Belsonic

Belsonic always comes and goes without any real interest or attention from myself — the music I like never really seems to get a look in.
That could be because I’m slightly stuck in a musical bubble — I have a serious penchant for anything with a guitar from 1960 – 1980 with an awful lot else thrown in for good measure and I do follow bands still producing material, but generally what’s popular doesn’t float my boat.
This year saw the edition of Mr. Jam himself Paul Weller in addition to a raft of up to date popular artists such as Paulo Nutini and Florence and the Machine.
It’s great to see live music coming to the city regardless of what it is — unless it’s dance — Planet Love for example is how god is going to prove to me he does exist by leaving me in an eternal Planet Love hell when I die.

Belsonic is a music festival that runs in Belfast every summer and has become an absolute mainstay of the Northern Irish music scene. LIke Rigsy’s charity football tournament or charity football sham as it should be now called (My team was cheated out of it blatently this year, the scar still runs deep.) this is an integral part of the summer in Belfast.
It usually runs over about a week, incororporating evening sets for some pretty big bands and musical acts. Personally, I didn’t really dig any of the acts this year and my heroes The Mystery Jets had to pull out a couple of years ago but other than that it is a pretty solidly ran music event. You’ll get ripped off for drinks when you’re in there but its generally safe and clean and there is never really any trouble.
The price is £30 a night, which is ok I guess because the headliners usually have a pretty solid undercard.

Ok, I get the problems people have with Belsonic, and I’d agree that this year they spread themselves a little too thin (was it just me, or did it seem to be going on for months?), but I don’t really have a problem with big outdoor gigs featuring a good mix of local bands and festival headliners. It’s not meant to be totally alternative. they’re trying to sell thousands of tickets here, so have to give the people what they want, and apparently the people want Florence and the Machine!
The promoters, Shine, do a good job of organising the gigs, and Custom House Square is actually a pretty good spot. The sound can lack a bit, but I don’t really know of anywhere in the city that you wouldn’t have that problem.

A vibrant yearly music festival held in Belfast city centre and really creates a buzz.
The festival attracts really big names to Belfast, this year they had Florence and The Machine, Soulwax, Paul Weller, Deadmau5, Stereophonics, Biffy Clyro and yer man whos always singing about his new shoes.
Tickets are £30 each, pretty reasonable for a well set up event with some great music on offer.

The Belsonic festival is now hitting its third year as a thriving music festival held in Belfast’s busy Custom House Square. In the past years it’s proudly presented the likes of DeadMau5 and 2 Many DJs and the line up this year looks set to impress as the duo grace our stage again. Alongside them are the mighty Florence and the Machine, Stereophonics, Lost Prophets, Biffy Clyro and Paolo Nutini, as well as Kasabian, Paul Wellar and David Guetta. This mix of artists hopes to draw in a range of music lovers from all over the country.
The event seems set to become an exciting fixture on Belfast’s (somewhat small) festival scene. It’s an increasingly popular date on the music calendar and seems like the hype around it will only grow bigger and better. Bring it on Belfast!
Tickets from £30 +++ (Plus Ltd VIP tickets)
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I get what it is that Belsonic is trying to do. They are trying to make a festival of music spread out over a week or so and they are trying to make each night an individual experience so you could go to as many as possible, thus promoting Belfast as a cool music venue.
Problem number one — The acts are as diverse as my shoe selection. The headliners include Stereophonics (good rock band), Kasabian (good rock band), Paul Weller (good rock man from good rock band), Biffy Clyro (good rock-​ish band)… you see where I’m going.
They have ‘dance’ headliners too with David (should be pushed off a cliff) Guetta and 2manydjs. Only Paolo Nutini and Florence stand alone as hugely impressive, individual headliners worthy of pulling in the crowd.
Problem number two — the cheap tickets are £30+ and the ‘vip’ tickets (1, 2, 3… oooh) offer a ‘generally’ better view of the stage. It is shockingly expensive to see one relatively good band and some support act you’ve not heard of.
Belsonic is doing everything right by trying to get a festival of music into the city but they have to have bigger and more diverse acts than this selection.
Going the right direction but needs to do better.

Ever since Tennant’s Vital mysteriously disappeared off the summer music calendar, Belfast was begging out for a music festival.
The festival has been growing in strength and prominence for the last few years, and this year it has outdone itself.
Belsonic started in 2008, and was mainly an indie orientated event, with headliners like The Flaming Lips proving a real draw for the punters of Belfast.
This year the festival has expanded to a rather extraordinary 8 nights, with a range of acts to cater to all, from the Dance stylings of 2 Many DJs and David Guetta to the harder rock of Biffy Clyro.
I initially had reservations about the location when I went to it last year but the square looks very nice at night with the acts on, and there are the usual amenities and food stands you would expect at such an event.
The only thing that stops me giving the event 5 stars is this year’s lineup. Pretty much all of these acted have already performed in Belfast i the last year, which makes some nights for me redundant, but judging by the sold out nights so far not everyone is concerned as me!