FRIDAY
Forbidden Fruit
Imma Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin 4pm €119/€59.50 ticketmaster.ie Also Sat/Sun 2pm
Is this Ireland's coolest city-based summer music festival? And is it located in one of Dublin's most salubrious walled grounds? Yes, and yes. Friday's line-up includes Dizzee Rascal, Katy B and Young Fathers; Saturday's headliners include Tame Impala, Jungle, Skepta, Kiasmos, Mmoths and Battles; Sunday's line-up includes The Field and Klingande. The fun at Imma stops around 11pm, but continues in city centre venues until the early hours.
Vantastival 2016
Beaulieu House, Drogheda, Co Louth 1pm €75/€40 vantastival.com. Also Sat, Louth.
This charming van, anyone? Boutique festival Vantastival stays in Co Louth but transfers south from the Dundalk area to Drogheda, to a gorgeous new site right beside the river Boyne. Beaulieu House opens its gates to a great selection of Irish acts (our favourites include Saint Sister, King Kong Company, Sample Answer and Saramai), with a rare live set from Manchester's Badly Drawn Boy (below).
Conamara Bog Week
Various venues, Letterfrack all weekend ceecc.org
A celebration of all that is magical about the Connemara landscape, this fabulously eclectic week-long gathering includes a heady mix of trad sessions and concerts, including a session with fiddler Siobhán Peoples and a concert in Kylemore Abbey with the Albeiz Trio (featuring Cormac Breatnach on whistle and flute, Laoise Kelly on harp and Tola Custy on fiddle. A multiplicity of treats in store.
Open Ear
Sherkin Island, Co Cork Fri-Sun €75 openear.ie
You might think that the Irish festival calendar is full to bursting point, but there's always room for more. The inaugural Open Ear fest brings the action to Sherkin Island for the best in experimental electronic music. Acts playing over the weekend include Björk collaborator Spaces, Sunken Foal, Meljoann, Ellll (who will also be in Double Glaze mode with Mariah Black) Noid the Droid, Niamh De Barra, Alphabet Set, T-Woc and tons more.
Out To Lunch
Yamamori Tengu, Dublin 10pm €12.50 facebook.com/getoutotlunch
Topping the bill and in situ in the main room for the night are Jack Juston and Liam Butler, the Vancouver dudes known as Pender Street Steppers and known for the Mood Hut label. Their own cuts are hugely satisfying, too; Juston's Thirstin' was one of last year's big tunes. Upstairs, the Major Problems team stack up with Terriers, Bong Gozling, Sias and label head honcho Barry Redsetta.
Detroit Swindle
Grand Social, Dublin 11pm €12.50 forbiddenfruit.ie
When the sound systems are turned off in Kilmainham for the night, the FF action turns to clubs and venues in the city centre. Tonight, The Malibu Club host Maarten Smeets and Lars Dales, AKA Detroit Swindle, the dudes with rowdy spells behind the decks at clubs like Panorama Bar in Berlin and Fabric in London.
SATURDAY
AVA
T13, Belfast 11am £30 avafestival.com
After a fantastic debut in 2015, AVA is a festival where the description "eagerly awaited" actually makes sense. A day and night of DJs, live performances, workshops and discussions in the Titanic Quarter, AVA really does cover all bases. It's a hefty bill of fare with standouts including Rødhåd, Juan Atkins, Boiler Room, Optimo, Bicep, Mano Le Tough, Phil Kieran, Psycatron, Terriers and a gazillion more. Admission to the daytime conference is free and you'll have a keynote address from Mister Techno himself, Juan Atkins, to dig.
Down with Jazz
Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin from 7.30pm €15 (weekend ticket €25) downwithjazz.ie. Also Sunday
The annual Down with Jazz event in Meeting House Square is a witty reference to Ireland's anti-jazz movement of the 1930s and a perfect way to catch up with the broad church that is Ireland's contemporary improv scene: from New Orleans funk (Cian Boylan's Toot Sweet, Sat) and a Billie Holiday love-in (Edel Meade, Sat) to explorative vocals (Snowpoet, Sun) and two great Irish saxophonists at either end of the career arc (Matthew Halpin & Richie Buckley, Sun). Up with this sort of thing.
SUNDAY
Subject
Opium Rooms, Dublin 11pm €18/€15 subjectevents.com
Ro Flynn and Subject have been in the club running game for nine years now and it's time for a bit of a bash. Heading the bill is Carl Craig, the Detroit electronic magician who still creates a buzz years after he launched things with his Retroactive and Planet E labels. Be it his Innerzone Orchestra Bug in the Bassbin cut or those C2 remixes, Craig remains king of the wildest frontier. Support from Subject's Joe Morrissey and Cailín, with The Black Madonna, Galactic Beat Club and Mode_1 in the Garden.
Liam Noble
Hugh Lane Gallery, Parnell Sq, Dublin noon No cover charge improvisedmusic.ie
This UK pianist (left) collaborates with some of the most original voices on both sides of the Atlantic, including New York drummer Tom Rainey and Irish vocalist Christine Tobin. But recently Noble has begun exploring the solo piano terrain, and A Room Somewhere (2015) revealed another, more liberated side to the Londoner's playing. The room in this case is the splendid rotunda of the Hugh Lane Gallery, to which it is advisable to arrive early.
