Pick of the week
There are more events around the country celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of WB Yeats than we can list here, so what follows is by no means comprehensive. The most high profile events take place this weekend in Sligo. Friday night (9pm, €15/€12) at Model Arts Centre, Candlelight Salon will feature music (Emer Maycock, Mary McPartlan) and conversation (including Dr Margaret Harper, Eimear McBride, Vincent Woods). On Sunday (June 14th, 6pm, €10/€5), the same venue will host a Yeats Day Concert recital, featuring soprano Eunjoo Goh, pianist Aengus Kerrin, and harpist Ramune Sakalauskaite.
Over the weekend, the Dalkey Book Festival in Dublin will feature a series of events, including talks and discussions with author Paul Murray, Abbey Theatre director Fiach Mac Conghail, Irish Times’ writer Fintan O’Toole, historian Diarmaid Ferriter, and actor Gabriel Byrne.
A highlight for many will be the Poet Laureate and National Poets event Saturday night at Sligo’s Knocknarea Arena (8.30pm, €15), which features Ireland’s professor of poetry Paula Meehan, English poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, national poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, national poet of Scotland Liz Lochhead, the London laureate Aisling Fahey, and Northern Irish poet Sinéad Morrissey, all of whom will engage with the work of Yeats in the presence of President Higgins .
Events beyond this weekend? Running until June 20th at the New Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin (7.30pm, €15/€12), three of Yeats’ plays (The Pot of Broth, Purgatory, and An Cat agus An Ghealach – the Irish language world premiere of The Cat and the Moon) are staged by Mouth on Fire Theatre Company in association with Dublin Unesco City of Literature.
[ yeats2015.comOpens in new window ]
PUNK
Television
The Academy Dublin 8pm €32
ticketmaster.ie
Ah, crikey – first it was Patti Smith two weeks ago ripping through Horses, and this week it's fellow NYC punk rock alumni Television (below) delivering in its entirety Marquee Moon (one of the greatest debut albums ever – fact). Fed up of mature geezers like me waxing lyrical about punk rock classics? Tough.
TOUR
Robert-Johnson On Tour
Opium Rooms Dublin 11pm €10
robert-johnson.de
Incongruous buildings often make for great clubs. Previously a rowing club located in the quiet suburb of Offenbach on the outskirts of Frankfurt, the 250-capacity club has gained quite a rep thanks to a great sound system, ace booking policy and a clued-in crowd of regulars. Tonight, Live at the Robert-Johnson label regulars Orson Wells and Portable will be showboating in Dublin on behalf of the club.
HOUSE
Tini
Twisted Pepper Dublin 10.30pm €18/€16/€14
soundcloud.com/tinicouldbeworse
The return of Tini Günter to the Middle Abbey Street venue is something to cheer, especially as it comes just ahead of her Ibiza season with Tini and the Gang. From Munich, Tini's releaes for Loco Dice's Desolat as well as the thumping, technicoloured textures of her Tessa album are what have her name up in lights. She's joined tonight by Fuse boss Enzo Siragusa making his Irish debut as well as the Room 19 and Benefit DJs.
TRAD
Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Village Arts Centre, Kilworth 8.15pm €12/€10
villageartscentre.com
According to the late Con Houlihan, the borders of Sliabh Luachra are almost mythical: sufficiently elastic to embrace a wide territory straddling the Cork, Kerry and Limerick borders. Two of the finest exponents of that vibrant sound are accordion player Jackie Daly and fiddler Matt Cranitch. This is the first of two dates they’re playing in Cork this weekend. Hear them and bask in the buoyant polkas and slides of the Rushy Glen.
TRAD
Emer Mayock and Mary McPartlan
The Model, Sligo town 9pm €15/€12
themodel.ie
Yeats Day sees a raft of events scattered across Sligo (and beyond), and this pairing of piper and flute player Mayock with singer McPartlan promises something very special, accompanying a conversation on the poet and his work with Dr Margaret Harper, Mark Patrick Hederman, Susan Hiller and Vincent Woods. The right words in the right order with notes following suit.
