http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/fergus-linehan/ Fergus Linehan has spent the past decade directing the Dublin Theatre Festival & the Sydney Festival. He was last seen wandering somewhere in Europe. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-finest-debut-album-of-2009/ One of the more accurate musical predictions of the past eighteen months was that the sparkly retro glamour of recent years would give way to a more introverted breed of shoe gazing hipsters.  What no one saw coming, however, was that the new kids would take a far more confident and far less faddish approach than the recent crop of faux popsters.  A perfect example is the arrival of The XX, a morose looking bunch of 20 year olds from South West London who have created what must surely be the finest debut of 2009.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Fergus Linehan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-finest-debut-album-of-2009/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-finest-debut-album-of-2009/#item1555 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:55:38 +0000 Fergus Linehan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/elbow-grease-for-a-rusty-northern-city/ Just back from a quick visit to the capital of North, or if you are to believe Mancunians, the capital of all England.  Indeed this is a city over brimming with ballsy self-confidence. Manchester has always had a ladish swagger but glamorous football teams, shiny hotels and a vast new shopping precinct have replaced some of the grit with an unlikely sparkle.  Recently added to this is the bleedingly hip new Manchester International Festival, described as the world’s first international festival of original, new work and special events.  In practice this means a new opera by Rufus Wainwright, a public procession by Turner prize winner Jeremy Deller and a homecoming par excellence by local legends Elbow united with Britain’s oldest orchestra, The Hallé. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Fergus Linehan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/elbow-grease-for-a-rusty-northern-city/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/elbow-grease-for-a-rusty-northern-city/#item726 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:35:14 +0000 Fergus Linehan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/an-album-that-brings-warmth-to-a-depressing-northern-summer/ Somebody very annoying once said that “Life is like a rainbow, you need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear”.  Let me tell ya, there are no rainbows here in Edinburgh where the sun is stubbornly refusing to shine through the gloom.  As Bill Bryson once put it “It’s like living inside Tupperware”.  The Antlers @ Music Hall of Williamsburg from Patrick Duffy on Vimeo. We are well into summer and it looking like topping out at a balmy 13 degrees today. This is the third consecutive disastrous summer in this part of the world and it’s even testing the patience of the hard-as-f**k Celts.  I was talking to a friend in Sydney yesterday who was moaning about your gloriously mild winter – it was like complaining to a starving man that there were no petit fours at the end of their five course dinner. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Fergus Linehan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/an-album-that-brings-warmth-to-a-depressing-northern-summer/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/an-album-that-brings-warmth-to-a-depressing-northern-summer/#item407 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:44:18 +0000 Fergus Linehan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-yea-yea-yeas-have-put-together-one-hell-of-a-stimulus-package/ It’s only when you have finished a job like programming the Sydney Festival that you fully appreciate what a lucky bugger you were.  You get paid to listen to albums, go to shows and exhibitions and then work with those artists you most admire.  And you get paid for it.  Obviously it’s not without its strains – a friend of mine often cites the excruciating five-hour incomprehensible nonsense we sometimes have to work our way through and claims “I get paid to watch this crap so you don’t have to!”. The truth is of course, somebody has to do it.  We all want and need someone to trawl through the blizzard of choice and come up with combinations of plays and concerts that have been selected with us in mind.  During my time in Sydney this was particularly apparent when it came to popular music.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Fergus Linehan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-yea-yea-yeas-have-put-together-one-hell-of-a-stimulus-package/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-yea-yea-yeas-have-put-together-one-hell-of-a-stimulus-package/#item151 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:49:39 +0000 Fergus Linehan | Author bios | The Punch