Event of the week
Coldplay
Thursday-Monday, August 29th-September 2nd, Croke Park, Dublin, 5pm (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
Coldplay are many things to many people – “bedwetters”, according to Alan McGee, the former boss of Creation Records, and the “band you’re supposed to like if you’re a student”, according to the Guardian – but, with four sold-out shows at Croker, they remain one of the most popular choices for those who can afford the price of admission. These shows, plugging two albums, Music of the Spheres, from 2021, and the forthcoming Moon Music, are structured across four acts – Planets, Moons, Stars, Home – that are festooned with hit songs, more lights and lasers than you can imagine, and eruptions of biodegradable confetti. Expect a dynamic masterclass in stadium entertainment.
Gigs
Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Saturday, August 24th, Dolan’s, Limerick, 8pm, €36, dolans.ie; Sunday, August 25th, Róisín Dubh, Galway, 8pm, €36 (sold out), roisindubh.net; Monday, August 26th, 8pm, €36, National Concert Hall, Dublin, nch.ie; Tuesday, August 27th, 8pm, €36 (sold out), Whelan’s, Dublin, whelanslive.com
It is rare indeed for an acclaimed American singer-songwriter to undertake such an extensive tour of Ireland, but Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) is treating his Irish fans to five intimate gigs huddled around his big show at the National Concert Hall, in Dublin. Oldham will dip into his new album, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, as well as selections from his extensive back catalogue – more than 25 albums in 30 years – of lo-fi, alt.country and indie folk songs.
Girl in Red
Tuesday, August 27th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €40, ticketmaster.ie
It isn’t often that a singer is awarded a prize for their “artistic distinctiveness and explicit messages of boundless love”, but Marie Ulven Ringheim isn’t your average purveyor of pop music. For the past 10 years, under the stage name Girl in Red, the 25-year-old Norwegian has graduated from releasing music on Soundcloud to being signed initially to Awal (which also has the likes of Little Simz, Finneas O’Connell and our own CMAT on its roster) and then, two years ago, to Columbia Records. Two albums in – If I Could Make It Go Quiet, from 2021, and I’m Doing It Again, Baby! from this year – Ringheim remains true to her songwriting stories of romance, mental-health issues, and experiences of being gay.
Blink-182
Monday, August 26th, SSE Arena, Belfast, 6.30pm, £85.60/£77 (sold out); Tuesday, August 27th, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, 5pm, €99.90/€89.90, ticketmaster.ie
After 30 years of japes, tattoos and juvenile humour, the band that helped to kick-start the second mainstream rise of punk-pop, in the mid-1990s, continue to assert themselves. These rescheduled shows (initially planned for late last year) are particularly special for diehard fans, in that for the first time in almost 15 years the line-up is the classic combination of Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker, who’ll be playing songs from their latest album, One More Time, as well as from previous records. Their guests are the US pop-punk band The Story So Far.
Stage
Gatman!
Thursday-Saturday, August 29th-31st, Everyman Theatre, Cork, 8pm, €25, everymancork.com
“All was unreal in the state of Corkopia,” begins the plot outline of Tadgh Hickey’s one-man show. As if we didn’t know that already, the comedian and playwright, portraying a down-at-heel alcoholic named Murph, takes us on a picaresque and kaleidoscopic journey through his beloved home city as he attempts to get sober in the lead-up to meeting his son. (Also, Friday, September 6th, Saturday, September 7th, and Tuesday, September 10th, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, projectartscentre.ie.)
Spoken word
Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival
Friday-Sunday, August 30th-Sunday, September 1st, various venues, times and prices, Clear Island, Co Cork, capeclearstorytelling.com
You will need a torch (in the absence of street lighting), cash/smartphone (there is no ATM for a top-up) and sturdy footwear, but beyond these necessities your relaxing Co Cork island retreat awaits. Amid breathtaking surroundings you get a superb programme of skilled storytelling by (among others) the Orkney Islands’ Tom Muir, Iceland’s Hjörleifur Stefánsson, Iran’s Zahra Afsah and Ireland’s Clare Murphy, John Spillane and Padraig Ó Briain. Regular ferries to Cape Clear run from the village of Baltimore, 12km from the island.
Visual art
Gerda Teljeur: Crosscurrents
Until Sunday, September 22nd, Grilse Gallery, Killorglin, Co Kerry, grilse.ie
The last time the Wexford-based Dutch artist Gerda Teljeur presented a solo show of her work was in 2013, in the town’s arts centre, so an exhibition of new work is very much to be welcomed. Her large ink drawings on paper (some of which featured in the 100 Dutch Artists exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam) are precise, acutely contemplative works that connect themes of people and the environment, engendered, perhaps, by her work with community groups, education centres and the elderly.
Architecture
The Reasons of Towns
Until Friday, August 30th, Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet, Co Mayo, architecturefoundation.ie
“A public occasion for the telling and retelling of true stories, lost traditions and possible futures for Irish towns and the people who live in them” is how this exhibition of the work of the Irish architect Valerie Mulvin is outlined. The exhibition, prompted in part by her recently published book, Approximate Formality, highlights Mulvin’s remarkable work about Irish towns through texts, drawings, models, notes and personal memorabilia. (Also, from Thursday, September 12th, until Thursday, September 26th, Swift Cultural Centre, Trim, Co Meath.)
Still running
GazeFest
Friday, August 30th, Grand Social, Dublin, 8pm, €8; Saturday, August 31st, Oh Yeah Centre, Belfast, 2pm, £13 (all-ages gig), eventbrite.ie
Following on from the success of last year’s inaugural GazeFest, the event’s second year gathers a stronger selection of Ireland’s best and emerging shoegaze (and gaze-influenced) bands. Included in the line-up are the dreamy/fuzzy groups Virgins, Affection to Rent and Skyless.
Book it this week
IFI Documentary Festival, Irish Film Institute, Dublin, September 25th-29th, ifi.ie
Giant Sand, Bello Bar, Dublin, foggynotions.ie
Anthrax, 3Arena, Dublin, November 24th, ticketmaster.ie
Jarlath Regan, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, January 11th, ticketmaster.ie
