TRAD
Usher's Island
The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, 8.30pm, €20/€18
thedock.ie
As a warm-up for Celtic Connections, this mighty four-piece bring their newly honed set list to a great venue. Featuring Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Mike Mc Goldrick, Paddy Glackin and John Doyle.
SOUL
Booker T Jones
Sugar Club, Dublin, 8pm, €30
thesugarclub.com
This 70-year-old Memphis musician is one of the few people to arrive in Ireland with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy tucked under his belt. But here he is – the guy who co-wrote Green Onions and many other soul/blues classics. Give Booker T a great Irish welcome. There really aren't too many musicians of his calibre left.
ART
Stations
Signal Arts Centre, Bray, Co Wicklow Until Jan 18
signalartscentre.ie
The stations are the stops marking the intervals of the rail line that runs through Co Wicklow, points of leaving and arrival, parting and meeting. Nine artists took the challenge of making postcard-sized work relating to or inspired by the line. They are Donna Coogan, Ann Dillon, Linde Fidorra, Lynne Foster-Fitzgerald, Geraldine Gray, Brigid O’Brien, Melissa O’Flaherty, Biddy Scott and Beatrice Stewart. The uniform price for each work is €20.
UP AND COMING
Ones to Watch 2015
Whelan's and Opium Rooms, Wexford Street, Dublin, Thu-Sun, €5-10
All weekend, these two venues will be playing host to more than 60 bands across four stages, ending in tonight’s musical death match. Will you see the best and brightest stars of the future cutting it up with the vigour and flair of youth? Or will you witness the sound engineer finally going postal at the latest teenage death metal band to refuse to turn their amps down on stage? Either way, that’s entertainment.
