ARTHUR’S DAY

Various venues, Dublin city centre Thurs

It would be fair to say that Dublin has never seen anything like it. Arthur’s Day, the event that celebrates not only 250 years of Guinness but also the establishment of the Arthur Guinness Fund (which will help empower communities worldwide), will feature big music acts in small music venues, international names performing in traditional Dublin pubs, and Irish acts playing all over the city.

The action kicks off next Thursday at 5.59pm (17.59, geddit?) at Hop Store 13, where the likes of Estelle (pictured), Kasabian and Tom Jones perform. After this, things get truly haywire, with four main venues hosting the likes of The Kooks and Richard Hawley (The Academy), David Gray and The Enemy (Whelan’s), Calvin Harris and Jamie Cullum (Tripod), and Razorlight and Sugababes (Vicar St). At each of these venues any of the following could also be there: Soul II Soul, Paolo Nutini, The Blizzards, The Undertones, Mongrel, The Wombats, Black Swan Effect, Imelda May, The Hot Rats, Reverend and the Makers, Republic of Loose, Lisa Hannigan (and that’s not taking into account a rake of lesser-known Irish acts).

And that’s not all, folks: the doozy event of the evening will take place in some 30 city pubs, where every one of the aforementioned acts will take to the (small) stage for a 30- minute performance. The trick is to find out which pub will be hosting your preferred act – except you won’t know until you’re there. If this critic is shoulder-to-shoulder with Razorlight in the Brazen Head, he will be very, very annoyed.

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Times New Viking Saturday, Dublin