Event of the week
Lorde
Saturday, November 22nd, RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin, 7pm, sold out, ticketmaster.ie
Here’s a singer and songwriter who knows how to pivot just when it’s needed. Lorde has been a significant figure in pop since 2012, when, at 16, she released her song Royals. Since then she has become one of the most critically acclaimed, if unconventional, music acts of recent times. She told NME several years ago that she has never considered sticking to one type of music, and she has steadfastly held to that. Her support acts in Dublin include the London singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yana and the US producer and musician Jim-E Stack (who produced Lorde’s latest album, Virgin, with the singer). This show is part of Lorde’s Ultra Sound tour, which, according to advance reports, keeps production gimmicks and visuals to a minimum while also presenting a show that is especially audience-friendly and intimate.
Gigs
Other Voices
Friday-Sunday, November 28th-30th, Dingle, Co Kerry, various venues, times and prices, sold out, othervoices.ie
Celebrating its 24th edition, Other Voices continues to reach parts of the creative system that other boutique festivals cannot. The line-up at St James’s Church includes Dermot Kennedy, Amble and Olivia Dean, each a chart-topper in their own right. The festival’s Jameson Music Trail features emerging and established Irish music acts, including MayKay, Bantum, Joshua Burnside, Pebbledash, Hotgirl and The Fynches. Factor in discussions and interviews at Other Voices’ discursive strand, Ireland’s Edge, and fireside chats at Banter, and you have an all-round enlightening experience.
My Bloody Valentine
Saturday, November 22nd, 3Arena, Dublin, 7.30pm, sold out, ticketmaster.ie
More than 40 years on from their formation and My Bloody Valentine still inspire huge giddiness from their fans – especially when those fans are heading for the band’s first headline show in Ireland since 1992. Between then and now there have been more shifts in their career as there are cascading, crunching textures in their music, but they seem to have settled into their re-emergence quite well. Four years ago the band signed to Domino Records, as well as making their full back catalogue available on streaming services.
They have also re-engaged with playing live: after Dublin they play three UK shows; then they’re off to Japan in February, followed by summer festival dates. Good news, then, but one piece of advice: insert earplugs.
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Wet Leg
Wednesday, November 26th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 7pm, sold out; Thursday, Telegraph Building, Belfast, 7pm, sold out, ticketmaster.ie
With their first two albums nabbing the top spot on the UK chart, Wet Leg are in the running (you might say) for being one of the most successful British bands of the past five years. Spearheaded by Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale, the band’s self-titled debut arrived fresh out of the blocks in 2022, with this year’s follow-up, Moisturizer, staking a claim for genuine originality. “The staying power of a band that will outlast a sense of novelty,” noted Pitchfork’s review. Correct.
Literature
Storylines Europe: A Celebration of European Literature
Saturday, November 22nd, Europe House, Dublin, free (booking required), storylineseurope.ie
Launching as an annual celebration of European writing, Storylines Europe gathers authors and translators from nine European countries for a day of discussions about language, identity and cross-border creativity. Attendees include Mikotaj Lozinski, from Poland; Notwenn Le Blevennec, from France; Csilla Toldy, from Hungary; Joonas Sildre, from Estonia; Anna Pazos, from Spain; and Maddalena Vaglio-Tanet, from Italy. Highlights include Talk: Untold Stories (3.30pm), with Toldy and Vaglio-Tanet in conversation with Books Editor of The Irish Times Martin Doyle.
Visual art
Sean Scully: Tapestry
From Friday, November 28th, until Saturday, January 24th, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, kerlingallery.com
The Dublin-born (and twice Turner Prize-nominated) artist Sean Scully celebrates his 80th year with an exhibition that presents new work in four well-defined areas. Featuring delicate pencil drawings, hand-woven tapestries (produced in collaboration with Mourne Textiles), large-scale paintings and smaller oil-on-copper paintings, the exhibition explores how drawing fortifies his work. Despite his age, Scully continues to revisit and reinvent. “It’s never the same,” he once said. “And that is the beautiful thing about painting.”
Classical
Emmanuel Ceysson and Sarah Shine
Saturday, November 22nd, Thomastown Concert Hall, Co Kilkenny, 7.30pm, €20; Sunday, November 23rd, 1WML, Dublin, 3pm, €26; Tuesday, November 25th, Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, 8pm, €25; Wednesday, November 26th, Edmund Rice Centre, Waterford, 7.30pm, €20; Thursday, November 27th, MTU Cork School of Music, 7.30pm, €20; Friday, November 28th, St Michael’s Church, Waterville, Co Kerry, 7.30pm, €15, musicnetwork.ie
Music Network’s winter season continues with the pairing of the French harpist Emmanuel Ceysson and the Irish soprano Sarah Shin. Ceysson has held principal positions with Opéra de Paris and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, while Shine has performed with Académie Opéra National de Paris, Wexford Festival Opera and Irish National Opera. The programme includes selections from Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré and André Caplet, with a Music Network commission by the Irish harpist Anne-Marie O’Farrell.
Still running
Street to Studio: Minaw Collective
Thursday-Sunday, November 27th-30th, Flux Gallery, Dublin, 11am-5pm, free, fluxdublin.ie and minawcollective.com
Minaw Collective, a group of 14 female, queer and nonbinary artists, are known for their murals not just in Ireland but internationally. This exhibition investigates how muralists adapt and reimagine their work from large-scale and temporary to smaller-scale and permanent. Artists include Anna Doran, Klo Wi, Holly Pereira, Zurdie and Claire Prouvost.
Book it this week
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Dublin Song Series, NCH, Dublin, March 1st, nch.ie
Ballad of Johnny & June, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, March 30th-April 11th, ticketmaster.ie
Katy Perry, Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, June 24th, ticketmaster.ie
Glen Hansard, Trinity College Dublin, July 2nd, ticketmaster.ie
