CultureIn a Word ... Concert‘My wife and I are big fans of your Saturday In a Word column. My job is to read it out loud’By Patsy McGarry●Sat May 11 2024 - 00:30
Subscriber OnlyPoem of the Week: Mostly I Walk A new work by David GardinerBy David Gardiner●Sat May 11 2024 - 00:00
Subscriber OnlyHandouts, homelessness and other stories from the edgeBrief reviews of: Better Broken than New by Lisa St Aubin de Terán; The Wilderness Way by Anne Madden; The Deep End by Mary Rose Callaghan
TV & RadioThe Young Offenders review: Beloved anarchic comedy is back and as sweet as ever but why is it not on RTÉ?Television: Latest instalment of Cork-based series is showing on BBC a full year before its scheduled date on RTÉ
MusicBruce Springsteen in Belfast: The fan reaction - From 'I'm still buzzing after it' to 'Badly out of tune'The Boss has kicked off his four-date Irish tour in style and the fans have spoken
Should you have children? These five philosophical questions can help you decideUnthinkable: Procreating to ‘save the West’ is probably a bad idea, but what’s a good reason to have children?By Joe Humphreys
Bruce Springsteen in Belfast: The fan reaction - From 'I'm still buzzing after it' to 'Badly out of tune'The Boss has kicked off his four-date Irish tour in style and the fans have spokenBy Ellen O’Donoghue
Brucewatch: Bruce Springsteen creates a heartwarming moment with a young fanBruce Springsteen played Belfast on Thursday evening and chose to make one young fan’s experience extra specialBy Ellen O’Donoghue
Bruce Springsteen’s first Irish gig of 2024: The Boss kicks off in Belfast with No Surrender, then builds a momentous setIt’s Springsteen’s first show in the North since 2013. He doesn’t say much until the band gets revving, an hour into the evening. But the songs say plentyBy Stuart Bailie
Villagers: That Golden Time review – Conor O’Brien delivers his most striking album yet By Tony Clayton-Lea
Beth Gibbons: Lives Outgrown – A powerful, wise and deeply loving piece of work By Siobhán Kane
Mitski at 3Arena review: a remarkable opening kick-starts a breathtaking night of melody and melodramaFrom the start Japanese-American pop star Mitski pulls the crowd into a spooky pop neverlandBy Ed Power
‘We hadn’t heard from Mammy. Where was she? Then all hell broke loose’: The Dublin and Monaghan bombings 50 years onMay-17-74: Anatomy of a Massacre, a new documentary, chronicles the atrocities attributed to the Glenanne gang and hears from victims and their familiesBy Noel Baker
Alice Rohrwacher: ‘I want my films to feel like Pasolini’s, like they are parables’Josh O’Connor stars in the director’s new feature as an archaeologist who falls in with a band of tomb-raiding thievesBy Tara Brady
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger review – Martin Scorsese front and centre in a wonderful chronicle of influential duo By Tara Brady
Big Banana Feet: ‘Lost’ film of Billy Connolly’s 1973 tour of Ireland is a fine tribute to the fearless comedian By Tara Brady
Much Ado about Dying: A vital film about an extraordinary, infuriating human being By Donald Clarke
Handouts, homelessness and other stories from the edgeBrief reviews of: Better Broken than New by Lisa St Aubin de Terán; The Wilderness Way by Anne Madden; The Deep End by Mary Rose CallaghanBy Brigid O'Dea
The Young Offenders review: Beloved anarchic comedy is back and as sweet as ever but why is it not on RTÉ?Television: Latest instalment of Cork-based series is showing on BBC a full year before its scheduled date on RTÉBy Ed Power
No news is bad news: Morning Ireland proves daunting but necessaryRadio: Radio 1 flagship dutifully covers the RTÉ crisis as Colm Ó Mongáin and Oliver Callan give cause for optimismBy Mick Heaney
Bodkin review: toe-curling paddywhackery from Barack and Michelle Obama plumbs the diddly dee depthsNetflix dramedy thinks it is critiquing cliches about Ireland when in fact it is adding to the stockpileBy Ed Power
Patrick Freyne: On Selling the OC, Alex has the recipe for a good relationship. It’s a nice, alliterative list – all the C-wordsThe Netflix reality show involves glamorous ladies and hunky gentlemen quaffing champagne and talking about their problems at lengthBy Patrick Freyne
Jilly Morgan’s Birthday Party review: Subversive chill brings unsettling edge to what seems to be a play about loveTheatre: Liam McCarthy’s decades-spanning new play portrays what might or might not have happened at a house party in Limerick in 1983By Mary Coll
Tom Moran Is a Big Fat Filthy Disgusting Liar review: Vulnerable exploration of a journey from self-hatred to self-fulfilmentTheatre: More than any other factor, the catharsis he is seeking onstage is an attempt to process trauma that he feels stems from an insecure attachment at homeBy Tom Lordan
Alan Phelan and Mark Swords: The List and the Line review - A riveting dialogue between past and contemporary aesthetic attitudesThe artists’ work, with its overt sensuousness and colourful bombast, is perfect for show at Casino MarinoBy Tom Lordan
Visual art reviews: Each Now, Is the time, the Space; and Aleana Egan: Second-hand Group shows can create brilliant conversations, but unless you are familiar with the work of these artists, you may need help to get inBy Gemma Tipton