WonderingIf Cúirt will be better than the programme suggests. Galway's literary festival was so strong last year that it was always going to be a tough act to follow, but it seems somewhat watered down this year. Nevertheless, it opens with Dermot Healy and Paul Murray at the Town Hall on Tuesday, and the other highlights later in the week include the English poet Simon Armitage and Anne Enright, whose new novel is imminent.
Glad we went toLCD Soundsytem's final gig, at Madison Square Garden in New York. James Murphy opened with Dance Yrself Clean,and 14,000 fans, all dressed in black and white, did exactly that. Between the live choir and the brass section (both dressed in silver jumpsuits), the guest appearance by Arcade Fire during North American Scum, the delightful crowd of excitable nerds and hipsters, and the 29-song set . . . well, it was emotional.
Looking forward to The Sound of Musicat Grand Canal Theatre. Jason Donovan takes his place in the cast from Monday night.
Adele at the Olympia on Tuesday night. Her album 21 has broken all sorts of records of late. More importantly, the Irish Timesmusic writer Jim Carroll uses the phrase "great set of pipes" whenever she's mentioned.
Watching Jessie J's mix of vivacity and vinegar
After topping the BBC’s Sound of 2011 list and receiving the Critics’ Choice award at last year’s Brits, the 23-year-old Londoner Jessie J is at a tipping-point moment.
Although she has previous form as a songwriter for hire (cowriting hits for Alicia Keyes, Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus, among others), it is her own occasionally supercharged urban pop that makes it clear she has the skill set to be a success as a solo artist.
While her debut album, Who You Are, offers a sometimes shaky blend of crunchy pop for mouthy hipsters ( Do It Like a Dude, Price Tag), vapid R&B for Beyoncé fans ( Stand Up, Casualty of Love, Rainbow, Mama Knows Best) and generic if assuredly sincere self-help tunes for lovers of Grey's Anatomy( Who Are You, Big White Room), Jessie J's live performance sidelines any nagging doubts about an inability to deliver.
The stage of the Academy in Dublin can barely take the weight and tone of the performance: between a young, tight band and a makeshift podium, Jessie J cuts a striking figure that references Cleopatra, a shop-window mannequin and a Battlestar Galacticaheroine.
But it's not just the looks that impress: this woman can sing, and whether it's a slo-mo version of Do It Like a Dude, the hands-in-the-air vibe of Price Tag, the brattish R&B of Who's Laughing Nowor the worrying diva-esque balladry of Rainbow(Whitney and Mariah are clearly major influences), you get a strong sense that Jessie J's career is just starting.
She's funny, too, and an instant hit with the young crowd, which she charms with a natural mixture of vivacity, vigour and vinegar. Where she fits in is anyone's guess we've already got a surplus of female pop stars, from Lady Gaga and Ke$ha to Katy Perry and Rihanna – but someone as halfway decent as Jessie J deserves a slot. It's onwards and upwards with this one, for sure. Tony Clayton-Lea
Gargling salt beforeRecording the new Irish TimesCulture Podcast, on Audioboo, iTunes and irishtimes.com every Tuesday.
PlanningA trip to the Drogheda Arts Festival at the end of the month. It will include a new piece by the Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky, commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society and performed in St Peter's Church on April 29th at 8pm. The concert will open with a theremin recital and a theremin workshop on the morning of April 30th. The sound of ancient science fiction lives on; droghedaartsfestival.ie.
Going to The Parting Glass,Dermot Bolger's sequel to In High Germany. Performed by Ray Yeats, it is a superior play about football and manhood. At Project Arts Centre, Dublin, until next Saturday and then touring nationally until June. For venues see axis-ballymun.ie.
Curious about
Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan mentioning early plans for an Irish Centre of Literary Excellence somewhere off St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. It was part of Fine Gael’s manifesto, so it would seem to be a runner.
