Event of the week
Jazzy & Friends
Thursday, April 4th, 3Olympia, Dublin, 7pm, €25 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
One of Ireland’s most hotly tipped music acts returns home to pay thanks to the city and fans who have supported her over the past few years. “It hasn’t gone unnoticed,” says Jazzy (aka Yasmine Byrne), who was recently nominated for a Brit Award, in the international song of the year category, for Giving Me (with which she became the first Irish woman to top the national charts in 14 years). This exclusive (all-ages) show in aid of Children’s Health Foundation will see Jazzy further consolidate her position as a dance-pop hit machine with songs such as Shooting Star, Life Lesson, Make Me Feel Good and the aforementioned Giving Me, which the last time we checked had more than 130m plays on Spotify. As for those “friends” – surprise, surprise!
Gigs
Kormac
Saturday, March 30th, NCH, Dublin, 7.30pm, €35/€30, nch.ie
For an event subtitled Always the Sound: A Retrospective, the DJ, producer and composer Cormac O’Halloran joins forces with the Irish Chamber Orchestra to perform tracks from his current album, Equivalent Exchange. Assisting him on the night are several of that album’s collaborators, including Loah, Jack O’Rourke, MayKay, and Shahab and Shayan Coohe. Other guests are Claire Young and Celaviedmai. Live shows from the highly inventive Kormac are not only rare but also audiovisual treats, so expect the agreeably unexpected.
Van Morrison
Sunday, March 31st, and Monday, April 1st, Culloden Estate and Spa, Holywood, Belfast, 12.30pm, £350/£270/£240/£200, tickermaster.ie
Over the past four years Van Morrison has probably played more gigs at this five-star hotel than anywhere else. You can see the appeal for the well-heeled fan: a three-course sit-down lunch in a dining room with a capacity of a mere 320, and Morrison doing whatever Morrison wants to do. This could mean many things that don’t feature deep cuts from Astral Weeks, including the man concentrating on his three most recent albums, Accentuate the Positive, Moving on Skiffle, and Beyond Words: Instrumental (all released last year). A swish gig, no doubt, if you can afford a ticket. Those who want the open-air burgers-and-chips experience will have to wait until his summer gigs in Belfast, Cork and Dublin.
A Litany of Failures
Saturday, March 30th, and Sunday, March 31st, Button Factory, Dublin, 7pm, €25, buttonfactory.ie
An odd title, you might think, for a series of compilations featuring emerging Irish music acts, but four albums later and A Litany of Failures (described by this paper as indispensable listening for any Irish music fan with a modicum of taste) is still going strong. Across the weekend, music from Oh Boland, Junk Drawer, The Bonk, M(h)aol, Search Results and ManTua will feature. Before tonight’s concert there’s a panel discussion on music production, with insights from three of Ireland’s most skilled producers: John “Spud” Murphy (Lankum and Black Midi), Chris W Ryan (Just Mustard and Robocobra Quartet) and Jamie Hyland (Gilla Band). The weekend’s activities will act as a fundraiser for the fifth volume of the series, so let’s make that happen, shall we?
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Paco Peña
Thursday, April 4th, NCH, Dublin, 7.30pm, €42.50/€40.50/€35, nch.ie
The Cordoba guitarist Paco Peña is viewed as the world’s foremost traditional flamenco player, but this rare mini tour of Ireland also features (in the second part of the show) complementary performances from his touring dance company and selective duets with his fellow guitarist Rafael Montilla. Also Saturday, April 6th (Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny), Sunday, April 7th (Cork Opera House), Tuesday, April 9th (Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin) and Wednesday, April 10th (Mandela Hall, Belfast).
Podcast
Bressie: Where Is My Mind?
Friday, April 5th, National Opera House, Wexford, 8pm, €25, nationaloperahouse.ie
Niall Breslin – musician, author, mental-health advocate and more – takes his award-winning podcast show on the road for evenings of special guests, thought-provoking conversation, music, spoken word and whatever else might crop up on the night. In the opening show, Bressie’s guest is Ryan Hennessy, the lead singer of Picture This. The tour continues until April 27th; niallbreslin.com has full details of dates, venues and guests.
Stage
The Kite Runner
From Tuesday, April 2nd until Saturday, April 6th, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €42.50/€35/€30, gaietytheatre.ie
The Kite Runner, based on Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel, tours Ireland and Britain directly after a season on Broadway. With such a match-fit production, expect the story of friendship, disloyalty, remorse and personal restoration to be presented with precision and no small sense of discovery. Matthew Spangler adapts, Giles Croft directs; Stuart Vincent, Yazdan Qafouri and Daphne Kouma star.
The Pull of the Stars
Previews from Friday, April 5th; opening night Wednesday, April 10th; until Sunday, May 12th; Gate Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €37.50/€32.50/€27.50, gatetheatre.ie
Adapted by Emma Donoghue from her best-selling novel, the Dublin-based storyline revolves around three women over three days in a maternity fever ward during the flu pandemic of 1918. Touching on fateful relationships, the division between poverty and affluence, institutional abuse, systemic heartlessness and stubborn survival, the production’s all-woman cast includes Ciara Byrne, Ruth McCabe, Una Kavanagh, India Mullen and Ghaliah Conroy. Louise Lowe directs. Age recommendation is 15-plus.
Still running
Searching in the Dark: Eddie Cahill
Until Sunday, April 7th, Limerick City Gallery of Art, gallery.limerick.ie
The psychological impact of trauma is explored in Eddie Cahill’s latest exhibition, which revisits episodes in his life (including time in Letterfrack industrial school and Portlaoise Prison) that he memorably expresses through use of symbolic imagery and vivid colours.
Book it this week
2-22: A Ghost Story, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, June 21st-August 11th, ticketmaster.ie
Night & Day Festival, Lough Key Forest Park, County Roscommon, June 28th-30th, nightandday.ie
SZA, Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, July 3rd, ticketmaster.ie
Luke Kidgell, Vicar Street, Dublin, August 17th, ticketmaster.ie
