Friday
Lúnasa
Bellurgan Park, Dundalk, Co Louth 2pm €95/€75
lunasa-festival.com
The summer may be over, but some hardy souls are still in outdoor revelling mode. Lúnasa takes over the 18th-century park north of Dundalk for a weekend of finely tuned house, techno, trance and much more. There are dozens and dozens of acts on the bill, including John Daly, Chris Liberator, Fran Hartnett, Giles Armstrong, Barry Redsetta, TR One, Jamie Behan, Hybrasil and Warren K. Those seeking an alternative to jumping around can plump for yoga, meditation, healing areas and ambient gardens.
Footwork
The Bunatee, Belfast 9.30pm £12/£10
facebook.com/footworkbelfast
Footwork is a new night from Belfast DJs Eddy Kennedy and Michael Mitchell, and they've got house producer Laurence Blake on his way to town tonight. As Citizenn, Blake has been producing blissful, fully rounded futuristic grooves for Kerri Chandler's MadTech and Waze & Odyssey's Street Tracks labels. Along with putting together debut album Human Interface, the Nottingham native has directed videos for AlunaGeorge and Littl Boots. Support from Schmutz duo Conor MacParland and Kristian Woods.
Abstract
Opium Rooms, Dublin 11pm €18/€15 Also Sat
facebook.com/abstractagency
Abstract continue to mark five years in the club business with a brace of events in the Opium Room this weekend. Tonight is the turn of seasoned Chicago house extovert Green Velvet, with support from Tiago Black, Kaily and Dan Stritch, plus Georgie Burgess running things in the Garden. Tomorrow Abstract are joined by Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor (who playd a solo piano show in town the other night) and Owen Clarke, who will be more than ready for the floor.
Shivers
Electric, Galway 10pm €10/ €9/€8/€5
facebook.com/ShiversGalway
Maurice Fulton's work has had a wide and deep influence on house music's various moves over the years. The Baltimore native's back catalogue of freaky, infectious, anthemic tunes takes in cuts such as Crystal Waters's Gypsy Woman (as a member of New Jersey production team The Basement Boys), serious head-turning grooves as Syclops, and an impressive range of remixes. Suppory from Shivers' resident Eoin.
Alan Barnes w/Phil Ware Trio
JJ Smyths, Dublin 9pm €15
jjsmyths.com
UK saxophonist Alan Barnes is one of Europe's leading "mainstream" players, master of a dying art who can channel the great saxophonists of the 1940s and '50s in a way that is more than just facile revivalism. Also a noted humourist, Barnes will enjoy the informal atmosphere of JJ Smyths and, in pianist Phil Ware and his trio (with bassist Dave Redmond and drummer Kevin Brady), he will find a ready, willing and more than able accomplices.
Saturday
Helen & I
Mick Lally Theatre. Ends Sep 18 8pm €30
tht.ie
There's a thin line between mothering and smothering in Meadhbh McHugh's debut play for Druid, a drama in which people seem to care too much or too little. Gathering together in their family home in small-town Galway in anticipation of their father's death, two sisters revert first to childhood, squabbling or defending each other, as details of the misty past gradually emerge. Director Annabelle Comyn recognises the strange stasis of McHugh's setting, here presented (in Aedín Cosgrove's involving design) as though sunken in a bunker. While the summer heat stretches interminably and the garden becomes dangerously overgrown, the unanswered questions of their past push tensions higher. Cathy Belton is strident yet subtle as Helen, Rebecca O'Mara is manic without being overbearing as Lynn (the putative "I") and though the play hints at bringing clarity to its more mysterious connections and disputed debts of care, it is, finally, a depiction of lives in ellipses, of important things left unsaid.
Brigid Mae Power
Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Co Cork 8pm €12
siriusartscentre.ie
Is Brigid Mae Power the most unheralded Irish singer- songwriter of the year? Quite likely, but a few listens to her recently released self-titled album sees the Galway-raised musician take a few steps towards justified public recognition. This gig is part of the ongoing 2016 residency at Sirius Arts Centre by Oregon songwriter/musician (and Power's album producer), Peter Broderick.
Division
Pgymalion, Dublin 6pm €10
facebook.com/divisionunit
Amsterdam calling. Ron van der Sanden is best known as San Proper, the DJ whose stylish house and disco sets have seen him bust a move far and wide, from clubs like Trouw to festivals like Dekmantel. After a couple of years fronting 1990s Dutch group The Mindmenders, van der Sanden struck out on his own and has released tracks for Rush Hour and Perlon. Support from Sexshop and David McGoff.
Sunday
Jimmy Webb – Still on the Line
National Concert Hall, Dublin 8pm €40/€35/€30/€25
nch.ie
One of America's finest songwriters delves into his acclaimed work for US singer Glen Campbell (now, sadly, in the final stages of Alzheimer's) through visual backdrops, personal anecdotes and "virtual" duets with Campbell. Expect to hear such pop classics as Wichita Lineman, Galveston, By The Time I Get to Phoenix, Honey Come Back, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Where's the Playground Susie, and MacArthur Park.
Fantastic Negrito
whelanslive.com
Self-described as a lifelong hustler, Oakland-born Fantastic Negrito (above), aka Xavier Dphrepaulezz, has said that his misspent youth on the streets of his hometown was the perfect music business apprenticeship. And in his music, which draws on blues, funk, soul and rock’n’roll, you can hear that experience shine through. Live, he’s a firecracker of wit, grit, energy and integrity.
This Is How We Fly
Spiegeltent, Merrion Sq, Dublin 7pm €18
fringefest.com
James Joyce said language and religion were nets thrown at him to stop him from flying. This Is How We Fly might say the same thing about genre. Bringing together Gloaming fiddle star Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, jazz and improv reedsman Seán Mac Erlaine, US percussive dancer Nic Gareiss and Scandinavian percussionist Petter Berndalen, this visionary quartet live in the space where definitions dissolve and ancient, timeless, avant-garde music is being invented in the moment. A rare performance from a rare group.
