Event of the week
Electric Picnic
From Friday, August 16th, until Sunday, August 18th, Stradbally Hall, Co Laois, noon (sold out), electricpicnic.ie
Despite its range of events, tents, stages and nooks and crannies devoted to strands of arts-related disciplines, Electric Picnic remains Ireland’s primary music festival – so much so that the 75,000 attendees are happy to snap up tickets before the line-up has even been announced. Notwithstanding the always interesting side events, from the excellent Theatre of Food to the never less than compelling Mindfield, the 19th edition of the festival features something for everyone in the audience. The main stage headliners include Noah Kahan (Friday), Calvin Harris (Saturday) and Kylie Minogue (Sunday), but you’ll also find bucketloads of amazing acts that might not be as well-known but deliver the proverbial goods.
Gigs
Belters Only
Sunday, August 11th, Galway Airport, 7pm, €59.90, ticketmaster.ie
One of Ireland’s most successful music acts of recent years, Belters Only – the DJ duo of Robbie G and Bissett – have come a long way from their club nights at the Grand Social in Dublin in 2019: hit singles in the UK, residencies in Ibiza superclubs, sell-out shows at 3Arena in Dublin, and a stream of production work. What’s next for them is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime prepare for lift-off.
Two Door Cinema Club
Thursday, August 15th, Custom House Square, Belfast, 6pm, £38; Friday, August 16th, Galway Airport, 7pm, €49.90, ticketmaster.ie
On March 3rd, 2011, Two Door Cinema Club did the unthinkable for an emerging band: when it was announced on the stage of Vicar Street in Dublin that the Co Down trio had won the Choice prize for the best Irish album of 2010, for their debut, Tourist History, they promptly donated the €10,000 in prize money to a charity in Bangor, their hometown. Four albums later (and with the lucrative boost of having their songs regularly used on TV shows, in advertisements and in video games), the band have consistently delivered quality guitar-fuelled pop/dance.
TV Girl
Thursday, August 15th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €49.90, ticketmaster.ie
Some acts suddenly find success because of the most unexpected turn of events. In 2021 the San Diego band TV Girl – who you might have caught at last year’s All Together Now festival – were motoring along in third gear. Then TikTok users started to post snippets of their songs. Cue swift graduation from moderately sized venues to the likes of 3Arena. Catch ’em while they’re hot.
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Film
Paul Verhoeven: The Hollywood Years
Saturday, August 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, 7pm, €10.50, triskelartscentre.ie
Audacious sci-fi, neonoir thrillers, graphic violence, sexually charged content: the work of the Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven is divisive, to say the least. Focusing on a selection of his American movies from the 1990s – Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Starship Troopers – this season is a gathering of financial triumph (Basic Instinct was one of the most commercially successful films of 1993), financial failure (Showgirls was rubbished by critics and audiences alike on its release in 1995) and financial reappraisal (Showgirls, which went from collecting numerous worst-film awards to grossing more than $100 million on VHS and DVD).
Stage
Mother of All the Behans
Tuesday, August 13th, until Sunday, August 18th, 3Olympia Theatre, 6.30pm, €30-€50, ticketmaster.ie
The singer and actor Imelda May returns in the biographical one-woman show that earned her rave reviews (”comic timing and an eye for bringing characters to life, often humorously”, The Irish Times noted) when it first ran at the 3Olympia, a year ago. Adapted from Brian Behan’s book about his singer-activist mother (with additional material by Rosaleen Linehan, who first performed the stage show to much acclaim in 1987), the narrative is driven more by other characters than by Behan herself, but is no less entertaining for it. Peter Sheridan directs.
Visual art
Art & Soul
From Sunday, August 11th, until Sunday, September 8th, free, 11am-7pm, K Club, Straffan, Co Kildare, kclub.ie
More than 300 works by some of the most prestigious contemporary international artists (including Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí, Banksy, Keith Haring and Damien Hirst) and Irish artists (including Ian Pollock, Patrick O’Reilly and Eamonn Ceannt) are on show at this summer exhibition that will also feature a dozen new pieces by the Belfast artist Martin Mooney. Outdoor works include more than 90 installations and sculptures around the K Club’s 200-hecatre estate. Includes a programme of guided tours and artists’ talks.
Classical
Chamber Music on Valentia
From Thursday, August 15th, until Sunday, August 18th, various venues, times and prices, chambermusiconvalentia.com
Chamber Music on Valentia (founded by its artistic director, the musician Mary Dullea, in 2014) uses a gorgeous island location, unique venues and history to connect performances with audiences. The 11th festival programme includes concerts (the Swiss duo André Fischer and Sébastien Singer, the Nigerian-Irish composer Tunde Jegede), workshops, late-night concerts (the Satie Hour), and the festival’s featured Irish composer, Gráinne Mulvey.
The festival finale, Season on Valentia, takes place at the island’s Church of the Immaculate Conception, with a programme of Vivaldi and Maddalena Sirmen.
Still running
Trade/Mary Motorhead
Until Sunday, August 11th, Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny, 7pm/3pm, €35/€32, kilkennyarts.ie
Redefining what opera can be is at the core of the European premiere of Emma O’Halloran’s double bill of work that she has adapted from two plays by her uncle, the writer and actor Mark O’Halloran. Tom Creed directs. (As part of Kilkenny Arts Festival, which ends on Sunday, August 18th.)
