FRIDAY
Overhead, The Albatross
Vicar St Dublin 7pm €20 ticketmaster.ie
Those who think that post-rock may have outstayed its welcome by vaingloriously attempting to successfully integrate melody and dynamics clearly haven't witnessed Dublin six-piece Overhead, the Albatross. This year has been pivotal in raising their profile. After some years spent in relative isolation, the band finally released its debut album, Learning to Growl.
This final gig of 2016 – the band's biggest headline show to date, which takes place on Friday at Vicar St in Dublin – will feature that same album (and other tracks, of course) alongside appropriate visuals. These latter elements will surely include the band's remarkable rendition (not a cover version, we hasten to add) of Hans Zimmer's Time to a backdrop of Charlie Chaplin's finale speech in The Great Dictator. Risk averse tendencies be damned – we reckon this will be the gig of the year.
Numbers
Limelight, Belfast 10pm £16 shine.net
The Numbers crew hit the north. The label and club night set up by Jackmaster has had quite a run of influential releases, with Rustie, Jamie xx, Sophie, Hudson Mohawke, Jessie Ware, SBTRKT and many more featuring in the back catalogue. Tonight's Numbers reps are Jackmaster, Spencer and a live set from Tiger & Woods, the enigmatic funk-and-disco duo who met via the Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona in 2008.
Boogie An Domhain x Eighty Eight Records Yuletide Throwdown
Bernard Shaw, Dublin 7pm Adm free
The gang's all here as Baz Hickey rounds up the 45 rpm fiends for a pre-Christmas uptown bash in Portobello. The rules of the game are simple: it's 45s on vinyl all night long. The selectors who will be going to town in the Shaw tonight include Davy Splyce (Eighty Eight Records), JB the Deejay and main man Hickey.
Greg Wilson
Wigwam, Dublin 11pm €18 wigwamdublin.com
Greg Wilson cut his teeth spinning soul, funk and disco at clubs around the north of England in the early 1980s before adding electro to his arsenal, taking over a club night in Manchester and hitting the airwaves on the local Piccadilly station. When the Haçienda opened, Wilson was one of the first DJs to begin tweaking the soundsystem. His championing of electro's raw post-disco sounds saw him compile compilations for labels like Street Sounds. In recent years, it's his ear for re-edits which have been to the fore.
Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Cormac Begley
Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co Kildare 8pm €15/€12 riverbank.ie Also Sat, Wexford; Sun, Dublin, Wed, Wicklow; Thurs, Kilkenny
Expect nothing less than pristine tunes from this pair on fiddle and concertinas. The Gloaming's hardanger fiddle player Ó Raghallaigh joins the west Kerry concertina maestro Begley, whose baritone, bass, treble and piccolo concertinas are a sight to behold before he even lays a hand on them. Both musicians are unafraid of pushing boundaries with their original interpretations of old tunes and plenty of newly composed tunes as well.
Craig Richards
Pygmalion, Dublin 9pm €10 pyg.ie
It's unusual in this day and age of DJs jumping from club to club to find someone largely synonymous with one place. In the case of Craig Richards, that space was and is Fabric in London, a club which has had quite an eventful year. Richards has been a long-time resident DJ and musical director at the club, where his trippy, quirky sets have become part of the club's identity. Support from Colin Perkins.
SATURDAY
Bleeding Heart Pigeons
The Workmans Club, Dublin 8pm €13 theworkmansclub.com
Not taking the usual route to getting well known comes easily to Limerick's Bleeding Heart Pigeons. Last February, the band released their debut album, Is, which quickly found its way onto our Best Albums of the Year list, but since then their relative absence has been conspicuous. Not to worry, though – here is an end-of-year gig that promises much. Prepare to swoon.
Placebo
3Arena, Dublin 7pm €50.50 ticketmaster.ie
There is a soft spot in our heart for Placebo and especially for the band's guitarist/singer, Brian Molko. Back in the day, Molko's insightful and sharp-witted views on androgyny and sexuality paved the way for greater understanding and acceptance of "outsider" communities, while early songs such as Nancy Boy and Bruise Pristine fused punk, noise and glam to near-perfection.
Shine Classics
Shine, Belfast 9.30pm £20 shine.net
You can't argue with a line-up like this, and Shine have built their rep on being able to bring stellar house and techno DJs and producers like this together in Belfast year in and year out. The main room will have Detroit techno innovator and Strings of Life genius Derrick May, Soma Records dons – and Slam and Shine residents – Schmutz. Over in Room 2, you've got regular guests X-Press 2 and Bushwacka! with veteran Shine residents Alan Simms, Simon McDermott and Cathal Tierney allowed near the decks for the night.
Slow Moving Clouds and Jonathan Pearson
Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Co Cork 8.30pm €15 siriusartscentre.ie
Danny Diamond is a fiddler of rare ability who takes the most familiar tune and renders it anew. His own compositions are a joyous escapade in imagination too. With his band, Slow Moving Clouds, Diamond is joined by Aki on nykelharpa and Kevin Murphy on cello. Filmic music rooted in rich traditions.
SUNDAY
Ó Loclainn/Drennan/Carpio
Arthurs, Thomas St, Dublin 4pm €10 facebook.com/ArthursPub
Bassist Neil Ó Loclainn is best known for his much-praised Ensemble Éiru, which looks at the west Clare music tradition with a jazz squint. This new trio, featuring two of the Dublin scene's most naturally gifted players – pianist Myles Drennan and drummer Sean Carpio – is a promising, cross-generational grouping that will connect with mainstream and contemporary sensibilities alike.
