Josh Darr

Dec 9, 2024 | variancemagazine.com | Josh Darr

Fontaines D.C., the post-punk band out of Dublin, Ireland, are named after Johnny Fontane a character in The Godfather, godson of Vito Corleone, the initials DC standing for “Dublin City,” where they formed. They released their fourth studio album, Romance, and their first on new label XL Recording late in August. The first three albums were welcomed with critical acclaim for the band’s continued envelope pushing in sound and lyrics.

Oct 3, 2024 | variancemagazine.com | Josh Darr

I know I have written about it in the past here, so I won’t repeat myself too much, but The National is one of those bands I've followed and enjoyed now for over 15 years and have seen live now more than I can count on two hands. This, however, was my first time seeing them perform in such a capacity as the United Center outside of seeing them headline a music festival.

Oct 2, 2024 | variancemagazine.com | Josh Darr

Riot Fest returned for its 19th year recently. After a brief venue switch to Bridgeview, the fest ultimately returned to their controversial continued home in Douglas Park.

Sep 6, 2024 | globalreinsurance.com | Josh Darr |Guy Carpenter

Research reveals a range of human factors are the main drivers of increasing loss frequency and cumulative losses for severe convective storms, writes Josh Darr, managing director, global head of peril advisory, Guy Carpenter. The 2024 catastrophe year to date is following very closely to the traits of the 2022 and 2023 catastrophe years, as $59bn in property insured losses is comparable to 2023 and not far behind the record high $69bn observed in 2022.

Sep 2, 2024 | variancemagazine.com | Josh Darr

When I was a teenager, Green Day was a discovery and it was early enough in their careers that I was able to soak up the two albums that preceded their commercially successful “debut” Dookie. They then became a mainstay for me and my disc player with the next few records. Then as a young adult they became a reminder of everything I loved about them while showing a different side of themselves with their rock opera American Idiot.