Selected highlights chosen by Tony Clayton-Lea, Jim Carroll, Siobhán Long, Michael Dervan, Aidan Dunne and Cormac Larkin
FRIDAY
SUPERSTAR DJs
Groove Armada
Carbon Galway 10pm €10 carbongalway.ie
Here's a statistic to make some readers feel their age: it's over 20 years since Andy Cato and Tom Findlay first hit the road and began putting together a great run of things. Though their 1998 debut album Northern Star pitched them as downbeat and chillout kings thanks to At the River, it was what happened next which turned them into worldbeaters. A run of tracks, I See You Baby, Superstylin' and If Everybody Looked the Same, upped the tempo, took them into the big leagues and made them one of dance music's reliable festival draws. They even got into the festival business themselves, playing a big part in establishing London's Lovebox first as a club night and then as a festival on Clapham Common and then Victoria Park. JC
GRUNGE KING
Eddie Vedder
3Arena Dublin 6.30pm €91.50/€60.45 ticketmaster.ie Also Sun Cork Live at the Marquee 8pm €86 ticketmaster.ie
Lead singer of one of grunge's most dynamic acts, Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder's solo gigs are no less visceral. Now in his early 50s, Vedder's shows deliver a mix of Pearl Jam songs, solo material and judiciously chosen cover versions performed on a range of instruments. These shows arrive about a month after the death of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, a close friend of Vedder. At the opening shows of his European tour in Amsterdam two weeks ago, he referenced his friend in Pearl Jam songs (including Long Road and Off He Goes) and covers from Fugazi (I'm So Tired), Neil Young (The Needle and the Damage Done), Cat Stevens (Trouble) and John Lennon (Imagine). Special guest is Glen Hansard, who at this point of the game surely needs no introduction, right? TCL
JAZZ LAUNCH
Umbra
Whelans (upstairs), Dublin, 11pm, No CC (tickets via Facebook), facebook.com/umbradublin Also Thursday
In 2015, Dublin guitarist Chris Guilfoyle (right) travelled the length of America's west coast by public transport, writing music along the way. The result is West, the new album from his Umbra quintet, which is due for release later this year. A taster from the album, Seattle, is being released as a single and here's a chance to hear it first and live, as part of the free Midnight Hour series, upstairs at Whelans. Guilfoyle, scion of an illustrious jazz dynasty and son of bassist Ronan, is one of the rising stars of Irish creative music scene. In Umbra, he has assembled a powerful group that could hold its own on any jazz scene in Europe, playing a brand of fresh original music that combines satisfying complexity with an immediacy and energy that requires no explanation. CL
TRANCE
Ben Nicky
The Wright Venue Dublin 11pm €20/€15 thewrightvenue.ie
They're still making trance superstars. Ben Nicky's north Dublin appearance is in the middle of a run of dates in Montreal, Ibiza, Dallas and Las Vegas showing the international appeal of the dude behind "Cobra" and other drop-tastic bangers. Over the last couple of years, the Weston-Super-Mare DJ and producer has gone from receiving the thumbs up from such heavyweights as Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto and Paul Van Dyk to leading the way in his own stead with a slew of appearances on those trance compilatons which still sell by the bucketload. Support from See O See and Aaron Cullen, with classics in Room 2 from Adam Collins, Craigo, Graemzy Byrne, Jonny Quigley and Paul Coonan. JC
TRAD HEAVEN
Willie Clancy Summer School
Various venues, Miltown Malbay scoilsamhraidhwillieclancy.com
Truly the Mecca for traditional music each summer, Willie week draws to a close with a brace of concerts, sessions, songs and dance steps from Spanish Point to Miltown Malbay and all points in between. Now in its 45th year, this is the melting pot where musicians encounter one another, forge friendships and find themselves hitting the road together, with tunes and instruments in tow. A magical happening that hasn't lost its sheen after all these years. SL
RUNNING BACK TO FRONT
Gerd Janson
Pyg Dublin 6pm €10 pyg.ie
There are many reasons to salute this German mover and shaker. For a start, he runs the Running Back label, an imprint which has provided room for acts like Leon Vynehall, Tornado Wallace, Syclops, Redshape and many more. He's also a long-running member of the team behind the Red Bull Music Academy and Janson appears on countless RBMA videos interviewing DJs and musicians. He's also a producer of note working with Phillip Lauer as Tuff City Kids with releases for Unterton, Delsin and Terre Des Pommes. As a DJ, he's been found on the decks at such premier league spaces as Frankfurt's Robert Johnson and Berlin's Panorama Bar. Support from Colin Perkins and Sage. JC
SINGERS UNITE
An Góilín Club
The Teacher's Club, 36, Parnell Square 9pm €3 goilin.com
Local and visiting singers, or those who are partial to a singing session, are all welcome to this weekly singing circle, a mainstay of Dublin's traditional singing scene. Jerry O'Reilly, Fergus Russell, Frank Nugent, Antaine Ó Faracháin, Mick Keeley, Helen Diamond & Máire Ní Chróinín are the weekly keepers of the flame, but their arms are open to all comers, with songs in any language. SL
SATURDAY
NOASIS
Liam Gallagher
Olympia theatre Dublin 8pm €36.50/€30.90 (sold out) ticketmaster.ie
Over 20 years of Liam Gallagher might be 20 years too much, but even his most vehement fans would have to admit that he was once one of rock music's most insolent vocalists. Whether that has changed remains to be seen. Since the demise in 2014 of Beady Eye ("Stratford's finest Oasis tribute band," quipped big brother Noel), Liam has been more than satisfied to bombard his older brother with tweets, yet he has also found the time to record a debut solo album - As you Were is scheduled for release in the autumn, but a lead song, Wall of Glass, was released last week. We have no idea what the album will be like, but it's known that Gallagher has collaborated with professional songwriters such as Greg Kurstin. Gallagher has admitted that Oasis songs will make up the majority of his solo gigs. As you were, indeed. TCL
YOUNG TRAD @HEART
Ceol na nÓg
Miltown Malbay, Co Clare
Celebrating the tunes of budding musicians from all over Clare, tonight is a showcase of the great and the good of Bríd O'Donohue's Music School in Miltown Malbay. Listen out for that lonesome touch that is Clare music. A must for anyone seeking out new tunes and the stories behind them. Also featuring Seán, Eibhlís, Deirdre, Sinéad and Liam O'Brien. SL
HOUSE
Stoop
Sound House Dublin 11pm €12/€10/€8 thewileyfox.ie
Look lively, the Italians are in town in the shape of Black Loops. That's the duo featuring drummer and DJ Riccardo Paffetti and sound engineer and video artist Gabriele Micheli, a Berlin-based pairing who call Arezzo and Milan home respectively. If you want a handle of what Paffetti and Micheli are capable of doing, check out their For the Lovers EP released a few weeks ago on the influential Pets Recordings from Catz 'n Dogz, a release full of classic house stings and a lovely dancefloor-friendly riff. That follows previous releases for the likes of Toy Tonics, Neovinyl and Gruuv. Support from Jack Jennings, Dylan Singleton and Steven McAdam. JC
JAZZ FESTIVAL
Down with Jazz
Grand Social, Dublin, 7.30 pm, €25/€15, downwithjazz.ie (Also Sunday from 4pm)
Like the Improvised Music Company's hugely successful European festival, 12 Points (say it in French), the name of their domestic jazz showcase event started as a joke. But it was daring too – for musical civilians, the word jazz can be like kryptonite to Superman, and many contemporary creative musicians (see what I did there?) would rather not use it at all. Down with Jazz runs in the other direction. This two-day, boutique festival is a chance to dip your toe in the jazz waters and sample the range of music being made in Ireland today that may or may not admit to the description. This years line-up includes bassist Cormac O Brien's trailblazing Gamerz with rising UK pianist Kit Downes and arch Belfast jazz-punks Robocobra (Saturday); plus legendary vocalist Honor Heffernan's (left) Whistling Girl show, based on the poetry of Dorothy Parker, and a funky seven-piece led by Cork trombonist Paul Dunlea (Sunday). Careful now. CL
SUNDAY
CLASSICAL
John F Larchet Remembered
Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, noon hughlane.ie Adm free
The 50th anniversary of the death of composer and teacher John F Larchet (1884-1967) is marked in the Hugh Lane Gallery's Sundays at Noon series. The concert offers his complete songs from Raphaela Mangan (mezzo soprano) and Gavan Ring (baritone), with selections from his music for violin and piano from Lynda O'Connor (above). The pianist is Niall Kinsella, artistic director of Irish Songmakers, the team behind the concert. MD
ART
Jack B Yeats and Paul Henry: Contrasting Visions of Ireland
Hunt Museum, The Custom House, Rutland St, Limerick Until September 30 huntmuseum.com
A story of two divergent artistic personalities, both major figures in the history of 20th century Irish art known as significant interpreters of the West of Ireland landscape. Complementary visions would perhaps be more accurate than the "contrasting" in the title. Either way, it's a brilliant idea to bring the two together. Some 50 works have been rounded up, paintings and drawings, from public and private collections, notably including the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg. It is but a slight over-simplification to say that while Yeats is drawn to drama and turbulence, Henry inclines towards a more tranquil view. AD
