Event of the week
Dalkey Book Festival
From Thursday, June 13th, until Sunday, June 16th, various times, venues and prices, Dalkey, Co Dublin, dalkeybookfestival.org
A SoCoDu coastal town, lovely restaurants, decent pubs, a plethora of national and international writers and an abundance of highly proficient interviewers – all that’s needed to give this highly regarded annual event an even louder chef’s kiss is sunshine. Festival cofounder (and Irish Times columnist) David McWilliams kick-starts proceedings on Thursday, June 13th, with a live podcast; the rest of the weekend’s events include Nuala O’Connor, Henry Winkler, Colin Barrett, David Baddiel (Friday, June 14th), Kathy Lette, Colm Tóibín, Paul Lynch, Donal Ryan, Anne Enright, Elaine Feeney, Kevin Barry (Saturday, June 15th), and John Boyne, Mark Little, Stephen Rea and Neil Jordan (Sunday, June 16th).
Gigs
In the Meadows
Saturday, June 8th, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, 6.30pm, €59.35, ticketmaster.ie
Headlined and cocurated by the Mercury-nominated and Choice Music Prize-winning Lankum (presenting their only Dublin show this year), In the Meadows is an inaugural one-day event that highlights the increasing commercial appeal of left-of-centre music. The eclectic, genre-mixing line-up is superb. Alongside Lankum are the Scottish postrock maestros Mogwai, New York’s Mercury Rev, Bristol’s Tara Clerkin Trio, Charlotte-based Andy the Doorbum, the Leitrim-based Kurdish/Syrian musician Mohammad Syfkhan, the Cambridge experimental jazz group Black Country, New Road, and the Irish acts John Francis Flynn, Cormac Begley, Rachael Lavelle and Ana Palindrome.
Smashing Pumpkins
Monday, June 10th, 3Arena, Dublin, 5.30pm, €69.50 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
Smashing Pumpkins are one of the most successful alternative rock bands of the past 30 years, and the musician/frontman who has never been absent from their ranks is Billy Corgan. Corgan has drifted off towards other areas, of course (he is the current owner of the United States’ National Wrestling Alliance), but music remains his core interest. Expect dynamic rock-music shapes from Corgan and original band members James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin. Special guests are Weezer and Teen Mortgage.
The Killers
Wednesday, June 12th, Friday, June 14th, and Saturday, June 15th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €80.25 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
Ireland loves The Killers, an observation proven by the popularity of the band’s 2003 song Mr Brightside, which has spent more than 300 weeks on the Irish singles chart (weirdly enough, without ever denting the top 40). There is more to the Las Vegas band than just one song, however, as albums such as Sam’s Town (“selling Springsteen back to his homeland,” noted the Observer) from 2006, and Pressure Machine (“the band’s most sonically restrained effort to date,” said Slant Magazine) from 2021, display their commercial appeal beyond pop and rock. The special guest act is Travis.
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Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal
Thursday, June 13th, NCH, Dublin, 8pm, €54.50/€49.50, nch.ie
US roots/Americana royalty Rosanne Cash and her producer/musician husband, John Leventhal, arrive in Dublin for a gala concert for the Irish launch of the Musician Treatment Foundation, which will help musicians who live or are on tour in Ireland with specialised orthopaedic care for their shoulders, elbows and hands. The launch gig is, says MTF founder Dr Alton Barron, an international collaboration of American, Irish-American and Irish musicians that “reflects and reinforces the beauty, richness and hope of our countries and cultures”. Cash and Leventhal are joined by the Irish-American folk artist Aoife O’Donovan and, we are informed, a “treasured Irish artist”.
Stage
Masterclass
Saturday, June 8th, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €22/€20, projectartscentre.ie; Tuesday, June 11th, and Wednesday, June 12th, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, 8pm, €20/€18, tht.ie; Friday, June 14th, Belltable, Limerick, 8pm, €20/€17, limetreebelltable.ie
The Dublin-based theatre company Brokentalkers explores gender, privilege and power as applied to “the great male artist” via a literate parody of a talkshow tit-for-tat interview. Adrienne Truscott and Feidlim Cannon (one of Brokentalkers’ artistic directors) feature as the combative playwright and a hearty interviewer. A bold, enlightening work that tours nationwide to the end of June. Full details on brokentalkers.ie.
In conversation
Margaret Atwood, Laurie Anderson, Mary Robinson
Sunday, June 9th, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €41.50/€36/€31.50, ticketmaster.ie
Part of the Borris House Festival of Writing & Ideas, which concludes this weekend, this off-site evening of conversation is a treat for those who couldn’t make it to the Co Carlow festival. The broadcaster and writer John Kelly will ask the questions and steer the conversation in his signature relaxed and informed manner, but with such an enlightened and thought-provoking line-up of speakers, he might not have to try too hard to get answers.
Film
Fasten Your Seatbelts: The Films of Bette Davis
From Saturday, June 8th, until Wednesday, June 26th, Irish Film Institute, Dublin, various times and prices, ifi.ie
What more could you ask for than an air-conditioned cinema and a slew of movies starring Bette Davis, who in 1999 was placed second (after Katharine Hepburn) on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest female stars of all time. The season starts with Jezebel (1938) and ends with The Whales of August (1987), her final complete cinematic role. Included in the intervening weeks are Dark Victory (1939), The Letter (1940), Now, Voyager (1942), All About Eve (1950), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and Hush ... Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964).
Still running
Louth Contemporary Music Society
Friday, June 14th, to Saturday, June 15th, various times, venues and prices, Dundalk, Co Louth, louthcms.org
Louth Contemporary Music Society’s annual summer festival, this year titled Lovely Music, features works by Robert Ashley, Linda Catlin Smith, Hamza El Din and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Musicians across the weekend include Varispeed Collective, Zoë Conway, Inni-k, Larissa O’Grady, Rihab Azar and Caitríona Frost.
Book it this week
Sally Rooney, NCH, Dublin, September 21st, nch.ie
Martin Angolo, Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin, November 2nd, ticketmaster.ie
The Script, 3Arena, Dublin, November 14th-16th, ticketmaster.ie
HamsandwicH, Whelan’s, Dublin, December 5th-7th, whelanslive.com
