Room, Arrival. Radiohead at Primavera Sound was a musical highlight, as was A Moon Shaped Pool, their album – other highlights: Solange, Angel Olsen, Moses Sumney, the Black Madonna. Books included Miss Jane by Brad Watson, My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, and The Glass Shore.
Sean Murray:
A Date With Mad Mary was one of the best Irish films in years.
Emer McLysaght:
Jenny Greene’s collaboration with the RTE Concert Orchestra was pretty good, both at EP and at the 3Arena. Also, the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is top of my list.
Edel Corrigan:
I saw a two-story one-woman play in Smock Alley, called Unshakeable Spirits – one was about Thomas Clarke’s wife Kathleen over the course of the Easter Rising weekend, and the other was about Dory Previn, a lyricist in LA in the 60s, and both were great and the second was amazing.
Paul Hosford:
Best albums of the year were Cardinal by Pinegrove, Painting of a Panic Attack by Frightened Rabbit, Dangerous Things by Dan Layus and Splendor and Misery by Clipping. TV highlights were This Is Us, Last Chance U and the OJ documentary on ESPN.
Niall Kelly:
RTÉ’s Centenary broadcast – and everyone seemed to be raving about it.
Michael Freeman:
The Witch was a pretty great film, and Green Room (in a mildly stupid way). The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson - I can’t remember the last book that stayed with me like this; there were so many parts I wanted to take out of it and carry around with me. Should be compulsory reading IMO for anyone who is a parent, or a person.
Nicky Ryan:
A highlight for me was when LCD Soundsystem played at Electric Picnic. The band’s brief period of hibernation between 2011 and 2015 hasn’t affected their live performances. Ireland has a special place in LCD Soundsystem’s heart – frontman James Murphy has said that cancelling a 2010 show in Ireland is one of his biggest regrets – so a main stage show at EP was always going to be something special. Murphy was clearly enjoying himself just as much as the crowd, appearing overwhelmed before the final song of the set and declaring “Ahhhhh, you f**kers this is the best”. Keep an eye out for their new album in 2017.
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