The Guide: Tommy Tiernan, The Sultans of Ping and other events to see, shows to book and ones to catch before they end

Event of the week

Tommy Tiernan

Until Saturday, March 30th, various venues and times, €28, ticketmaster.ie

Quite a few Irish comedians embark on work-in-progress nationwide tours, but few are as widely known as Tommy Tiernan, who over the past five years has seamlessly slipped into informed-and-interested-interviewer mode with his RTÉ talkshow (and not forgetting the deftly benign character he plays in Derry Girls). He is at his comedic, mischievous best when he comes face to face with a live audience, so his tour of small venues (pitched as “unrehearsed, unfinished and as always unpredictable”) is eagerly anticipated. It starts at Spirit Store, in Dundalk, Co Louth, on Thursday, March 14th, and concludes at Abbey Tavern, in Howth, Co Dublin, on Saturday, March 30th. Well done, by the way, if you can nab a ticket.

Gigs

The Sultans of Ping

Saturday, March 9th, Vicar Street, Dublin, 6.30pm, €33.50, ticketmaster.ie

Pursuing a career in academia isn’t exactly what we once thought the singer of the words “Eat natural foods, bathe twice daily, fill your nostrils up with gravy” would do, but Niall O’Flaherty, the ad hoc frontman of The Sultans of Ping, isn’t one for predictability. Taking time out from his day job as a lecturer in the history of European political thought at King’s College London, Flaherty and his sometime mates celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Casual Sex in the Cineplex. Bonus points? It’s the band’s first Dublin gig since 2016, so expect a disturbance in the force.

Jason Derulo

Thursday, March 14th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €61.65, ticketmaster.ie

With a net worth of more than $100 million, Jason Derulo no longer needs to tour, sell records or check his streaming numbers, but with a new album – Nu King, his first in nine years, featuring a whopping 27 tracks – comes a new world tour. Expect slick dance moves (Derulo studied ballet, jazz and tap) and club-friendly, if generic, pop and R&B.

Judas Priest

Friday, March 15th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €69.75, ticketmaster.ie

The title of their new album, Invincible Shield, could almost be applied to the life and times of Judas Priest, the heavy metal band from Birmingham who have continued in one form or another since 1969. The band, immensely influential and more than a little controversial (back in the day, at least), were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Keeping it doggedly British, special guests are the legacy metal acts Saxon and Uriah Heep.

The Five Lamps

Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin, Tuesday-Thursday, March 12th-14th, 10.30am (school shows, €10)/8pm, €25/€23, civictheatre.ie

Roddy Doyle’s short story (taken from his pandemic-related 2021 collection, Life without Children) revolves around connection and love, and outlines the impulsive search of a father for the son he hasn’t seen for several years. The play, which blends signature humour with empathy, and features Eoin O’Sullivan in the lead role, is adapted and directed by Joe O’Byrne. (Also at Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin, March 22nd and 23rd; libertyhalltheatre.ie.)

Dance

Palimpsest

From Wednesday, March 13th, until Saturday, March 23rd, the Complex, Dublin, various times and prices, thecomplex.ie

Under the direction of CoisCéim’s artistic director, David Bolger, Palimpsest features an ensemble cast of dancers, singers and artists who will fuse their skills into a show inspired by momentous chapters in Irish history. This vividly theatrical show is among the final events to take place as part of the Decade of Centenaries commemorations, and is also a highlight of this year’s St Patrick’s Festival’s culturally diverse One City programme.

Comedy

Frank Skinner

Wednesday, March 13th, Vicar Street, Dublin, 7pm, €35, ticketmaster.ie

Frank Skinner has a serious side – he has written books on poetry and prayer, and analyses and talks about his favourite poems on the self-explanatory Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast – but ever since 1991, when he won the Perrier award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the comic has been at the top of the UK comedy tree. He visits Dublin as part of his 30 Years of Dirt tour, which he road-tested at Edinburgh last year, and which (advance reports suggest) luxuriates in sweary one-liners, clever jokes and excellent timing.

Film

Cork French Film Festival

Arc Cinema, Cork, various times and prices, corkfrenchfilmfestival.com

The final weekend of Cork French Film Festival features the Irish premieres of Ride Above (a solid family drama about a young woman’s ambitions to become a jockey; Christian Duguay directs, Mélanie Laurent, Pio Marmai and Danny Huston star), Mars Express (a hard-boiled sci-fi animation feature directed by Jérémie Périn); and the César-nominated Three Musketeers films D’Artagnan and Milady (directed by Martin Bourboulon and starring Vincent Cassel and Eva Green). Full details are on the festival website.

Visual art

Samuel Laurence Cunnane: Late Spring

Until Saturday, April 6th, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, kerlin.ie

What a perfect idea for a roving photographer to make reality: as he drove across Europe, Samuel Laurence Cunnane documented what he looked at through his camera lens: rural locales, urban surfaces and the ordinary inelegance that resides within our environments. The exhibition also includes portraits of people in solitary inactivity, taken in moments of casual intimacy.

Still running

Disrupt Disability Arts Festival

Until Monday, March 11th, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, various times and prices, disruptdisabilityartsfestival.ie

Opening dialogue and creating shared experiences between the Irish disability community and broader society, the Disrupt Disability Arts Festival features a range of specially curated disability art that includes visual arts, dance, theatre, literature-based and hybrid events.

Book it this week

Watch What Crappens Podcast, Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin, May 25th, ticketmaster.ie

Pearl Jam, Marlay Park, Dublin, June 22nd, ticketmaster.ie

Rob Beckett, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, September 26th, ticketmaster.ie

Lizzie McAlpine, 3Arena, Dublin, October 31st, ticketmaster.ie