The best 20 intimate indoor Irish gigs between now and Christmas

OCTOBER

Meet me at Sundown

Monday, October 10th, to Tuesday, October 25th.

From the good people behind the inventive Hibernacle team, this series of intimate gigs runs across two venues (Orlagh House, Rathfarnham, and Claregalway Castle, Co Galway), featuring a range of mostly Irish songwriters. Paul Noonan and Dani Larkin play Orlagh House/Claregalway Castle (Monday, October 10th/Tuesday, October 11th); Mick Flannery and Brooklyn-based EW Harris play Orlagh House/Claregalway Castle (Monday, October 17th/Tuesday, October 18th); and Gemma Hayes and Cathy Davey play Orlagh House/Claregalway Castle (Monday, October 24th/Tuesday, October 25th). hibernacle.ie eventbrite.ie

Richard Hawley

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Monday, October 10th, Ulster Hall, Belfast; Wednesday, October 12th, Róisin Dubh, Galway; Thursday, October 13th, Dolan’s, Limerick; Saturday, October 15th, St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny; Sunday, October 16th, Opera House, Cork.

Sheffield’s Richard Hawley knows his way around Ireland, and Ireland knows how good he can be, so his nationwide tour seems a perfect match. The shows will feature the full range of his often beguiling, always quality solo work, from his 2001 debut, Late Night Final, to 2019′s Further. richardhawley.co.uk

Junior Brother

Friday, October 28th, Button Factory, Dublin.

In the context of Irish songwriters, Co Kerry’s Junior Brother (aka Ronan Kealy) is, let’s say without any word of a lie, singular. This year witnessed the follow-up album (The Great Irish Famine) to his 2019 debut (Pull the Right Rope), and while there were no sudden musical departures, there was undoubtedly a progression in Kealy’s storytelling processes. Singular? Let’s change that to unique. foggynotions.ie

Robert Plant Presents Saving Grace

Tuesday, October 25th, Ulster Hall, Belfast; Thursday, October 27th, Everyman Theatre, Cork; Friday, October 28th, Town Hall Theatre, Galway; Sunday, October 30th, Knocknarea Arena, Sligo; Monday, October 31st, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin; Wednesday, November 2nd, Wexford Spiegeltent Festival.

The one-time epitome of overtly masculine rock’n’roll has morphed into a singer and songwriter of equal parts rugged and tender Americana, and it suits him, frankly. ticketmaster.ie

Tradition Now

Wednesday, October 26th, to Sunday, October 30th, NCH, Dublin.

Across five evenings and two on-site venues (The Studio and Main Hall), artists of the calibre of Paddy Keenan, Ceara Conway, Luka Bloom, Treehouse, Soïg Sibéril, and The Unthanks explore innovation in traditional Irish music. Expect old, new, and surprises in between. nch.ie

NOVEMBER

Villagers

Friday, November 4th, St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny

This show kick-starts an extensive nationwide tour for Conor O’Brien and his unfeasibly superb songs. It’s an acoustic-based tour, so expect fresh arrangements of classic Villagers songs from 2010 debut Becoming a Jackal to 2021′s much-admired fifth studio album, Fever Dreams. The tour runs throughout November and into December. Further details of dates and ticket prices from wearevillagers.com

Cowboy Junkies

Thursday, November 17th, NCH, Dublin.

Does anyone remember the first time they heard Cowboy Junkies’ rendering of Velvet Underground’s Sweet Jane? The Canadian band’s cover (which the song’s writer, Lou Reed, said was his favourite version) was featured on their 1988 album, The Trinity Sessions, and since then they have steadily maintained a sonic presence that is as hypnotic as it is steely. In other words, you’re in for a treat. nch.ie

The Mary Wallopers

Thursday, November 17th, National Stadium, Dublin.

‘The Clancy Brothers meet John Lydon’ might be stretching it a bit thin, but there’s no doubt this Dundalk group have shrewdly stepped into the space that has long since been vacant since The Pogues sobered up. A nationwide tour follows from Thursday, December 1st. ticketmaster.ie; foggynotions.ie

Autumn Air

Thursday, November 17thto Sunday, November 20th, The Yard Bar, Walsh’s, Mitchelstown, Co Cork.

Autumn Air’s 2021 event proved that you could match well-known names with compact surroundings and so it continues with the likes of The Scratch, Paul Noonan, Jerry Fish, Bronagh Gallagher, and as yet unannounced ‘special guests’ performing in a space that defines the word ‘intimate’. autumnair.live

Andy Irvine & Paul Brady

Sunday, November 20th, Waterfront Hall, Belfast; Monday/Tuesday, November 21st/22nd, Vicar Street, Dublin.

The acknowledgment of the classic status of the 1976 album, Andy Irvine/Paul Brady, continues as its main protagonists once again embark on a series of concerts to perform songs such as Arthur McBride, The Streets of Derry, and Plains of Kildare. Irvine and Brady will be joined onstage by Dónal Lunny and Kevin Burke, both of whom featured on the original album. Other material from their respective careers will also be played. ticketmaster.ie

Christy Moore

Wednesday, November 23rd; Tuesday, November 29th, Vicar Street. Dublin.

Christy Moore is the guvnor, the boss, the maestro of the intimate performer and performance, and for decades he has captivated people with not only his story-driven songs but also his command and control of whatever room he performs in. If for some reason you can’t make it to these shows, there are further dates at the same venue across December and January. ticketmaster.ie

Soda Blonde

Friday, November 25th, Róisín Dubh, Galway; Saturday, November 26th, Dolans Warehouse, Limerick; Friday, December 2nd, Set Theatre, Kilkenny; Thursday, December 8th, Cyprus Avenue, Cork; Friday, December 9th, Vicar Street, Dublin.

This show is the beginning of a run of five shows around Ireland, culminating in triumphant style at Vicar Street, Dublin. Frankly, it couldn’t happen to a better and/or classier band. With a debut album, last year’s Small Talk, now making way for a 2023 follow-up, these shows will mix old and new, albeit with the band’s refined signature strokes. ticketmaster.ie sodablonde.com

Marcus Mumford

Monday, November 28th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin.

Out and about without his “Sons”, Marcus Mumford’s visit to Dublin cannily coincides with the recent release of his debut solo album, Self-Titled. As the album clocks in at less than 38 minutes, however, we can safely say that songs by his better-known group will be liberally distributed throughout the show. ticketmaster.ie

Fontaines D.C.

Wednesday, November 30th to Friday, December 2nd, Vicar Street, Dublin; Saturday, December 3rd, Leisureland, Galway; Monday, December 5th, Live at The Big Top, Limerick; Tuesday, December 6th, Millennium Form, Derry; Wednesday and Thursday, December 7th and 8th, Ulster Hall, Belfast.

And it’s a happy pre-Christmas gift to the fans of this intense, sturdy and smart band as they return to the oul’ sod for a sequence of mostly sold-out shows (all bar the Northern Ireland gigs – c’mon our friends in the North!).

DECEMBER

Glen Hansard

Saturday, December 3rd, NCH, Dublin; Thursday and Friday, December 8th and 9th, St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny.

Back in March of this year, Glen Hansard decided to postpone all of his previously announced shows outside Ireland. Now that The Frames anniversary gig and his collaborative work with Footsbarn Theatre are done and dusted, these sold-out shows (with perhaps one more to be added, we suggest, cryptically!) are the only chance you’ll get to see him perform in Ireland this year. nch.ie set.ticketsolve.com

The Coronas

Sunday, December 4th, Ulster Hall, Belfast; Wednesday, December 14th-Sunday, December 18th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin; Wednesday, December 28th, INEC, Killarney, Co Kerry.

These shows arrive after a comprehensive tour of Germany and the US (as well as selected dates in Canada and Australia and a stopover gig in Dubai). With a new album, Time Stopped, to lash into, it’s reassuring to see that they aren’t allowing the post-Covid grass to grow under their feet. Pandemic? What pandemic? ticketmaster.ie

Gilla Band

Friday, December 9th, National Stadium, Dublin; Thursday, December 15th, Empire Music Hall, Belfast.

There is uncompromising and there is Gilla Band, the Dublin quartet that take extremist noise to some kind of coherent conclusion. Or, as Rolling Stone noted, their “dank, relentless music sounds like it was recorded in a meat locker under a fallout shelter”. Whatever the opinions, they remain a riveting live music unit. ticketmaster.ie

Lankum

Saturday and Sunday, December 10th and 11th, Vicar Street, Dublin.

Those who weren’t quick enough to nab a ticket for these two sold-out shows will receive no comfort that they are the only live shows from this most ingenious contemporary/traditional Irish music outfit. Using drone rhythms here and prog/punk/folk shapes there, the four-piece (Ian Lynch, Darragh Lynch, Cormac MacDiarmada and Radie Peat) determinedly resist categorisation. Way to go. ticketmaster.ie

Mick Flannery

Saturday and Sunday, December 10th and 11th, Róisin Dubh, Galway; Tuesday and Wednesday, December 20th and 21st, Whelan’s, Dublin.

What a year it has been for Mick Flannery. Last year’s duet album, In the Game (with Susan O’Neill), took off like a proverbial rocket, while his solo shows continue to be received with equal levels of awe and admiration. These shows are as close-up-and-personal as you can get, so be advised to do your best to hustle your way into them. ticketmaster.ie

Damien Dempsey

Thursday, December 15th, Black Box, Galway; Friday, December 16th, Live at the Big Top, Limerick; Saturday, December 17th, The Haven Hotel, Dunmore East, Co Waterford; December 19th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd; Vicar Street, Dublin.

Damien Dempsey’s Christmas gigs at Dublin’s Vicar Street are now an annual therapeutic pilgrimage for his fans, something that was effectively and emotively highlighted in Ross Killeen’s 2021 documentary, Love Yourself Today. Indeed, the title song will tell you all you need to know about the mutual respect and connection between Dempsey and his tribe, and if you manage to nab a ticket (all the Vicar Street shows are sold out) then consider yourself a lucky little elf. ticketmaster.ie