Saturday, 25 May 2013, 4:46 am

In the 1970, the world was hit by a wonderful new sensation called SOUL TRAIN! This gave start to some of the best performers of Soul, Rhythm and Blues music. It also led to the creation of some of the most inspiring and best written songs in modern music history, songs that still inspire musicians today and enliven any crowd of concert goers. Oddly enough, a lot of traditional musicians find themselves drawn to this music. Some people say it's because its just good music, others dig deeper and draw possible connections between the genres. Like our own traditional music, Soul, Rhythm an...

For Damien Dempsey fans, the last four years have dragged by, as they waited patiently for new material from the Donaghmeade man. In fact, Euro 2012 single “The Rocky Road to Poland” aside, much hasn’t been seen of Dempsey for a few years, since he took a well deserved break from touring after the release of the last album, as well as reportedly suffering from minor bouts of depression. But finally the wait is over, as Damo’s sixth studio album “Almighty Love” is set to hit store shelves on the 28th of September. So has the wait been worthwhile?  The first thing any fan wil...

A Special Report For those of you who’ve just stepped off the bus, Freshers’ Week has no doubt been a collection of delights to excite, titillate and, due to the amount of paint and foam, moisten your first week of classes. If, however, your memories of Freshers’ Week are in the distant past, you might have had a rather different experience this time around. An Focal has spent the time looking into how non-Freshers spent their week. Some threw themselves heartily into the First Year throng, others stayed well away from the nicely organised chaos. For those whose first week was a strin...

  The Expendables 2 is a sequel to 2010s action packed The Expendables. Director Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) has taken over control of directing from Sylvester Stallone who starred in and directed the first. This comes as a good move as although the first was enjoyable, the sequel is more than just gunfights. Alongside this screenwriter Richard Wenk came on board to co write the script with Stallone leading to a cleverer script. Although Stallone has given over a lot of control to others for this one, he still shines through as the action star we all love and enjoy fr...

In keeping with the subject of numbers, here's what you need to know before buying 50 Shades of Grey. The number of times the protagonist, Anastasia Steele, says "Crap" or "Holy Crap": 86. The number of times Anastasia refers to her lover Christian Grey and his moves as "hot" or "freaking hot": 37. And finally, the number of times the vagina is referred to as "down there": 6. As if this information wasn’t enough to make you run away from the oversized displays of the trilogy of books, including 50 Shades of Grey, 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed that have been dominating bookshops al...

The Main Building's C1 corridor is not a place you'd normally expect to find anything magical but on Monday and Tuesday, the usually dreary grey stone was decorated with the crests of the four Hogwarts houses, the notice boards reminded students of their divination and charms assignments, and there were even sign-up sheets for the Gobstones Club and Frog Choir. Ireland's first ever conference on Harry Potter had come, Magic is Might had begun.  They came from Canada, the United States, South Africa, Norway, the UK and possibly even Diagon Alley, judging by the ties and shirts in house ...

  Let's be honest here. The Stone Roses are doing it for the money. Normally this would be regarded as a heinous crime against the sacred history of modern pop. Old men coming together to collect the grade of their nostalgia bitten followers and piss on their legacy for one last pay day. But the Roses, cheeky 80s, baggy Manc vagabonds that they were and remain, get away with it. 'Why?', I here you ask. Well, exploring the annals of modern popular music reveals the answer and distances Ian Brown, John Squire, Gary Mounfield and Alan Wren from the rest of the sad, withering ...

Having received a recent Tim Burton style makeover in the Oscar nominated 2007 movie version, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street returns to the West End after an eight year break. I am pleased to inform that it is as dark, bloody and hilarious as ever. It is directed by the talented Jonathan Kent who creates this engaging and extraordinary dark world. It also has an impressive cast with Michael Ball taking on the hard task of portraying the notorious serial killer Todd and Imelda Staunton playing opposite as his partner in crime Mrs. Lovett. Even though this is quite a comple...

  As a nineties child, I was enthralled with the masked crusaders antics and spent a considerable portion of my early youth hanging from swings and climbing things that in hindsight should’ve killed me. The problem this creates is that I’m inherently biased in favour of any upcoming film and I openly awaited this new release with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Thankfully, I can report that the movie itself is pretty good and definitely one for the true believers (if you don’t get the joke your cooler than me). The only real problem I have with the movie is its consi...

  Cheryl Cole’s new album A Million Lights was on course to become number one in the charts but that was not what everyone in the music business was talking about. It’s the cover of her new album that’s on everyone’s mind. Cheryl has dropped her last name in the career statement of the year. Is this move is linked to female empowerment or is it a new media gimmick?   Cheryl has said that the 'Cole' just wouldn't fit on the album and that it was an aesthetic choice to leave it off the cover, nothing more. However, the public does not seem to want to accept this ve...