ROCK
The Hold Steady
Academy 9pm €27 theacademydublin.com
There aren't many rock bands around these days addressing themes of drug addiction, religious faith and redemption in as detailed and lyrical a fashion as Brooklyn's The Hold Steady (right). Yet here they are – a blue-collar band with a liking for Hüsker Dü, and a natural storyteller in the form of frontman Craig Finn.
TRADITIONAL
Dave Flynn and the Clare Memory Orchestra with Martin Hayes
St Flannan's Cathedral, Killaloe 7pm €25/€20 glor.ie
Composer Dave Flynn has assembled a formidable collective of musicians, composing critically acclaimed music especially for them, and for their special guest, east Clare fiddler Martin Hayes. With an emphasis on memory (and therefore an absence of sheet music), the CMO are steadily garnering a reputation for melding traditional and classical music with a twist.
TRADITIONAL
Máirtín O'Connor, Cathal Hayden and Seamie O'Dowd
Dooley's Hotel, Waterford city 8pm €15/€12 imagineartsfestival.com
O'Connor's impish, fleet-footed accordion has found routes to the most sublime tunes, both traditional and newly composed by O'Connor himself, as anyone who's had the pleasure of hearing The Road West will testify. This trio bring accordion, fiddle, banjo, guitar and voice into the mix and relish the outcome. Guests of the John Dwyer Trad Weekend.
ANIMATION
Dublin Animation Festival Pavilion Theatre; Royal Marine Hotel; Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre dublinanimationfilmfestival.com
'Toon fans should – nay, must – set sail for Dún Laoghaire today where indie animator Bill Plympton will answer questions and premiere Cheatin', his latest feature film. The ace doodler behind Kanye West's Heard 'Em Say video will gift a complimentary sketch to everyone in the audience. Elsewhere, Will Becher of Aardman Studios will hold two modelling workshops and there's a masterclass from Kyle Balda, director of the incoming Minions.
THEATRE
Prototype
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Hilary O’Shaughnessy’s company Make and Do takes gaming pretty seriously. This mini festival of Play and Interaction at Project Arts Centre creates a playground of ideas and activities for two days (concluding Saturday), ranging from talks with game designers and theatre makers to interactive diversions. How about learning to see the world through roving camera eyes, jousting to Bach or a playing game of tag in the dark with flashlights?
HIP-HOP
Shabazz Palaces
Twisted Pepper Dublin 8pm €18/€16 the-beatyard.com
The most adventurous tag team in hip-hop, Seattle's Palaceer Lazaro and Tendai Maraire touch down in Dublin for their second Irish tour of 2014 (Body & Soul in June was the other one). This time out, they've a new album, the beautifully dreamy and other-wordly Lese Majesty to to go with the cosmic rushes of sound already in their arsenal. One for the space cadets in the audience.
