Gig of the week: Parcel from America
May 10th-15th, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, Tuesday-Saturday (Saturday matinee, 2.30pm; Sunday matinee 3pm), €20/€18/€15, smockalley.com
Fadó fadó, around the 1950s, Irish families waited in anticipation every Christmas for the postman to arrive with that most coveted item – a parcel from the United States, which was sure to contain treasures from the land of the free and the home of the brave. The parcel would be sent by one of the family members who had emigrated, and would contain all sorts of exotic items you couldn’t get here, such as trendy jeans, comic books, and of course an envelope stuffed with dollar bills. This new musical, based on the story by Tomáseen Foley, celebrates those bygone days before Amazon, when emigration touched every Irish family, and that annual delivery was a lifeline to a better world. The cast includes Fair City’s Pat Nolan as the postman, Rose Henderson (from the Bord Gáis Daniel O’Donnell ad) and Game of Thrones actor Michael Grennell and the music is composed by Kevin Corcoran.
Dr John Cooper Clarke
May 9th, 3Olympia, Dublin, 7pm, from €33.50, ticketmaster.ie
Famous for his quickfire delivery and fiendishly clever wordplay, not to mention his scrawny, sticklike appearance topped by an unruly barnet, like Phil Spector crossed with Joey Ramone, the Mancunian punk poet is still waxing lyrical into his 70s, and still managing to blag his way into the mainstream every now and then. His poem Evidently Chickentown was featured on the penultimate episode of The Sopranos, while the Arctic Monkeys – who readily acknowledge their lyrical debt to him – set his poem I Wanna Be Yours to music on their chart-topping A:M album. His most recent poetry collection, The Luckiest Man Alive, features fan favourites such as I’ve Fallen In Love With My Wife, Beasley Boulevard and Get Back on Drugs you Fat F*ck. His current live show will feature some of his best-loved rhymes, plus his musings on life and lots of quips. Settle down for a punchy poetry slam that’ll leave you speechless.
The Road to the Great Escape
May 9th and 10th, various venues, Dublin, 7pm, €27.90, greatescapefestival.com
It’s the start of the week, and time to trudge back to school or the office. Hold on – there’s an alternative to the weekday drudge: a two-day live music showcase that definitely wasn’t on your workplace to-do list. Catch some of the most exciting new acts from all around, including Dublin singer-songwriter Abi Coulibaly, London producer Conor Albert, Scottish alt-popper Dylan Fraser and Hawaiian tropical soul man Eli Smart, plus a team-up of Irish singer-songwriter Lucy McWilliams and Irish rapper Malaki. The gigs take place in Whelans, the Workman’s Club, the Grand Social and Academy 2, and It’s all part of the lead-up to the Great Escape festival in Brighton from May 11th-14th (there’s another good excuse to cry off work or school for the rest of the week).
Moving Hearts
May 10th, 3Olympia, Dublin, 7pm, €44-€56, ticketmaster.ie
When Moving Hearts played their farewell gig back in 1990, they probably never thought they’d still be moving 30-odd years later. But the band, which formed in 1981, has had a huge influence on modern Irish music, they were never going to be inactive for long. This special rescheduled show at the 3Olympia will feature a line-up straight from a Celtic-rock-jazz fusion fever dream: Donal Lunny on bouzouki, Davy Spillane on uilleann pipes and low whistles, Keith Donald on sax and bass clarinet, Eoghan O’Neill on bass, Noel Eccles on percussion, Anthony Drennan on guitars, Liam Bradley on drums and Graham Henderson on keyboards, not to mention the obligatory special guests who will surely take the stage.
Whitesnake, Foreigner & Europe
May 10th, 3Arena, 6pm, €78.25 and €68.25, ticketmaster.ie
Stock up on the Head & Shoulders – the biggest 1980s hair metal circus around is about to roll into town, and if you see any white powder floating about, that not coke – it’s dandruff. Three veteran be-permed rock bands have come together for this vintage metal jam, and if they’re not quite the roaring lions they once were, they’ll still be able to crank out the hits from the decade that irony forgot. This is Whitesnake’s last hurrah, we’re told, and David Coverdale and co will be belting out such ‘Snake classics as Here I Go Again and Is This Love, joined by their most recent addition to the band, Irish bassist Tanya O’Callaghan. Foreigner, led by guitarist Mick Jones, will deliver such hits as Juke Box Hero, Cold as Ice and of course I Want to Know what Love Is. And will Europe play their timeless classic The Final Countdown? You can count on it.
Tim Edey, Mairi Rankin and Eric Wright
May 9th, Station House Theatre, Clifden, Co Galway, 8pm; May 10th, The Sugar Club, Dublin, 7pm, €22/€15; May 12th, St John's Theatre, Listowel, Co Kerry, €15; May 13th, Ionad Cultúrtha Baile Mhúirne, Co Cork, €20/€15/€5 (U-18), musicnetwork.ie
Three international musicians at the top of their game join forces for an Irish tour that till take them from the Cork Gaeltacht to Dubin city and points in between. Tim Edey, from Kent, England, is considered one of the finest exponents of guitar and melodeon. Mairi Rankin is a fiddler, singer and step-dancer from Nova Scotia who is influenced by the Cape Breton sounds of her home island. Canadian cellist Eric Wright is inspired by old-time American music and Irish trad. All three will bring it back home with consummate skill in a show that’s aimed at families and friends who enjoy music together.
Phizzfest
May 13-15 Phibsborough, Dublin phizzfest.ie
It’s all happening by the Royal Canal in Phibsborough this weekend, as the excellently named Phizzfest gets back in action, with a packed programme of walks, talks, gigs, theatre, film and artworks, both indoors and outdoors. Kerry concertina master Cormac Begley will be performing at Dalymount Park, Ann Ingle will be chatting with her daughter Roisin Ingle about her fab memoir, Openhearted, Traveller singer Thomas McCarthy will be weaving music and stories around the village, and poetry by and for refugees will come alive on the Eala canal barge.
The Blizzards
May 14th, The Academy, Dublin, 8pm, €23, ticketmaster.ie
Niall Breslin aka Bressie has been so front-of-stage in the national conversation around mental health, it’s easy to forget he’s also the frontman of one of the best Irish bands around, The Blizzards. The Mullingar rockers made a big splash on the local scene during the noughties, but then went on hiatus while Bressie honed his production and solo popstar skills, and also set about putting young people’s heads right via his mental health and mindfulness podcasts. Now, following the global music-biz hiatus, The Blizzards – Bressie, Louize Carroll, Justin Ryan and Dec Murphy – are back with a new album, Sometimes We See More in the Dark, which they’ll be launching with this headline show in Dublin’s Academy, with support from Aimee. Sometimes a good guitar band is all the therapy you need.
Public Service Broadcasting
May 15th, Limelight, Belfast; May 16th, 3Olympia, Dublin
Are they a band? A historical archive? A multimedia retro tech experiment? Public Service Broadasting are certainly an oddity, an eccentric English outfit on a mission to inform, educate and entertain via archive newsreels and audiotapes, driving, percussive beats and layered electronics. The band – lead boffin J Willgoose, drummer Wigglesworth, multi-instrumentalist JFAbraham and visuals guru Mr B – make concept albums and EPs on themes such as the second World War, the space race and – on their latest record, Bright Magic – the city of Berlin. Think Pink Floyd meets Lemon Jelly in a university lecture hall.
