PICK OF THE WEEK
Ah, St Patrick: scourge of snakes, supporter of shamrocks and the patron saint of the bacchanal (at least if the typical annual celebrations in his name are anything to go by).
It doesn’t all have to be beer and bother, though, with count- less cultural options for the midweek bank holiday break.
In Dublin, the team that give you the Body and Soul festival is staging the latest in what are becoming regular invasions of the august surroundings of Imma in Kilmainham, with Ériu (which is named after the Irish goddess that the name Éire derives from, obviously).
Tickets come with dinner as an option, while entertainment will come from Lamb, Jape, Jennifer Evans, RSAG, Máirtín O'Connor Band, Subplots, Margie Lewis and Katie Kim, along with Macnas, bespoke visuals and an "excessive/ transgressive" dress code. See ticketmaster.ie
I Love My City is spread out over four days, and highlights include talks, interviews, and live entertainment at Belvedere House with Lisa O'Neill and Gary Cooke among others; an Irish cuisine three-course dinner at Guinness Storehouse; a collection of Irish Design 2015 events in public spaces and plenty more. See stpatricksfestival.ie.
Ireland's oldest city, and one that claims St Patrick as its own, Armagh is also giving it plenty of festive welly with five days of events, including concerts from Stockton's Wing and Mary Coughlan. See armagh.co.uk/saintpatrick.
Around the rest of the country you can barely move for céilí and craic, more of which are listed throughout these pages. Arms to the sides, hup, two, three, four – oh, you know the drill.
PARTY
St Patrick's Day Snakes Out Party
Dublin 1pm €15/€10/€6
thelocals.ie
Spend Paddy’s Day in a schoolyard in Dublin 8 as the Telephones, Locals and Discotekken crews combine forces for a block party to mark the national holiday. Disco, house and 1980s boogie until sunset from DIP DJs Cait, Enda, Robbie and Ro, as well as Telephones’ reps Joma, Louis Scully and Liam Maher.
TRAD
The Kilfenora Céilí Band
Seamus Ennis Centre, The Naul 5pm €15/€12
tseac.ie
Paddy's Day knees ups are 10 a penny around the country, but a high-stepping céilí, in the company of the quintessential céilí band, is another thing entirely. Celebrating their centenary, and releasing their latest album (Now Is the Hour) this week, this outfit (left) is proof that Darwinian theory is alive and well in trad: evolution at its foot-stomping best.
