Event of the week
St Patrick’s Festival Quarter: Cultúr Club
Saturday, March 16th, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin, 5pm, €20, stpatricksfestival.ie
A shamrock-hued abundance of events takes place this weekend. One to take note of among the green is the multicoloured Cultúr Club, which includes three stages featuring live acts (Elaine Mai, MayKay, Murli and Celaviedmai), chats (Louise McSharry discussing clubbing and culture with the podcaster James Kavanagh and the drag artist Victoria Secret), dance (CoisCéim Dance Theatre’s Francis Footwork), drag cabaret, Géilí Mór (Ireland’s largest queer céilí band), world music on the Goal Global stage (including Bollywood Ireland and the Afrodance act Lapree Lala), plus a full deck of DJs, including Ruth Kavanagh, Ghostboy, Rocky T Delgado and Kelly-Anne Byrne. The Main Stage tent headliner is Saoirse, a big name in electronic music/dance.
Gigs
Liam Gallagher and John Squire
Saturday, March 16th, 3Olympia, Dublin, 7pm, €82.75 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
The pairing of Liam Gallagher, formerly of Oasis, and John Squire, ex-Stone Roses, has divided opinion. Fans of each now long-defunct act are in a blissed-out state of mind, which has been driven not only by the recently released self-titled debut album – sporadically entertaining as a piece of musical comedy, noted this paper’s one-star review – but also by the anticipation of the fusion of the figureheads of both bands on stage for the first time in Ireland. Will sparks fly, or will it be a faulty firework? Special guest is Jake Bugg.
Sky Ferreira
Sunday, March 16th, Academy, Dublin, 7pm, €29.50, ticketmaster.ie
Initially booked for the 3Olympia theatre but downgraded to the Academy, Sky Ferreira may not have as many fans in Ireland as first thought. Not to worry. The American singer-songwriter (who has been more active in film and television than in music over the past 10 years) is prepping the release of her long-delayed second album, Masochism, so is champing at the bit to sing those newish songs. Expect high-grade, lush indie pop-rock with layers of synths and bags of attitude.
Simple Minds
Monday, March 18th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €62.85/€52.85; Tuesday, March 19th, SSE Arena, Belfast, 6.30pm, £80/£70/£60, ticketmaster.ie
Not many rock bands continue to play venues the size of 3Arena 45 years after the release of their debut album, yet here we have Simple Minds, the Glasgow act that for a while in the 1980s tangled with U2 for commercial dominance. Two original members – Kerr and Charlie Burchill – remain, as do memorable pop songs such as Promised You a Miracle, Glittering Prize, Alive and Kicking and the band’s best-known hit, Don’t You (Forget About Me). Keeping it Scottish, the special guests are Del Amitri.
Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendation
Matt Cooper: I’m an only child. I’ve always been conscious of not having brothers or sisters
A Dublin scam: After more than 10 years in New York, nothing like this had ever happened to me
Aslan
Friday, March 22nd, Cyprus Avenue, Cork, 7pm, €30, cyprusavenue.ie
It’s a red-letter day for Aslan. After almost 18 months, following the illness and then death, in 2023, of their original lead singer, Christy Dignam, the Irish rock band return to live performance with a series of “soft launch” shows in small venues between now and the end of April. One can only wish the long-established and much-loved band, now fronted by Lee Tomkins, the best of luck. Dates in April include Haven Hotel, Dunmore East, Waterford (Friday, April 5th), Crown Live, Wexford (Saturday, April 6th), Dolans, Limerick (Saturday, April 13th), Monroe’s, Galway (Saturday, April 20th), and Whelan’s, Dublin (Thursday, April 25th and Friday, April 26th). Expect much larger shows to be announced.
Club night
Elrow at Silo
Sunday, March 17th, Silo, Shelbourne Hall, RDS, Dublin, 2-11pm, €67, silodublin.com
Elrow, a Spanish event organisation, has been described as a roving celebration of night-time mischief that takes elements of Cirque du Soleil, music, performance, surrealism and audience participation to new heights of dance-party enjoyment. Amid the blend at Silo are the London electronic-music duo Gorgon City (Kye Gibbon and Matt Robson-Scott), the UK DJs Hannah Wants, Eats Everything and Alan Fitzpatrick, and the Madrid DJ De La Swing, one of Elrow’s resident music-makers.
Podcast
The Empire Film Club Podcast
Thursday, March 21st, Laughter Lounge, Dublin, 7pm, €22.50, ticketmaster.ie
In which the podcast adjunct of the world’s biggest movie magazine lands in Dublin to – well, what, exactly? The evening is being pitched as containing “movie news, movie reviews, audience questions, but with a couple of twists, tweaks and audience-friendly additions”. Where’s the meat? The podcast itself features big names (recent episodes includes chats with Paul Giamatti, Henry Cavill, Jessica Chastain, Paul Mescal and Adam Sandler), so here’s hoping the Empire stalwarts Chris Hewitt and Helen O’Hara, informed movie critics and writers both, pull a rabbit or two out of the bag.
In conversation
Armistead Maupin
Wednesday, March 20th, NCH, Dublin, 8pm, €27.50-€36, nch.ie
As part of NCH Talks, the American writer Armistead Maupin arrives in Dublin to talk not only about his newly published Mona of the Manor, the 10th novel in the San Francisco-based Tales of the City series, but also his activism for LGBT+ rights and being one of the first fiction writers to address Aids (in his 1984 novel, Babycakes). Maupin will be interviewed by Rory O’Neill, aka Panti Bliss, in what is sure to be a considered, smart conversation punctuated by darts of humour.
Still running
Edges
Until Thursday, March 21st, Wexford Arts Centre, wexfordartscentre.ie
This group exhibition explores themes of the outsider and what defines boundaries (geographical and cultural), and features works of ceramics and sound art by Irish, British and Estonian artists, including Kay Aplin, Joseph Young, Suzanne Walsh, Pille Kaleviste and Juss Heinsalu.
Book it this week
Elsewhere, Cork Opera House, April 17th, ticketmaster.ie
Nicki Minaj, Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, July 6th, ticketmaster.ie
Randy Feltface, Vicar Street, Dublin, July 19th, ticketmaster.ie
Gossip, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin, August 27th, ticketmaster.ie
