RUCK ROCK
Fight Like Apes
Whelan's, Dublin 8pm €15 whelanslive.com
Apparently still nursing their new material and new album towards a state of readiness (for release next year), Dublin band Fight Like Apes (right) approach their 10th year as a band with typical acidity and no small level of assuredness. We still think they can do what very few other rock bands (Irish origin or not) can do: fire the imagination as well as place a musical rocket up your jacksie. Tony Clayton-Lea
GATHERING
Emigrant Disco
Sugar Club, Dublin 8pm €12 thesugarclub.com
Christmas is that time of year when Irish folk head back to the aul’ sod, so the Emigrant Disco rounds up some musicians, DJs and producers who currently call other cities home for a bit of a bash. The live line-up includes Dimman (new band from the Malmo-based Richie Egan and Matthew Bolger), the London-based Shocko and Dublin reps White Collar Boy. DJ sets from Jon Averill (Shock World Service), Louis Scully (Discotekken/Telephones) and Joma (The Locals/ Telephones). JC
PARTY
Hidden Agenda
Opium Rooms, Dublin 11pm €12 hiddenagenda.ie
It has been a bumper year for the Hidden Agenda crew and they have a serious double- header in store to mark the onslaught of the festive season. Daniel Avery's Drone Logic was one of the best techno albums of recent years and we look forward to hearing more from the London producer in 2015. Joining him tonight will be Legowelt, the Dutch producer, performer and synth fiend with a winning, truly funky approach to electro and techno.JC
ART
Soundings: Collective memories of the sea
Municipal Gallery, DLR Lexicon, Queen's Road, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin Until Jan 24 dlrcoco.ie/arts
It’s unsurprising that many artists with connections to Dún Laoghaire bring the sea into their work in some way. This is very much the case with Gary Coyle, whose practice of swimming daily formed the basis of an especially good project. He features, along with Anthony Haughey, Emma Johnston, Sabina MacMahon, Julie Merriman and Lisa Reburn, in the inaugural exhibition at the new municipal gallery, DLR Lexicon. Michael McLoughlin in partnership with RNLI lifeboat crew members curates. Aidan Dunne
THEATRE
The Motherfucker with the Hat
The New Theatre, Dublin Ends Dec 20 7.30pm €15/€12 thenewtheatre.com
During a fight with her ex-con boyfriend over a hat in their bedroom that isn’t his, Veronica says, “You know I’d rather spit on a nun’s cunt than give a fuckin’ inch when I’ve been wronged.” That could be just the cocaine talking, of course, but the characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s play all have a certain wired lyricism when it comes to suspicion and support in contemporary New York. Aoife Spillane-Hinks’s production judders a little through restless location changes and performances at different registers, but it gets the manic intensity of life, love and other awful addictions. Peter Crawley
