A big act to follow.
As well as winning the inaugural JOE Man of the Year in 2015, Hozier also swept to victory in this category.
So while we don’t want to exert undue pressure on our five nominees this year, they have pretty big shoes to fill.
Cast your vote at the bottom of the page and remember to check out the rest of the categories here.
Picture This
The rise of Athy duo Picture This was close to meteoric in 2016, with the band ending the year by playing at the 2FM Xmas Ball in aid of the ISPCC in the 3 Arena and announcing a UK and Irish tour for next summer.
Those tickets are already selling like hot cakes, with the lads having to add two extra dates at the Olympia next June after the first three gigs sold out in no time.
Performing to sold-out venues is nothing new to Ryan Hennessy and Jimmy Rainsford, who also had a number one EP in the summer and are riding the crest of a wave at the moment.
All Tvvins
Well known on the Irish music circuit for some time now, All Tvvins released their debut album, IIVV, to positive reviews in 2016.
Conor Adams and Lar Kaye were good enough to play two of the songs from the album, ‘Resurrect Me’ and ‘Darkest Ocean’ for JOE Sessions earlier on in the year; after a quick listen it’s easy to understand why they’re so popular.
Walking on Cars
Securing a headline gig at the 3 Arena is an achievement that shouldn’t be underestimated and it was rich reward for Walking on Cars that they got to do just that in November.
That gig followed on from the release of their debut album, Everything This Way, at the start of the year, an album that made its way to the top of the charts in Ireland.
A number of dates on a European tour next year are already sold out; 2017 is going to be a busy year for the Dingle five-piece.
James Vincent McMorrow
A number one album in Ireland and a song on a trailer for one of the most anticipated seasons of one of the biggest TV shows of all time (Game of Thrones, of course) sounds like a pretty good year to us and James Vincent McMorrow seemed pretty thrilled about it too.
McMorrow’s recent tour dates, including performances in Los Angeles and Vancouver and upcoming gigs in Cork, Belfast, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, show the level of interest in the Dubliner all over the world.
Safe to say, he’s kind of a big deal.
The Riptide Movement
The fabulous foursome from Lucan released a new album, (their fourth studio album) Ghosts, in 2017, an album, in the band’s own words, “born on the Ring of Kerry and raised in El Paso, Texas”.
They were good enough to give JOE the exclusive on the launch of the music video for ‘Elephant in the Room,’ a song that’s been causing Irish people to nod their heads along to approvingly since the summer.
Date in the diary alert: Paddy’s Day 2017, Olympia Theatre, Dublin.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
