Event of the week
Bill Bailey
Friday, February 9th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €52.85 (sold out); Saturday, February 10th, SSE Arena, Belfast, 6.30pm, £70; both ticketmaster.ie
The showbiz cliche of an all-singing, all-dancing performer comes home to roost when you think of the English comedian Bill Bailey – when he took the top spot on Strictly Come Dancing in 2020, at the age of 55, with his professional partner, Oti Mabuse, he became the BBC show’s oldest winner. Bailey can also play an instrument or six (including guitar, kazoo, bongos and theremin), and when he’s on stage he prefers to delve into prog rock and theme songs for comic effect. He says his new tour, Thoughtifier, takes the audience “through the error-strewn and sometimes magnificent history of human thought and how it might help us survive in this brave new world”.
Gigs
Róisín Murphy
Saturday, February 3rd, and Sunday, February 4th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 7pm, €50.70, ticketmaster.ie
It seems there is no stopping Róisín Murphy, who, 30 years or so after her beginnings in Moloko, continues to make the charts. (Last year Hit Parade became her highest-placed album in the UK.) Expect these shows to be crammed with dancefloor workout songs from her back catalogue and to feature several examples of, says Electronic Beats magazine, “her reputation for sporting avant-garde couture”.
[ Róisín Murphy: ‘The Irish culture I grew up in is the main thing that made me who I am’ ]
Depeche Mode
Saturday, February 3rd, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €77, ticketmaster.ie
Depeche Mode, now down to Dave Gahan and Martin Gore following the death in 2022 of Andy Fletcher, return to 3Arena to plug their most recent album, Memento Mori. For diehard fans there will be much to mull over, not least when Gahan and Gore perform World in My Eyes (from their 1990 album, Violator), which was Fletcher’s favourite Depeche Mode song. Their special guest is the UK singer-songwriter Nadine Shah, who will be performing songs from her new album, Filthy Underneath.
Graceland, by the London African Gospel Choir
Tuesday & Wednesday, February 6th & 7th, Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, 8pm, €37.50, paviliontheatre.ie
After last year’s sold-out show at the National Concert Hall, London African Gospel Choir perform Graceland, Paul Simon’s 1986 album, in much more intimate setting. Pitched as both a reimagining and a reinterpretation of Simon’s classic work, it nonetheless features joyously familiar core arrangements of songs such as Homeless, The Boy in the Bubble, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, You Can Call Me Al, the title track, and Under African Skies. Factor in a 20-plus ensemble of musicians, singers and dancers and you have a blast of summer just when you least expect it.
Noah Kahan
Thursday, February 8th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €45.90 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
After Hozier’s multiple introductions of the US singer-songwriter to Irish audiences, it was surely only a matter of time before Noah Kahan became a fan favourite. His third album, Stick Season, from 2022, is the one that made a difference, its lyrically detailed folk/pop tunes, which nod to Mumford & Sons, Phoebe Bridgers and Kacey Musgraves, thrusting him into the spotlight. On the basis of this sold-out show, it doesn’t look as if he’ll be retreating any time soon.
Festival
Dublin Bowie Festival
From Friday, February 9th, until Sunday, February 11th, Dublin, various venues, times and prices, dublinbowiefestival.ie
One of the best little festivals in Ireland continues (inexplicably, without sponsorship) with Diamond Dogs, David Bowie’s 1974 album, as its loose theme. Highlights include a career retrospective exhibition by Bowie’s official photographer, Denis O’Regan (until Sunday, February 11th, Rathfarnham Castle Gallery), and RTÉ Orchestra performing the songs of Bowie (Friday, February 9th, and Saturday, February 10th, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre), featuring three musicians long connected to Bowie’s later music, Dubliner Gerry Leonard, along with Mark Plati and Sterling Campbell (who will also take part in a public interview and audience Q&A on Saturday, February 10th, at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 1.30pm). There is also an In Conversation with Denis O’Regan (Sunday, February 11th, RSCI, 3.30pm). Full details are on the festival website.
Neoclassical
Roger Doyle
Thursday, February 8th, Mermaid Arts Theatre, Bray, Co Wicklow, 8pm, €22, mermaidartscentre.ie
Roger Doyle, perhaps best known for his pioneering electro-acoustic compositions and his exploration of new configurations of opera, presents an intimate concert of his acclaimed work for solo piano as well as for piano and electronic backing tracks. The former will include selections from his ageless soundtrack for Budawanny, Bob Quinn’s 1986 silent film, and his sublime score for the Gate Theatre’s production of Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé. Also featured are excerpts from one of his most recent albums, Finnegans Wake – Suite of Affection.
Visual art
Self Determination: A Global Perspective
Until Sunday, April 21st, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, imma.ie
Self-Determination: A Global Perspective, one of the largest exhibitions in Imma’s history, collects Irish and international works that highlight the common experiences of post-first World War nation states such as Ukraine (1917), Estonia (1918), Poland (1918), Egypt (1922) and Turkey (1922). The exhibition also explores the role of art and artists in articulating national identities, histories and traditions. Irish artists featured include Paul Henry, Evie Hone and Dorothy Cross; international artists include Slovenia’s Jasmina Cibic, Turkey’s Gülsün Karamustafa and Ukraine’s Onufriy Biziukov.
Still running
Féile na Tána 2024
Until Monday, February 5th, Cooley/Carlingford, Co Louth; various times, venues and prices, feilenatana.com/eventbrite.ie
An established provincial festival celebrating the roots of Irish traditional music, song and dance marks its 10th birthday with workshops, concerts and performances by a host of well-known names, including Paddy Glackin, Zoë Conway, Mary Bergin and Máirtín O’Connor. Full details are on the festival website.
Book it this week
Imagining Ireland, NCH, Dublin, March 3rd, nch.ie
Shabazz Palaces, Sugar Club, Dublin, May 3rd, ticketmaster.ie
Jo Koy, 3Arena, Dublin, May 19th, ticketmaster.ie
Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill, Marquee, Cork, June 21st, ticketmaster.ie
