Friday
Shivers Boat Party
Electric Galway 7pm €20 (boat)/€5 (club)
facebook.com/Shiversgalway
What could be better than a summer evening boat trip on the Corrib? Local club runners Shivers are your skippers for this voyage which features both a boat party and a late-night date at Electric afterwards. The main musical draw is Telephones, aka Norwegian producer Henning Severud, who has released wonky disco wig-outs for labels like Sex Tags, Full Pupp and a slew of others. Support from Byron and Eoin.
Belsonic
Titanic Slipways Belfast 6pm £38
belsonic.com
What began as a series of August shows in the heart of Belfast is now an expanded urban festival with dates in June as well. Reliable live proposition The Chemical Brothers are in town tonight and last year's Born In the Echoes album demonstrated that Ed Simons and Tom Rowland can still make a compelling racket when the mood takes them. Support from Erol Alkan, Phil Kieran and Schmutz. International acts lined up over the summer months include Faithless (Saturday June 11th), Foals (Thursday June 23rd), Biffy Clyro (Saturday June 25th), Ellie Goulding (Tuesday June 28th), The Corrs (Thursday August 18th) and Noel Gallager's High Flying Birds (Tuesday August 23rd).
Howth Literary and Arts Festival
Howth Castle Also Sat, Sun
howthliteraryfestival.com
This festival has broadened its remit beyond literature and runs until Sunday. Jonathan Swift was a regular visitor to Howth Castle and a series of talks today will explore his legacy. Other participants include Claire Kilroy, Catherine Dunne, Michele Forbes, John Boyne, Hilary Fannin and Joe Duffy. Look out for theatre in the grounds, too.
Saturday
BARE in the woods
Garryhinch Woods, Portarlington 1pm €50/€40
bare.ie
This very well put together, virtually custom-built, one-day boutique festival celebrates its third birthday with a decent line-up of largely Irish bands/ musicians/DJs/spoken word/ comedians. Acts featured include The Sugar Hill Gang, Natty Wailer, The Pale, King Kong Company, August Wells, Slow Motion Heroes, Fangclub, Lady Grew, Wasps vs Humans, and (declaration of interest) Culture Vultures.
Family Concert at the National Concert Hall
Noon and 1.30pm National Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace €12/€10 nch.ie
WhistleBlast Quartet take children on a musical adventure through familiar tales for 4-12 year olds.
Eve
Opium Rooms Dublin 11pm €15/€12/€10
opium.ie
Dublin collective Eve's aim is to highlight the city's most promising female electronic music talents, but they've spread their wings a little this time out with a visit from DJ Anna. She's the Brazilian-born and Barcelona-based DJ whose moody, deep techno and tech-house has found much favour in recent times. Aside from releases on such high-calibre labels as Tronic and Yoshitoshi, Anna has also showed her smarts at clubs from Brazil and Spain to Germany and China. Support from Lauren and Jessica.
Flipside
Wigwam Dublin 10pm €10/€8
wigwamdublin.com
Tanner Matt is Hashman Deejay, a producer and DJ whose work with Vancouver's Mood Hut and Washington DC's Future Times' crews has already produced some winners like the Sandopolis album. You'll also find him working on buzzing cuts under such names as Ttan Renat, Aquarian Foundation and Globex. Support from Kav and Mark Murphy.
Mood II Swing
Pygmalion Dublin 10pm €10
pyg.ie
A rare visit to these parts from Lem Springsteen and Fonda Rae, the Mood II Swing duo who've been making sweet and influential house and garage grooves for decades. Seeing the Mood II Swing moniker on a remix down through the years has always been a guarantee of quality and their time seems to have come again with many of the new crop of producers borrowing from their trademark soulful, moody, crisp, deep sound. Support from Aaron Nolan and James Rogers
Sunday
The Curious Adventures of Pinocchio
Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire. Jun 12 2pm & 4pm €10/€6.50 paviliontheatre.ie
Patrick Lynch of CBeebies tells the story of Pinocchio using puppets and a special magic book, which spring with showers of gold, an ocean of water, a menagerie of animals, and the boy who wants to be real.
Yeats Day Weekend
Various venues, Sligo Until Monday
yeatsday.com
Had the poet found the secret to eternal youth, he would celebrate his 151st birthday on June 13th. In his absence, there's a multitude of events to contend with. On Saturday, literary-minded stalkers should take note – despite WB Yeats's best efforts, Maud Gonne remained unimpressed, particularly when it came to his poem Easter 1916. Aisling Law, the great-granddaughter of Gonne and Adrian Frazier, discusses her thinking. And on Sunday, there will be a discussion on the secrets of Yeats' automatic writing, a discussion of Yeats, Shakespeare and Irish cultural nationalism, and a look at his Nordic influences.
