ROCK
Join Me in the Pines
Triskel Christchurch Cork 8pm triskelartscentre.ie Also Thurs, Dublin
On the rare occasions when BellX1 aren't busy, band member Dave Geraghty (above) fills in time with various side projects, the latest of which is the very fine Join me in the Pines. See album review, p12.
TECHNO
DSNT
Limelight 1 Belfast 9pm shine.net
Belfast techno night DSNT turns three and they've a helping of special sauce to mark the occasion in the shape of Karenn. A collaboration between DJs and producers Blawan and Pariah, Karenn have been getting the thumbs up all round for their fierce live show. Support comes from Dublin producer Sunin Sharpe.
TRAD
Mozaik
Dolan's Warehouse, Limerick 8.30pm Also Sat, Galway; Sun, Sligo
Andy Irvine reunites with his four compadres in Mozaik for a brief skip across the country. Bulgarian rhythms that'd fracture the hippest of pelvises, errant melody lines that take you to places unimaginable and a raft of rare and wonderful instruments (duduk anyone?).
CLUBS
Leftfield
Savoy Cork 10.30pm savoycork.ie
When it came to spectacular dance arena shows, few could rival Leftfield. Certainly, as anyone who saw them at the old Point back in the day can tell you, they were the go-to men for maximum bass wobbles. These days, it's Neil Barnes who flies the Leftfield flag. Expect some deadly big-room electronic fare with a couple of twists in the tail.
HIP-HOP
Sage Francis
Fifth On Teeling Sligo 8pm Also Voodoo Belfast Saturday, Sugar Club Dublin
Sage Francis was one of the first of the independent hip-hop species, a rapper who moved from the MC battle scene via an early Naughties' internet buzz to getting his views and tracks across to the masses. Current album Copper Gone, which he's touring here this month, is his first in four years.
ART
Pater Gallo
Peter Gallo (Gallery 1) Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College
Vermont based painter Peter Gallo is one of a number of contemporary artists who opt for a personal, low-tech, improvisational aesthetic linked to an ethic of community activism. There's a calculated informality to his work and it can seem as if he throws whatever is to hand into a painting – toothpicks, scraps of photographs, string. He's not afraid to make paintings that are quite beautiful in an obvious way.
THEATRE
Pentecost
Lyric Theatre, Belfast 7.30pm
Who lives in a house like this, somewhere between a refuge and a flash point, "eloquent with this history of this city", as the Catholic Marion puts it? Still inhabited by its deceased owner, though, the proud loyalist Lily Matthews, it remains a potent setting for Stewart Parker's final, extraordinary play, set against the Ulster Workers Council strike, where four divided friends scour the secrets of their past and cautiously begin to hope for a future.
