Book of the Week in the Irish Daily Mail. Thank you, Maeve Quigley!

Thanks to @stubailie.bsky.social for coming along last night to entertain us with tales from the music world over the past 40 years. Everyone really enjoyed it! Thanks, as ever, to @mikephilpott.bsky.social for hosting. You can pick up all of Stuart's books in-store now!

I'm taking my lovely books to a bunch of places: Dromore tomorrow (Wed Nov 26), Oh Yeah Xmas Market (Thurs, Nov 27), Vault Christmas Market (December 6-7), Eastside Visitor's Centre (Dec 10), Portview Market (December 19-20). 'Mon and see!

Thanks to Steve Stockman for these positive words... sstockman.substack.com/p/stuart-bai...

Stuart Bailie’s fabulous new book ‘The Song Is Nearly Over’ has just been released. I’ve known Stuart since he wrote about Go! Service in 1985 for Record Mirror! We’ve kept in touch over the years. @stubailie.bsky.social Read more: indiethroughthelookingglass.com/2025/11/23/t...

I wrote a few words about Mani for The Sunday Times - I didn’t know it would be behind a paywall, so here it is if you would like to read it: (1/7)

Fewer than 10 tickets left for the book event this Sunday at The Court House Bangor. Terri Hooley is performing live with his pal Michael. Next Wednesday I'm at Mulholland's, Dromore, talking to Mike Philpott. Big thanks to @bridgebooksdromore.bsky.social for this.Ticket links below.

A mini-documentary about protest culture in Belfast. Including: IPSC, Pride, Reclaim the Agenda, UU Students' Union, Gender Chores, Strange New Places. Opposing views also aired. Congrats to filmmaker Ana McCrea for the presence to capture these important voices. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hecK...

This is a lovely surprise. A deep, reflective podcast about my times in music, particularly NME days & my connection to Irish music. Cheers Paul McDermott @learnandsing.bsky.social for including me in his landmark series - To Here Knows When. www.paulmcdermott.ie/bonus-episod...

Hey @lthanwordsfest.bsky.social. We should be on by now…

Not long now! #Louder2025 14-16 November @innsideuk #Manchester. We have a few Friday Night Passes available plus some event-by-event tickets left for the UKs biggest Music Lit Fest. Peruse, choose & purchase your Pass or individual event tickets here: louderthanwordsfest.com/whats-on/

Thanks to Allan for this review of the book launch, with Tim Wheeler, Terri Hooley and myself. Cheers also to Charlotte and Claire at Sound of Belfast.

Launch day for The Song Is Nearly Over. A lovely feeling. Now in stock at @bridgebooksdromore.bsky.social, Waterstones Belfast & Forestside plus No Alibis. Also available online at Bandcamp, Ebay and Music Glue. #thesongisnearlyover

Book events! The Belfast launch, Nov 6 is almost sold out. Maybe a dozen tickets left. Then Manchester and @lthanwordsfest.bsky.social, Nov 14, and Dromore, Nov. 26 with @bridgebooksdromore.bsky.social Ticket links below. More events TBA in Dundalk, Bangor and East Belfast #thesongisnearlyover

Top of the world, ma!

Book has landed! Out Nov. 6. Online sales links in comments.

Thanks to Stephen McCauley for involving me in his Book Week NI special. I had an extended blether about my time at NME, about the Manics, Morrissey, RÓIS, Oasis & the tremendous impact of the weekly music press. The whole show is valuable. My part begins around 1.11. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Huartan, tomorrow night. Nothing else like it. Bígí linn ✊

Thanks everyone for the brilliant support. Cheers for this one, Nialler. Kickstarter ends in 4 days. Books arriving soon. Excitement!

Manchester, November 14. Will be great.

A great listen.

Book launch is November 6 at the Deer's Head in Belfast, with Tim Wheeler and Terri Hooley.

Duke Special, musician and Shirley-Anne McMillan, author. Some words on why they are performing for Palestine this Saturday at Oh Yeah Music Centre, Oct 11. Please join them. Gig link in following post.

Performers for Palestine. This Saturday at the Oh Yeah Music Centre, with Duke Special, Ciaran Lavery, Malojian, Leo Miyagee, Shirley-Anne McMillan, Joe Nawaz.

NEW: Extraordinary scenes in Amsterdam this afternoon (Sunday, Oct 5). An estimated 250,000 bring the city to a standstill; people all wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸 (🎥 Ahmed Zantac)

Belfast 02.10.25. Photos by Stuart Bailie

Two new records, by The Divine Comedy and Anthony Toner that seem to fit with the change in season. A sense of imminent chill & things diminishing. But also the art that rallies around, finding rescue in untidy love. I've reviewed both albums for Dig With It. My review here: www.digwithit.com?p=3727

Performers for Palestine, Oh Yeah, Oct 11. Duke Special with Chip Bailey, Ciaran Lavery, Leo Miyagee, Malojian, BFrank Niamh McNally, Shirley-Anne McMillan, Joe Nawaz. Stuart Bailie. A fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestine. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/performers-for-palestine-tickets-1739386665339

Manchester! I'm bringing my book to the @lthanwordsfest.bsky.social on Nov 14. Reading & chatting about encounters with Oasis, Nina Simone, Sinéad O'Connor, The Pogues, Ian Brown & Tom Waits. Some great content in the festival & the craic is always immense. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-song-i...

It is possible to cherish the BBC as an institution while also saying that BBC News is failing very badly, day after day, in its duty to inform and that it always fails in a right-wing direction. It desperately needs to recover its integrity

Please support my book. The Song Is Nearly Over: Music Stories 1985-2025. is encounters & interviews. Tales of Nina Simone, Oasis, Björk, Patti, Manics, Sinéad, Shane, Strummer, U2, Weatherall. www.kickstarter.com/projects/digwithit1/the-song-is-nearly-over-music-stories-1985-2025?ref=project_build

Belfast 21.09.25. Global Sumud Flotilla Solidarity March. Photos by Stuart Bailie

It's been a week since Van Morrison's 80th birthday night at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. Plenty to think about. I wrote a blog. You can read it here: www.digwithit.com?p=3702

Belfast 06.09.25

Chris Mason is a profoundly unserious man who writes about politics as if it were a video game with no real consequences. True to form, this article is purely about optics. Not a single policy is mentioned www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Here's how the real two-tier Britain works: 1. Whatever Nigel Farage says, however stupid, is looped and discussed by the media, while left-wing voices are treated as noises off. 2. Tiny far-right protests get massive airtime, while 10s of 000s gathering for Palestine or green causes are ignored.🧵

If you’re doing a ‘double tap’ strike on a hospital, you’re a war criminal and a terrorist.

Stiff Little Fingers, Sham 69 and PIL. Live at Custom House Sq, Belfast, 16.08.25. Photos by Stuart Bailie

Belfast 15.08.25. Photos by Stuart Bailie

Scenes from a counter-protest in Belfast, 09.08.25. Opposing an anti-refugee rally outside the 10 Square Hotel. Photos by Stuart Bailie

Protest outside Barclays Bank, Belfast, 09.08.25. With guest speaker Dr. Shahd Hammouri - Lecturer in International Law and Legal Theory. Photos by Stuart Bailie.

I've written a story about Mothers Against Genocide and their new recording, 'A Mother's Heart'. Inspiring people, @mothersagainstg.bsky.social. Read here: www.digwithit.com?p=3679

I love this book.

Wonderful times at BelfastTradfest. Loads of musical visitors & learners. Big events in public spaces & cool happenings within swinging doors. Props to Iarla Ó Lionáird, Moxie, Kinnaris Quintet, Tempest, harp & pipe specials, sean nós dancing, rapid tunes & energy. Thanks Dónal, Patricia & team.

Belfast 25.07.25. Photos by Stuart Bailie

Friday.

Starving of journalists in Gaza “silences the truth” says International Federation of Journalists following Agence France-Presse’s journalists’ union warning its colleagues are at serious risk of starvation. NUJ general secretary Laura Davison said: "This is a chilling warning by AFP and is a…

Happy birthday to the amazing Mavis Staples. Here are The Staple Singers performing their version of Talking Heads' Slippery People on Soul Train in 1984

The first Van Morrison bus tour, May 3, 2003. On Hyndford St with Terri Hooley, Rainbow George, Billy Bragg and guitarist/tour manager Wiggy. Far right is Marty Neill. This was a co-production with myself and the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival - a fund-raiser for the Ulster Cancer Foundation.

Sir Robbie Gibb had "no formal role" in discussions about ditching a BBC film on medics in Gaza. The BBC seems blind to "perceptions of partiality" when it comes to this key board member. My column www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...