There I was, finger on my mouse button from quarter to nine - at nine am on the dot I saw the tickets become available. I went for the Thursday night show since I figured it might be less trafficked than the Wednesday or the Friday (Friday being Friday and Wednesday being the night a lot of links went to by default).

I entered the captcha, got the searching graphic... for EIGHT minutes before it threw up an error... aaaarrrrghhh...

Ok don't panic, search again, I went through this for Leonard Cohen and got great tickets...

Ok, search for 2 tickets, best available... read the captcha word... WAIT A MINUTE!

No tickets available.

Think I have a case for emotional damage?

Luckily a friend of mine got two tickets and kindly offered the second ticket to me, so I still get to go to Tom Waits. Phew!

UPDATE: Looks like TicketMaster staggered the release of tickets and there are actually still tickets available now for all nights, at time of writing...

Radiohead commissioned a report on how to reduce their carbon footprint while touring and discovered that it is the fans travelling to and from concerts which contributes the most to the carbon footprint of a gig.

This is now apparently widely acknowledged in the industry, and Radiohead have tried to book venues that are as central as possible to allow fans to use public transport to get to their concerts.

The band are appealling to fans to think about how they travel to and from their concerts to make every effort to reduce the carbon footprint of Radiohead's gigs.

Radiohead play Malahide Castle in Dublin in June, and MCD.ie sent out an email which included the appeal, but of course the email did not provide any useful tips on transport to Malahide Castle which would help with the cause, but the MCD website at least provides a link to Radiohead's website which after a bit of digging around has this to say about Malahide:

Please use public transport to reach the venue if possible. A special Dublin Bus Shuttle Service will leave every 15 minutes from Burgh Quay. You can also take the scheduled Dublin Bus route 42 from the city centre. Visit www.dublinbus.ie for more details.

Every fifteen minutes starting when I wonder? Anyway, if you are using the shuttle service, get an early one - last time I used a Dublin bus shittle service to go to a Radiohead gig we missed the first act, which happened to be Beck!

After I bought my Leonard Cohen tickets I said to my friend 'I wonder how long now before Tom Waits plays here...' and lo and behold...

Tom Waits is confirmed to play Dublin this summer. Incredible. How many years have we been waiting for this?

He is going to play in a custom built tent in Phoenix park, despite allegedly having been offered much more money to play open air. According to Hot Press he wanted to play in a tent after hearing positive reports from friends who had played the Marquee in Cork.

So you can all thank us folk in the Real Capital for the more intimate surroundings you will get to hear this legend in

They haven't announced when tickets will go on sale yet, or how much they will be, but it doesn't really matter - I am there.

So Paul Simon is playing Live at the Marquee. I've been so out of the loop lately I didn't even hear until a few weeks back. The official line is that tickets are sold out, and several people told me they were, but a quick check on Ticketmaster seems to show tickets still available. Not great tickets, obviously, but tickets all the same.

I was tempted to get tickets, but it's expensive enough and there are just too many great gigs this Summer and I'm already going to too many of them!

A third date has been added for Leonard Cohen this June. He will now play the Friday (13/06/08) as well as the Saturday and Sunday.

Does anyone else find it marginallly annoying when you buy a ticket to a gig and then dates are added before the date you bought for? You know, like maybe the performer will be tired by the time they get to your gig... I know they're most likely doing a world tour and will be knackered anyway, but you know...

Anyway, tickets for the third Leonard Cohen night go on sale tomorrow morning (Wed 26/03/08 9:00am). Grab em quick!

Leonard Cohen will play the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham on Saturday the 14th of June. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning, Friday the 14th of March at 9am on Ticketmaster.ie. Tickets are €88.50 - €115.00 which is priceyish, but hell, it's Leonard Cohen.

It seems his last tour was in 1993, and I was giving up hope of seeing him perform so this is pretty damn exciting news. I guess somebody heard me giving out about the Summer Music scene and decided to set things right

Now, I better go and do some work so I can afford all these damn concerts & festivals!

Prince to play Croke Park (Dublin, Ireland) Monday 16th of June 2008.

Saw Prince play in the O2 in London last Summer and it was an unbelievably good gig, so I am well tempted to go see him in Croke Park in Dublin this Summer. Allegedly playing his greatest hits for 'the last time' (does anyone believe that, really?), and one of only three European Dates, this could be a serious Summer gig to go to.

I've never actually been to a gig in Croke Park, what's it like? What's the sound like?

The sound in the O2 in London was unbelievable, and I know Prince has high standards when it comes to things like that, but at the O2 I may have been miles away from the stage, but I had a comfortable seat, a good view and great sound... at Croke park will I be miles away, standing uncomfortably with crap sound?

Tickets go on sale Wednesay the 5th of March. Tickets from €66.50 (including booking fee).