Saturday 1
Madness, Lightning Seeds and Something Happens
Dún Laoghaire Pier, Co Dublin; ticketmaster.ie
It's all fun and games in Dún Laoghaire in south Co Dublin this weekend as the pier area transforms into a jaunty Kiss-Me-Quick zone, with today and tomorrow featuring a sturdy range of established pop/rock acts that will surely have the over-45s dancing from start to end. Premier UK singles act Madness headline today, with guests Lightning Seeds and Something Happens (surprisingly, the only Irish act on the weekend line-up). Tomorrow, Primal Scream headline, with special guests The Charlatans and Fun Lovin' Criminals. The weather? Bound to be great. Won't it? TCL
Lost & Sound featuring special guest Kelly-Anne Byrne
Lost Lane, Dublin; facebook.com
Knowing what the people want, Sally Cinnamon, Kate Brennan-Harding and Claire Beck, the women of Lost & Sound, Lost Lane's Saturday night residency, are asking you to come dance yourself clean after a day sloshing around at Forbidden Fruit. Joining them on the night is the wonderful Kelly-Anne Byrne, the host of Today's FM's The Beat Goes On, and she certainly knows her way around a disco track or two. Free in, this the easy way to keep the party going on. LB
Mother
Róisín Dubh, Galway; roisindubh.net
Just ahead of a busy summer of curating stages at both Body & Soul and Love Sensation, and running the annual Mother Pride Block Party on June 29th, the Dublin-based queer club night is making its way to Galway for a west coast blowout. With DJ Rocky Delgado representing, you can expect a roll-out of some of the best disco and electro songs going with plenty of old reliables. If you've got itchy feet, the Mother DJs are guaranteed to give you the scratch you need. LB
Forbidden Fruit
Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin; ticketmaster.ie
Returning for its eighth instalment, Forbidden Fruit is the official launch of summer for a lot of people. The line-up follows the trusty timetable of scheduling heavy and party-starting hip-hop and dance acts on Saturday and Sunday, including Skepta, Jon Hopkins, Danny Brown and Peggy Gou, while Monday takes a gentler approach with Elbow and Saint Sister taking to the stage. Tickets for after-parties in venues such as Wigwam, Tengu and the Sugar Club are available to pick up at the festival site all weekend long. LB
Open Ear
Sherkin Island, Co Cork; eventgen.ie
Hitting that wonderful balance of trad 'n' techno, folk 'n' electronic, obscure but never mainstream, Open Ear welcomes in a massively diverse range of artists to play across Sherkin Island all weekend long. With the likes of Donal Dineen, Lankum's Radie Peat and the underground club kids Club Comfort filling the line-up, it's set to be a festival of new discoveries, great chats, deadly music and gorgeous scenery. They're down to their last bundle of tickets, so hurry up and scoot on down to Sherkin. LB
Sunday 2
Primal Scream, The Charlatans and Fun Lovin' Criminals
Dún Laoghaire Pier, Co Dublin; ticketmaster.ie
TPM
Central Arts, Waterford; universe.com
If you haven't had the thrill of TPM's music or energy yet, then you are in for one hell of a treat. Charles and Andrew Hend are the Dundalk brothers who form the very funny and very unique hip-hop duo. With song titles like F*ck RTÉ and Eat that Curry, and humour so sharp it would slice a deli roll in half, they're an essential act to catch. If you see their name on any line-up this summer, highlight and underline their name twice on your timetable. LB
Thursday 6
Michael Bublé
3 Arena, Dublin (also Friday 7; plus SSE Arena, Belfast, Saturday 8 and Sunday 10); ticketmaster.ie
Michael Bublé has one of those amazing life story backgrounds that defy cynicism. His early years were spent flogging his nascent talent in any job he could get, from cruise ships to shopping malls, from business parties to weddings. From 2003 onwards, however, the Canadian singer reaped the dividends of such a relentlessly ambitious work ethic, and from then to now he has hardly been out of the charts and off the radio. If your thing is smooth versions of songs culled from, mostly, the American Songbook, and performed by a likeable pro, then these high-end production shows are – just like Bublé's signature blue suits – tailor-made for you. TCL
Matmos
National Concert Hall, Dublin; nch.ie
After 20 years as a creative entity named after a bubbling lake of vile slime beneath a fictional city in the 1968 movie Barbarella, Matmos can still surprise. Perhaps best known, notoriously so, for their 2001 album A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure (which comprises samples of medical procedures such as plastic surgeries and liposuctions), they arrive in Dublin toting their latest album, Plastic Anniversary, on which all of the record's sounds are derived from plastic objects. Frankly, any album with track titles such as Interior with Billiard Balls & Synthetic Fat, and Fanfare for Polyethylene Waste Containers is good enough for us. TCL
Friday 7
Snow Patrol
Malahide Castle, Co Dublin; 5pm; ticketmaster.ie
It is always interesting to see what happens to a music act when they return to the fray after a significant time away. Are the fans still with them? Are the songs just as good? This time last year, Snow Patrol released Wildness, their first album since 2011's Fallen Empires, and while it had its moments in songs that referenced Gary Lightbody's personal struggles, we would wager there isn't one song on the album that anyone outside the ardent fan can hum along to from start to finish. In other words, the songs haven't popped into the head anywhere near as easily as those on earlier albums such as Final Straw (2003), Eyes Open (2006), and 100 Million Suns (2008). There are enough ever-ready tunes on those early records to keep the open-air crowds satisfied, however, as a massed singalong to Chasing Cars will, no doubt, prove. TCL
Ordnance Survey
Fumbally, Dublin 8pm €16; tickets.ie
Irish composer Neil O'Connor is as much known for his solo music (under the moniker of Somadrone) as for his work in Redneck Manifesto. Now operating under the name of Ordnance Survey, O'Connor launches his new album, Relative Phase, with a rare live performance. The album was recorded in studio space at Dublin's National Concert Hall, and sees him (says the press release) "attempting to extend electronic music's levels of emotion and personality". Judging by his previous work, there's no better person for the job. Support is from Teatro Sin Fin, an Irish electro-acoustic duo featuring Thomas Haugh and Matthew Nolan. TCL
Crazy P Live
Sugar Club, Dublin; ticketmaster.ie
Tipping away for 20 years (or so), Crazy P find ways to grow within the changing face of the UK's disco and house scene. Formerly known as Crazy Penis, the five-piece from Nottingham decided to shorten – ahem – the name down to Crazy P, which is a sure sign of maturity. Bringing a late-night set to an 8pm kick-off (the London pop-soul singer Phoebe Katis is opening for them), their high-octane tuneage will keep you ticking over for quite some time. LB
Saturday 8
Live at the Marquee, Cork
aikenpromotions.com
If it's June then it must be Live at the Marquee, the annual collection of (usually sold out) shows based in the People's Republic of Cork and housed in a purpose-built venue. This month's gathering of music acts includes Aslan and special guest Damien Dempsey (tonight), Toto (June 15), Versatile (June 21), Kris Kristofferson & the Strangers (June 23), Bros (June 26), The Academic (June 27) and 2FM's Live with Jenny Greene & RTÉ Orchestra (June 28). Something for everyone? As always. TCL
The Cure
Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, ticketmaster.ie
It is a shade over 40 years since The Cure released their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, and in the interim period they have (with Robert Smith continuously at the controls) maintained their status as one of the most successful ever post-punk bands. It is over 10 years since they released new material (2008's 4:13 Dream), but by December we have read that a new album will have been recorded and issued. In the meantime, stand up and be counted as an any-age fan in a sold-out gig that also features fellow UK band Ride, Scotland's The Twilight Sad, and Dundalk Choice Music Prize nominees Just Mustard. TCL
Metallica
Slane Castle, Co Meath; ticketmaster.ie
It has been 10 years since Metallica last played Ireland (Dublin's Marlay Park), and so we are expecting a show that's all killer, no filler (not forgetting a cover of Whiskey in the Jar) when they become the latest music act to headline Slane Castle. With over 125 million album sales, they are one of the most commercially successful bands in the world, so why this gig didn't sell out in jig time is a puzzle. Some tickets are available, we believe. Special guests include Sweden's Ghost, Norway's Bokassa, nominal Belfast punks Stiff Little Fingers, and Dublin's Fangclub, whose new album, Vulture Culture, is released next month. TCL
Soda Blonde
Grand Social, Dublin; ticketmaster.ie
It has to be tough for bands that gather acclaim everywhere they go to feel they need to strike out in a different way in order to make their creative lives and internal dynamics work better. So it was that a few months ago Little Green Cars disbanded, leaving a tranche of die-hard fans perplexed as to why. We will know soon enough, quite likely, as most of the former members have morphed into Soda Blonde, about which, musically speaking, we know little other than their very fine debut single, Swimming Through the Night. Let's watch their progress with sky-high levels of interest and enthusiasm, eh? TCL
