Friday
The Undertones
Limelight, Belfast 8pm £17.50
limelightbelfast.com
It was 40 years today this month (give a week or three) that this Derry band began to play as The Undertones. And while the chart hits dried up decades ago, regular gigging over the years (with Today FM presenter Paul McLoone, above, as long-term vocalist) has kept those same hits very much alive. Good Vibrations label boss Terri Hooley (teenage) kick-starts proceedings with a DJ set.
Leon Vynehall
Electric, Galway 10pm €10
soundcloud.com/vynehall
Leon Vynehall's latest release, Rojus (Designed to Dance), is further proof that he is a house maestro to be reckoned with. Like previous collection Music for the Uninvited, Rojus is chockablock with golden, full-bodied, distinctive and enthralling grooves and sounds. Designed to track the arc of a night out, Rojus is a work with serious intent. Aside from a three-hour set from Vynehall, there's support from Tome and Shivers resident Eoin.
Josh Wink
Opium Rooms, Dublin 11pm €15/€12/€10
joshwink.com
For many, that delirious slab of the acid tweaking and twitching Higher State of Consciousness still defines Philly producer Josh Wink. Of course, there was life before and after the hit for Wink, especially with his Ovum label, which has released tracks by King Britt, Loco Dice, DJ Sneak and many others. Support for Wink on this trip to Dublin comes from the Subject and Mulljoy crews.
Yousef
Button Factory, Dublin 11pm €15/€12
facebook.com/yousefcircus
Like many others, Yousef began as a DJ before adding several other notches to his belt. The Liverpudlian is as well-known today for his Circus label and various events as he is for being a DJ with a handle on big-room house. His track record for Circus is impressive, the label releasing work by Four Tet, Sven Vath, Carl Cox, Harry Romero and many more. His own tunes are also in demand and he's accumulated a catalogue of tracks for Bpitch Control, Crosstown Rebels, Get Physical, Defected, Cecile, Cocoon and Desolat.
Slow Moving Clouds
The Crane, Galway 9pm €15
thecranebar.com
Danny Diamond's fiddle crisscrosses Kevin Murphy's cello and Finnish musician Aki's nykelharpa. The unpredictable results are what make this Irish/Nordic collaboration so intriguing. A contemporary twist on traditional themes.
Saturday
Future Histories
Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin 10am-10pm Adm free
Sixteen top performance artists respond to the atmosphere of Kilmainham Gaol. The public is invited to visit anytime during the day to experience new work by artists Michelle Browne, Fergus Byrne, Brian Connolly, Pauline Cummins, Francis Fay, Debbie Guinnane, Sandra Johnston, Laura McAtackney, Danny McCarthy, Ciara McKeon, Alastair MacLennan, Katherine Nolan, Sinéad O'Donnell, Méabh Redmond, Dominic Thorpe and Helena Walsh.
Felix Da Housecat
Opium Rooms, Dublin 11pm €15/€12/€10
twitter.com/TheeRealFDHC
It's cracking on for 16 years now since Felix Stallings (right) first put the cat among the pigeons with his Kittenz and Thee Glitz album. Since that sleazy super-stellar, hedonistic wig-out alongside Miss Kittin, Stallings has continued to put his own high-energy feline stamp on clubland fare as a remixer (Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys) , collaborator (with DFA/LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy) and globetrotting DJ.
Lumo
Bar Tengu, Dublin 10pm €10/€8/€6
facebook.com/lumoclub/
The quayside restaurant and bar has become one of the busiest venues in the city, with clubs such as Out to Lunch and Lumo taking over the space. Tonight is the latter's latest outing, following from last month's purple parade in honour of the late, great Prince. The Lumo residents are centrestage, with Nialler9, Simon Roche and Gavin Elsted playing classics and curveballs all night long.
World Fiddle Day
Scartaglen Heritage Centre, Co Kerry Noon Adm free
sliabhluachra.ie
Pádraig O'Keeffe was a fiddle player and teacher who put the music of Sliabh Luachra on the map. Today his immense legacy is celebrated through stories and tunes, with RTÉ's Peter Browne, fiddle player Matt Cranitch (whose PhD was a forensic exploration of O'Keeffe's music and legacy), and a host of local and visiting musicians.
Sunday
Rafeef Ziadah
Abbey Theatre, Dublin 8pm €10/12
ilfdublin.com
This weekend, the International Literature Festival in Dublin gets under way proper, after Naomi Klein's event earlier in the month. One of the highlights this weekend is Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah (right), who was originally scheduled for the Peacock but has been moved up to the Abbey main stage. Rafeef is a member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, a non-violent movement that is presently being criminalised in several European countries. Elsewhere on the same evening, Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vasquez will be in conversation with Mick Heaney, radio columnist with this newspaper. He has dramatised Conrad, investigated the drug trade (and won an International Impac along the way). His new novel, Reputations, "explores ideas of memory and truth through the figure of a political cartoonist".
