The Guide: The events to see, the shows to book, and the ones to catch before they end

Event of the week

Dermot Kennedy

Thursday, December 21st, NCH, Dublin, 7pm (sold out: tickets allocated by draw), nch.ie

Unless you know someone who knows someone, there’s no point trying to get tickets for Dermot Kennedy’s recently announced show at the National Concert Hall. They disappeared in seconds. Such is the songwriter’s appeal that he could easily sell out 3Arena – he has just returned from playing a series of gigs in Australia, including three at Sydney Opera House – but this show isn’t about bells and whistles. Rather, it’s Kennedy with an acoustic guitar (and perhaps a special guest or two?) singing his well-loved songs in a fundraiser for the Barretstown and Pieta charities.

Gigs

Hozier

Sunday, December 17th, SSE Arena, Belfast, 6.30pm, £49/£38; Tuesday, December 19th, until Friday, December 22nd, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €44.90 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie

Homecoming gigs don’t come any more triumphant than these four: Hozier is back just in time for Christmas, safe in the knowledge that his third album, Unreal Unearth, is his most successful to date. The last time he played Dublin was at a small venue – the Academy – around the time of the album’s release, when he road-tested the songs. There’ll be none of that at these arena shows: touring the United States for the past few months has made the material as taut as steel wire and turned the musicians into road warriors. Prepare to be shook. (Hozier’s excellent support act, Last Dinner Party, play Workman’s Club, Dublin, on Tuesday, December 19th, at 11pm.)

Damien Dempsey

Saturday, December 16th, until Saturday, December 23rd, Vicar Street, Dublin, 7pm, €45 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie

Every December, Damien Dempsey’s faithful fans stuff Vicar Street to pay allegiance to the man with the broadest shoulders in Irish music. We predict that these shows will be even more emotional than usual, as the singer-songwriter will surely touch on the deaths of three notable figures from Irish music – Christy Dignam, Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan – with his heartfelt, almost invincible sincerity.

Lankum

Tuesday, December 19th, Dolan’s, Limerick; 8pm, €35 (sold out), dolans.ie; Thursday, December 21st, National Opera House, Wexford, 8pm; €32.50 (sold out), nationaloperahouse.ie; Friday, December 22nd, Leisureland, Galway, 7pm, €35 (sold out), roisindubh.net

It has been Lankum’s year. The group released False Lankum (their third album as Lankum) in March, and quickly enough came under an onslaught of comparisons (traditional music’s OK Computer or Dark Side of the Moon, anyone?) and too many critics trying to outdo each other with supersonic flights of fanciful descriptions. Trying to define the music, however, is a mug’s game – just open up your ears to one of the best albums of the year (and the best band of their generation) and you’ll be fine.

The 2 Johnnies Podcast Christmas Party

Saturday, December 16th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €50.90 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie

Following the start of their RTÉ television show, The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In, and the news that their podcast has reached more than 100 million streams, Johnny Smacks and Johnny B bring their acquired-taste brand of comedy and chat to a sold-out arena. “We are bringing the full band, special guests, comedy and the live junior hurling on stage,” says one of the Johnnies. (Can you tell one from the other?)

Literature

Small Things Like These

Saturday, December 16th, Wexford Arts Centre, 7.30pm, €25, wexfordartscentre.ie; Sunday, December 17th, St Michael’s Theatre, New Ross, Co Wexford, 7.30pm, €25, stmichaelsnewross.com; Tuesday, December 19th, the Pavilion, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, 8pm, €25, paviliontheatre.ie; Wednesday, December 20th, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co Wicklow, 8pm, €26, mermaidartscentre.ie

Next year the film adaptation of Claire Keegan’s subtle novel Small Things Like These will be released; preceding that by some months is this staged reading. Performed by Andrew Bennett, directed by Ben Barnes, the former head of the Abbey Theatre, and with original music performed by Eleanor McEvoy, it has the question “What are you waiting for?” stamped all over it. Go see.

Photography

Trish Morrissey: Autofictions – 20 Years of Photography and Film

Until Saturday, February 10th, Photo Museum Ireland, Dublin, photomuseumireland.ie

Still from Self Portrait with Two Snails (2020) by Trish Morrissey

The Dublin-born artist Trish Morrissey premieres work that represents the female experience (including roles within society, relationships, body image and motherhood) and women’s too often discounted stories. The “autofiction” of the title refers to Morrissey herself as subject (factual and/or fictional) in her photographs and films. The exhibition also features the artist’s most single-minded film installation to date, as well as choices from her landmark Seven Years series, developed in and around the Dublin home she grew up in. She says the humour she uses to disarm the viewer gradually dissolves to leave “a slow-burning, psychologically tense afterglow”.

Visual art

All Eyes on Us

Until Sunday, March 24th, Gibson Galleries, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, crawfordartgallery.ie

“There’s always someone looking at you,” Bob Geldof sang many moons ago, and that’s exactly what this intriguing exhibition focuses on. Curated by Matt Ryan and Michael Waldron, the exhibition sheds light on the viewed and the viewer and creates a study of control and action. Artworks include Victoria Russell’s portrait of Fiona Shaw, and Murdo MacLeod’s portrait of Roy Keane.

Still running

Heroines

Until Saturday, December 24th, Grilse Gallery, Killorglin, Co Kerry, grilse.ie

Investigating collective practice is at the core of Heroines, which includes work by Patricia Hurl, Barbara Freeman, Rachel Parry, Helen Comerford, Therry Rudin and Gerda Teljeur. Also featured is a sequence of 10 poems by Mary O’Donnell that accompany prints by Geraldine O’Reilly.

Book it this week

Sister Act, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, February 13th-24th, ticketmaster.ie

Saving Grace Podcast, Vicar Street, Dublin, February 22nd, ticketmaster.ie

Girls Aloud, 3Arena, Dublin, May 17th and 18th, ticketmaster.ie

Tom Jones and Nile Rodgers & Chic, St Anne’s Park Dublin, June 9th, ticketmaster.ie