Billy Bragg

Roger Charlery also performed with Specials and Dexys Midnight Runners members

It’s not just in Ireland that questions of how a national theatre should reflect a country’s identity are being asked

‘How to Be Invisible’, a collection of lyrics from across the singer’s 40-year career, will have introduction by novelist David Mitchell

An animated Frank McCourt story, a Fairytale of New York doc and Mrs Brown

The singer-songwriter recorded his latest album on a marathon 2,728-mile rail journey

From Billie Holiday to The Clash and on to modern Irish artists Zrazy and Jinx Lennon, activism has a long and illustrious history

That might be true, but on her new album, Pothole in the Sky, the Cavan woman has become a self-assured songwriter, a process catalysed by a tour with David Gray

You know what you have to do on May 22nd – vote Taylor Swift

Cormac Ó hEadhra brings shock jock chutzpah to RTÉ’s panel show, while ‘Liveline’ shows the budget hasn’t ended people’s pain

Donation of late Pogues star’s guitars part of rehabilitation initiative

Godfather of punk hits out at modern music industry but empathises with ‘abandoned’ fans

Every generation has a soundtrack of its struggle. Ian Maleney marches on, shouting slogans and carrying the banner of music into a new dawn. Are we ready to rock the system?

Let’s take a quick look at the bleak future facing all forms of popular music

New movie Pride celebrates the unlikely meeting of Britain’s striking miners and gay rights campaigners in the 1980s. Poverty, homophobia, Aids and the defeat of the miners provide an unlikely backdrop. Donald Clarke takes pride in a cultural rebellion

Purists hopping mad over Metallica should just grin and bear it

Brian Boyd and Emma Somers root through a bumper crop of TV, film and music to find gift ideas for the loved one who thinks they’ve seen it all

On its 10th anniversary, Electric Picnic turned on, tuned in, and sold out. ‘The Irish Times’ went down to the woods to get a big surprise. Here are the best bits …