Event of the week
Dublin Bowie Festival
From Tuesday, February 24th, until Sunday, March 1st, various venues, times and prices, dublinbowiefestival.ie
Marking 50 years since David Bowie released Station to Station, and 10 since his final album, Blackstar, this year’s Dublin Bowie Festival pulls out quite a few stops. A coup is the debut appearance of Earl Slick, the US guitarist who performed with Bowie on several of his studio albums and tours. He’s part of the four-person panel discussion Word on a Wing: Life on the Road with Bowie (Thursday, February 26th, RCSI, 5.30pm, €23.65) and will also participate in a public interview (Saturday, February 28th, RCSI, 12.30pm, €26.88). Other events include the historian Donal Fallon on David Bowie in Dublin (Tuesday, February 24th, Whelan’s, 7.30pm, €10.75) and Bowie’s Golden Years, with Slick, Mike Garson, Gerry Leonard and Mark Plati (Friday, February 27th, Whelan’s, 7pm, sold out). A closing highlight is I’m a Blackstar (Sunday, March 1st, RCSI, 11.30am, free), a panel discussion, hosted by the Irish Times journalist Róisín Ingle, on how Bowie used his final album as a fusion of his cancer diagnosis, his imminent demise and his art.
Gigs
Franz Ferdinand
Saturday, February 21st, Telegraph Building, Belfast, 7pm, £49.70; Sunday, February 22nd, National Stadium, Dublin, 7pm, €49.20 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
It is almost 25 years since the formation of one of Scotland’s finest and most commercially successful rock bands: Grammy Awards nominations, Brit Awards and multiple hits are the outward signs of their appeal, but what has kept the band close to the top of the pile is their blend of quality control and innately clever shifts in music styles. By this point Alex Kapranos and friends have skilfully grappled with postpunk, art rock, dance, indie rock and post-Britpop, all to acclaim.
December 10
Sunday, February 22nd, Academy, Dublin, 1pm, 4pm and 8pm, €18.45 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
“Every generation deserves a megastar boy band,” says Simon Cowell, whose new group of seven teenagers, including the Dubliner Seán Hayden, embark on their Introducing! tour with three shows in one day. The impresario is clearly opting for the commercial appeal of group dynamics, a la One Direction, BTS and other one-for-everyone-in-the-audience ensembles. So will D10 turn into another megastar success – or ultimately join Cowell’s pile of hotly tipped but now mostly forgotten pop acts?
All Shucked Up
From Friday, February 27th, until Sunday, March 1st, Howth, Co Dublin, various venues, times and prices, allshuckedup.ie
We can’t think of a better name for Howth’s Guinness, oyster and music festival, which celebrates its return to the calendar with headline performances from Leslie Dowdall and Flo McSweeney (Friday, February 27th, Abbey Tavern, 7.30pm, €25), the UK singer/rapper Betty Boo (Saturday, February 28th, Summit Inn, 7pm, €22.50) and Jack Lukeman (Sunday, March 1st, Abbey Tavern, 6.30pm, €35). Other (free) gigs to check out include the rising acts Shobsy (Friday, February 27th, Harbour Bar, 10pm) and Martina & the Moons (Sunday, March 1st, Bloody Stream, 2pm). The festival also features coastal foraging and folklore walks.
READ MORE
Classical
Ortús Chamber Music Festival
From Saturday, February 21st, until Sunday, March 1st, Cork city and county, various venues, times and prices, ortusfestival.ie
Founded in 2016 by the cellist Sinéad O’Halloran and the violinist Mairéad Hickey, the Ortús festival features acclaimed Irish and international musicians in concert, as well as numerous community- and education-focused projects. Not-to-be-missed events include the Rising Stars concert (Saturday, February 21st, Marino Church, Bantry, 3pm, €18), featuring the Olympia Quartet, the violist Charlie Duff, the cellist Adam Joyce and the violinists Yevlaliia Yershova and Ellen Crowley; and the Candlelight Concert (Saturday, February 28th, Dripsey Castle Estate, 7.30pm, sold out), with a programme of music by Beethoven, Brahms, Weinberg and the American-Irish composer Jane O’Leary.
Literature
Limerick Literary Festival
Friday-Sunday, February 27th-March 1st, Belltable, Limerick, various times and prices, limerickliteraryfestival.com
The 42nd Limerick Literary Festival (formerly known as the Kate O’Brien Weekend) features a broad range of events that mark the city as a place of literary excellence. The festival opens with The Island of Imagination: A Literary Tour of Ireland (Friday, February 27th, 7pm, free), when the Laureate for Fiction, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, will be in conversation with the Limerick writer Sarah Gilmartin. Other events include David Park (Saturday, February 28th, 11.30am, €15.50), Muriel Barbery (Saturday, February 28th, 1.30pm, €15.50) and Miriam O’Callaghan in conversation with Alan English, associate editor of the Currency (Sunday, March 1st, 4pm, €22.50).
Comedy
Laugh Out Louth
Thursday, February 26th, TLT, Drogheda, Co Louth, 7pm, €22, thetlt.ie
Comedy continues to attract crowds in their droves, with established Irish acts selling out shows nationwide. This new comedy night, on the last Thursday of each month, aims to deliver names and laughs, albeit without naming the line-up in advance. The club promoters pitch it as an evening of surprise guests: “It could be Reginald D Hunter on a visit, Tommy Tiernan testing new material or a national superstar like Emma Doran.” The MC is Al Porter.
Still running
Song to the Siren
Until Sunday, March 22nd, Model, Sligo, free, themodel.ie
For this exhibition named after the Tim Buckley song, the artist curators Paul Hallahan and Lee Welch bring together works that confront resolution and welcome uncertainty. More than 25 artists feature, including Sean Scully, Christy Brown, Joyce Pensato, Jack B Yeats, Linda Quinlan, Gordon Parks and Genieve Figgis.
Book it this week
- Cork International Choral Festival, April 29th-May 3rd, corkchoral.ie
- Kruder & Dorfmeister, Button Factory, Dublin, May 6th, selectivememory.ie
- Henry Normal & Jan Brierton, Róisín Dubh, Galway, May 13th, roisindubh.net
- Saint Etienne, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, September 22nd, ticketmaster.ie
