Ireland event guide: The Rocky Horror Show, Public Image Ltd and other best things to do this week
August 9th-17th, 2025: The best movies, music, art and more coming your way this week
John Lydon
The Sex Pistols rock the 100 Club in London for the first time in 50 years
Original band members guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock joined on stage by former Gallows frontman Frank Carter as stars and fans welcomed their return
A Lazarus Soul’s Brian Brannigan: ‘I don’t know if the world is darker now. But it feels like dark times’
The Dublin post-punk band’s leader on the malign influence of smartphones, his disappointment in Nick Cave and his horror at anti-immigration protests in Finglas
Jah Wobble: ‘When I was much younger I drank like an Irishman’
Writing Dark Luminosity, his memoir, has been more cathartic for the London-Irish musician than he expected it to be
Why does nobody hate rotten, rancid, sanctimonious, brain-rotting music any more?
Hugh Linehan: When it comes to Taylor Swift, for example, only the tinfoil-hat-wearers of the US extreme right have a bad word to say about her
‘It’s an uphill climb but I’ve got to find myself again’: John Lydon on grief, court and feuds
The 67-year-old singer, who released first album in eight years with his band Pil, says he has constantly struggled with stage fright through his life
‘The music industry wanted a Dublin Edith Piaf. They got Sinéad O’Connor instead’
People advised her to ‘just shut up and sing’. But there was no separating the singer from the song
Glen Matlock: ‘There are those in life who would hoodwink us. I’m trying to open people’s eyes’
The former Sex Pistol combines playing in Blondie with releasing solo work – including the politics-tinged Consequences Coming
Nora Forster obituary: German music promoter, and wife of John Lydon for more than four decades
On her first encounter with her eventual husband, she recalled: ‘John passed by my table and said: Drop dead’
Singer John Lydon’s wife Nora Forster dies aged 80
Sex Pistols singer attempted to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2023 with a song dedicated to wife
Late Late Eurosong special: It’s not every day you see Jedward give advice to Johnny Rotten
Eurovision 2023: The veteran pop-rock Dubliners Wild Youth edge out 19-year-old Connolly to go forward to this year’s contest in Liverpool
Everything you need to know ahead of The Late Late Show’s Eurosong special tonight
Six acts will be competing to represent Ireland in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, including a punk legend and a favourite making her professional debut
John Lydon’s Eurovision entry is a logical next step for the Widow Twanky of punk
Hugh Linehan: Public Image Limited’s Hawaii is unlikely to find favour with televoters
John Lydon, former Sex Pistols frontman, to compete to represent Ireland in Eurovision
Singer, whose parents came from Cork and Galway, goes up against five other acts hoping to perform in Liverpool
John Lydon on The Sex Pistols, or ‘those unpleasant f**ks I used to work with’
The punk rock legend feels betrayed by his former bandmates and upcoming Disney+ series, Pistol
Former Sex Pistols win legal battle against John Lydon over use of music
Frontman known as Johnny Rotten had objected to use of material in new series
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Back the Way We Came Vol 1 – A bit of a swizz
This post-Oasis band have rarely convinced, badly exposing Gallagher’s limited range
‘I love Shane MacGowan. He’s the ultimate ... one of the last punks’
Musician and film-maker Don Letts on Shane MacGowan, The Clash and being black in Britain
Anarchy in the UK: Brexit, Billy Bragg and punk rock
The protest singer tells the Irish Times politics podcast punk was about solidarity, not Brexit-style masochsim
Fintan O’Toole: Irish blood, English heart – and white skin?
Morrissey was once an Anglo-Irish critic of Britishness, but he is now a far-right icon
Fintan O’Toole: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s Brexit
The UK’s decision to leave the EU is like living through the anarchy of punk all over again
Damon Albarn: ‘Brexit has revealed terrible truths about the mental health of the English’
The Blur frontman on ‘Merrie Land’, Britpop, Oasis, Morrissey and John Lydon
PiL, thrills and Picnic treats: this week’s best rock and pop gigs
Public Image Ltd, Thunderpussy, Five Grand Stereo, Shannon & the Clams, Other Voices
Can’t pope, won’t pope? Eight ways to avoid the papal visit
There are lots of alternatives this weekend – and ironic takes on Francis’s Irish trip
Joe O’Connor: Bob Dylan the punk and me
Discovering Dylan about the same time I discovered punk felt right. He’s like punk’s secret grandfather
Alice Cooper: ‘Larry Mullen is the only drummer to ask me for my lyrics’
The self-proclaimed executioner of the last taboos of the Western world on his Irish blood, not drinking – and finding religion
Rebel yell: how the Irish dominated British rock music
From The Beatles to The Pogues, Oasis and The Smiths, musicians of Irish descent played a key role in UK scene, writes Johnny Rogan
Anarchy in the UK: ‘£5m’ of Sex Pistols mementoes to be burnt
Malcolm McLaren’s son says will destroy hoard on 40th anniversary of debut single
Sid and Nancy review: Sex, drugs and a Vicious circle
Made just seven years after the couple died, Sid and Nancy emerged at a moment when punk was still fresh in the collective consciousness
Why won’t Beyoncé let the media take pictures at her show?
A recent trend among stars is to restrict press photographers at concerts to control every aspect their image
Werlau joins Davy United
Hiring spree makes Davy seem like Irish wealth management’s version of free-spending Manchester United
Kanye kick it? Protest music marches to a new beat
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?
Big, flat, round, black – despite the hucksters, vinyl has its day
Record Store Day has taken a kicking, but there’s hope yet
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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