Event of the week
Metallica
Friday, June 19th, and Sunday, June 21st, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 5pm, €181.25/€81.25, ticketmaster.ie
Playing stadiums 45 years after they formed is no small achievement, but Metallica are no ordinary metal band. Since 1986, when they released their third album, Master of Puppets, the San Francisco group have brought metal to the mainstream, notably with their multimillion-selling self-titled album from 1991. Regarded as one of the genre’s most influential bands, Metallica are also one of rock music’s most commercially successful, with sales surpassing 160 million albums worldwide. These two Dublin shows form part of the band’s hugely successful M72 World Tour, which features a 16-song set list (including, naturally, a cover of Thin Lizzy’s Whiskey in the Jar) and a ring-shaped stage set-up with wraparound video towers to heighten audience interaction. Support acts include France’s Gojira, Sweden’s Avatar and the US bands Pantera and Knocked Loose.
Gigs
Kasabian
Tuesday, June 16th, Fairview Park, Dublin, 7pm, €59.90, ticketmaster.ie
With their magpie approach to music – take your pick from alternative rock, psychedelia, electronic, experimental pop/rock, and rave/dance – Kasabian have always had a cheeky whiff of Oasis, The Stone Roses and The Prodigy. The English band’s forthcoming album, Act III, is scheduled for release on July 17th, and if the two tracks issued so far – Hippie Sunshine and Great Pretender – are anything to go by, the band can rack it up beside their previous eight as yet another example of Britrock swagger.
Kodaline
Wednesday, June 17th, Ulster Hall, Belfast, 7pm, £60/£54 (sold out); Friday, June 19th, Virgin Media Park, Cork, 5pm, €73.25/€61.70; Saturday, June 20th, Malahide Castle, Dublin, 4pm, €73.25/€61.70, ticketmaster.ie
Late last year Kodaline announced they were splitting up – but not before they embarked on a farewell tour that includes these Irish shows, as well as a significant number of gigs in Asia, Australia and Europe before the end of the year. The band also recently announced their final studio album, We Were Only Young, so expect a few songs from that, as well as a set list consisting of megahits from their previous four albums. Special guests for the Cork and Dublin shows are The Academic and Nell Mescal.
Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartet
Friday, June 19th, Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick, 8pm, €25/€22, limetreebelltable.ie
The Mongolian pianist Shuteen Erdenebaatar blends a classical-music background with jazz composition to form a rich sound imbued with expressive, precise rhythm, melancholy and gorgeous melodies. For this Music Network tour she’s joined by the saxophonist Simon Comté, the bassist Nils Kugelmann and the drummer Amir Bresler. Also, Saturday, June 20th, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, 8pm, €20/€18, triskelartscentre.ie; Sunday, June 21st, Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, Co Kerry, 8pm, €25/€21, siamsatire.com; Wednesday, June 24th, Sugar Club, Dublin, 7.30pm, €26/€16, eventbrite.ie; Thursday, June 25th, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co Wicklow, 8pm, €22/€20, mermaidartscentre.ie; Friday, June 26th, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, 8pm, €17/€15, regionalculturalcentre.com; Saturday, June 27th, Lark, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, 1pm, €15/€12, thelark.ie
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Contemporary music
Coming Together: 20 Years of LCMS
Friday, June 19th, and Saturday, June 20th, various venues, times and prices, Dundalk, Co Louth, louthcms.org
A round of applause, please, for Louth Contemporary Music Society, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with Coming Together, a festival of five concerts over two days. Highlights include a new LCMS commission by the Austrian composer Beat Furrer (Friday, June 19th, 8pm, €15/€7.50, St Nicholas’s Church of Ireland), and a rare opportunity to hear music by the radical US composer and music theorist Harry Partch (Saturday, June 20th, 5pm, €15, Spirit Store). The festival closes with Recital No 1: Mass, a performance by US operatic bass-baritone Davóne Tines, whose work overlaps opera, spirituals, contemporary composition and gospel (Saturday, June 20th, 8pm, €15/€7.50, St Nicholas’s Church of Ireland).
Book festival
Dalkey Book Festival
From Thursday, June 18th, until Sunday, June 21st, Dalkey, Co Dublin, various times, venues and prices, dalkeybookfestival.org
This is where the big hitters come to talk and to be interviewed. It helps that Dalkey is a south Dublin gem, so walking from one venue to the next is never a chore. There are far too many highlights to choose from, but do your best to book tickets for Anne Enright: Pay Attention! (Thursday, June 18th, Cuala, 8pm, €20), Obama to Maga (Friday, June 19th, Seafront, 4pm, €25), Tim Berners-Lee and Mark Little (Friday, June 19th, Loreto Abbey, 6pm, sold out), Adapt or Die: Your Future in an AI World, with Jimmy Wales (Saturday, June 20th, Cuala, 6pm, €28), A Better Life, with Lionel Shriver and Jennifer O’Connell (Saturday, June 20th, Town Hall, 7.30pm, €20), and Salman Rushdie: A Life in Writing (Sunday, June 21st, Loreto Abbey, 5.30pm, sold out).
In conversation
Lisa Jewell and Andrea Mara
Tuesday, June 16th, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, 7pm, €18, dublinbookfestival.com
This offsite Dublin Book Festival event features two of the bestselling crime authors of recent years. The English writer Lisa Jewell, who debuted as a novelist in 1999 with Ralph’s Party, has subsequently published a book a year. Her latest thriller, It Could Have Been Her, has collected reams of accolades. Similar raves have accompanied the publication of Such a Nice Girl, the latest page-turner from Andrea Mara. Asking the questions is Sinéad Crowley, author and director of media development with Coimisiún na Meán.
Still running
Tunefest Dungarvan
From Wednesday, June 17th, until Sunday, June 21st, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, various venues, times and prices, tunefest.ie
One town and five days of traditional Irish music via concerts, pub sessions, busking competitions, workshops and community events sounds like a good deal. Headline acts include Cherish the Ladies (Friday, June 19th, and Saturday, June 20th, Town Hall Theatre, 7.30pm, €30), Frankie Gavin and Catherine McHugh (Sunday, June 21st, Town Hall Theatre, 2.30pm, €20) and Danú (Sunday, June 21st, Park Hotel, 7pm, €30).
Book it this week
Kurt Vile and the Violators, Vicar Street, Dublin, September 14th, foggynotions.ie
Duran Duran, SSE Arena, Belfast, October 18th, ticketmaster.ie
Eliades Ochoa, NCH, Dublin, October 19th, nch.ie
John Colleary, Town Hall Theatre, Westport, Co Mayo, November 28th, westporttheatre.com
