Event of the week
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
Wednesday, December 31st, and Thursday, January 1st, various venues, times and prices
Now firmly established as Ireland’s main New Year’s Eve music event, NYF Dublin counts in 2026 with a full day of gigs (Dublin Castle, 1pm, 4pm and 8pm, €59.90, ticketmaster.ie). The Countdown concert matinee (4pm) features DJ Shelly Gray and performances by Florence Road and Biird. The same three acts return (from 8pm) as the support acts to the headliner, Inhaler, whose 2025 album, Open Wide, reached the top of the Irish album charts (and number two in the UK).
It isn’t all happening at Dublin Castle, however. The emerging Irish band Madra Salach play Whelan’s (Dublin, 9pm, €25.50 (sold out), whelanslive.com) while two of Ireland’s best upcoming indie/postpunk bands, Croíthe and Black Nylon, play the Workman’s Club (Dublin, 9pm, €18, theworksmanclub.com). Outside Dublin, the people behind the boutique Another Love Story summer festival present Another New Year’s Eve (Borris House, Co Carlow, €225/€200/€175, anotherlovestory.ie), with a live performance by the Irish-Dutch musician Rob De Boer and numerous DJ sets.
The first day of 2026 features further music at Dublin Castle (1pm, Kíla, Chasing Abbey, Grooveline, Still Blue; 6pm, Cliffords, Madra Salach, Simple Things, Chubby Cat) and Meeting House Square (1pm, Mundy, Dug, The Wran, The Awning).
After that? Have ye no homes to go to?
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Picture This
Monday, December 29th, and Tuesday, December 30th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €72.70/€67.70 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
Ten years ago Picture This were little more than two aspiring musicians and songwriters – Jimmy Rainsford and Ryan Hennessy – who had teamed up in their hometown of Athy, Co Kildare. Within a year, bolstered by the addition of Owen Cardiff and Cliff Deane, Picture This sold out three shows at the 3Olympia Theatre, in Dublin. Now signed to Hansa Records, recently relaunched by Sony Music Germany, and with four highly successful albums to their name, the band show little sign of relinquishing their aim to be one of Ireland’s most beloved pop-rock groups. These sold-out shows (part of seven Home for Christmas gigs) and more than 450 million Spotify plays demonstrate that.
The High Kings
Monday, December 29th, Hub, Kilkenny, 7pm, €40, thehubkilkenny.ie; Friday, January 2nd, Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny, Donegal, 7.30pm, €40, mounterrigal.com
Formed in 2008 as a continuation of the Irish folk legacy of The Dubliners and The Clancy Brothers – High King Finbarr Clancy is the nephew of the lauded 1960s folk singers Liam, Tom and Paddy Clancy), this four-piece have paid due homage to those groups as well as forging a similarly styled identity through original songs. These shows are the first two of a nationwide tour throughout January and into February, culminating with a concert on Sunday, February 22nd, at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
Entertainment
Keith Barry
Friday, January 2nd, National Opera House, Wexford, 7.30pm, €43.40, ticketmaster.ie
Subtitled Unhinged: 25 Inside Your Mind, Keith Barry’s latest show displays his skills as “subconscious mind specialist” and “brain hacker”. Are you really going to be hypnotised into thinking you’ve won the lotto, or that you’re a gorilla or a leprechaun? The bottom line is entertainment, of course, and there’s no doubting the impressively frequent how-did-he-do-that? surprises. A nationwide tour continues throughout January, February and March.
Visual art
Atsushi Kaga: Just Another Human Experience
Until Sunday, February 22nd, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, thedouglashyde.ie
Living and working between Ireland and Japan, Atsushi Kaga has exhibited across installations, painting and sculpture since graduating from the National College of Art and Design in 2005. This solo exhibition, the artist’s first in Dublin since 2008, gathers small and large-scale paintings, bronze works and a sizeable sculptural porch at the centre of the gallery space. Central to Kaga’s work is a narrative that searches for personal identity and the conflicts of daily life.
Stage
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
From Sunday, December 28th, until Sunday, January 4th, NCH, Dubin, 2pm and 6pm, €44/€39/€34, nch.ie
Based on Ian Fleming’s story for children, this could be a perfect post-Christmas musical-theatre experience for all ages. With show times geared to appeal to parents and guardians, this production features bright costumes and sets, energetic choreography, Sherman brothers songs (including Truly Scrumptious, Hushaby Mountain and the evergreen title song) and – how could it not? – a flying car. Vivian Coates directs; James Deegan and Roisin Sullivan costar.
Still running
Bog Story
Until Monday, January 9th, County Council Building, Longford, free, longfordcoco.ie
This exhibition by the award-winning photographer Luke Danniells documents the final days of industrial-scale peat extraction in parts of Co Longford, notably near the town of Ballymahon, and the start of rewilding. It also encourages viewers to ponder what happens to the land and, to an extent, the community when such a business disappears.
Book it this week
Limerick Literary Festival, February 27th-March 1st, limerickliteraryfestival.com
Al Murray, Vicar Street, Dublin, March 27th, ticketmaster.ie
Ballydehob Jazz Festival, Co Cork, April 30th-May 4th, ballydehobjazzfestival.org
Addison Rae, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, June 3rd, ticketmaster.ie
