Show Notes
Olivia Rodrigo’s latest album features Robert Smith of The Cure, but this collaboration tells a much bigger story than a pop star working with one of her heroes. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore why The Cure continue to resonate with younger listeners, how TikTok and streaming have transformed music discovery, and whether modern audiences are inheriting music differently than previous generations. Drawing on an idea from David Byrne, we examine how music now exists in a giant cultural “bucket” where new and old songs coexist without chronology, allowing artists like Olivia Rodrigo to become gateways into entire musical worlds. From The Cure and Talking Heads to Spotify playlists and TikTok algorithms, this episode is about the changing nature of musical discovery and why great songs continue to find new listeners.
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On Dopamine Chamber, Fontaines D.C. construct a seductive, apocalyptic world of electronic textures, cinematic grandeur and unsettling beauty. It’s a bold evolution for a band whose journey from the restless streets of Dogrel to the theatrical universe of Romance has continually challenged expectations. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore the haunting beauty of “Where Is Gone?”, the significance of Rosalía’s first collaboration with the band, and the Irish identity that continues to shape their music. Through the lens of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, we consider the relationship between music, memory, technology and the worlds we construct around ourselves.
Shane MacGowan changed Irish music by changing what Irishness was allowed to sound like. From the traditional songs of his childhood in Tipperary to the collision of Irish folk and punk that created The Pogues, Shane MacGowan spent his life challenging the boundaries of Irish culture. He was accused of corrupting Irish music. Instead, he helped redefine it. The Pogues gave voice and dignity to an Irish diaspora living between countries, while Shane’s own understanding of Irish identity was never confined by borders. Decades later, a new generation of Irish artists from Lankum and The Mary Wallopers to Madra Salach and Fontaines D.C. are taking that same restless relationship with tradition in entirely different directions.
For almost three decades, Garvaghy Road in Portadown has been at the centre of one of Northern Ireland’s most enduring disputes over parades, identity, history and territory. In 2026, the Drumcree standoff has returned to the headlines. As the Orange Order seeks to march along the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years, local residents have gathered in protest. And amid the confrontation, something unexpected has become part of the story: music. The Mary Wallopers and members of Beoga have performed on Garvaghy Road alongside a community using music, singing and collective expression as part of its resistance. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores Garvaghy Road, Drumcree, Irish music, cultural memory, political protest and the strange power of music to occupy a space.
Following the controversy that saw Macklemore removed from the remaining US dates of Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour, Stephen White looks beyond the headlines to ask what the story reveals about power, money and freedom in the modern music industry. Promoters, venues, billionaire owners and corporate interests can control the spaces where music happens, raising a bigger question about what happens when an artist’s politics collide with the commercial machinery behind the stage. Then Macklemore announced FREE PALESTINE, a new series of concerts beginning in Dublin before moving to Paris and London, with proceeds going to organisations providing humanitarian, medical and other support to Palestinians. The Importance of Being Macklemore is an essay about music, power, capitalism, political expression and the strange relationship between artists and the people who control the rooms they perform in.
Macklemore walked onto the stage at MetLife Stadium and said two words: Free Palestine. What followed became much bigger than a moment between songs. Macklemore was removed from the remaining US dates of Ed Sheeran’s tour. The promoter said venues had objected to his continued involvement. Sheeran said the decision was not his, and that he had tried to find a way through the dispute. Then the other artists started walking. Finneas. Lukas Graham. Aaron Rowe. Beoga. Suddenly, this wasn’t simply a story about one rapper making a political statement. It became a story about power, money, free expression and the machinery behind the modern stadium tour. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, I ask the uncomfortable question: Is Ed Sheeran a coward? Sheeran describes himself as apolitical. He says his concerts should be places of safety, sanctuary and escape from politics. But what happens when politics enters the room anyway? What happens when the biggest artist on the stage has the power to challenge the machinery around him and chooses not to? Macklemore has since pledged his $1 million in tour earnings to organisations supporting Palestinians. Robert Kraft has said Sheeran asked him to commit $2 million towards humanitarian relief. And while the music industry argues over who was right and who was wrong, we cannot lose sight of the people at the centre of this story. Palestinians living through the consequences of this war. This is The Last Mixed Tape. Free Palestine.