NOSTALGIA
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
3Arena, Dublin 7.30pm €59.50
ticketmaster.ie
An evening of US pop nostalgia awaits those who favour durability over instant gratification. Now a sprightly 81, originally Jersey Boy Frankie Valli and his nominal vocal harmony group (which feature none of the original members) deliver true-blue pop music heritage in the shape of some 30 Top 40 hits.
JAZZ
Palfest Jazz
JJ Smyths, Dublin 9pm €10
jjsmyths.com
Vocalist Honor Heffernan has gathered a starry roster of friends and accomplices for the jazz element of Palfest, an impromptu arts festival in support of the people of Palestine. Apart from the justice of the cause, these sorts of benefit nights can be an opportunity to see musicians who rarely encounter one another sharing a stage. As well as the vastly talented Heffernan, the night features singers Carmel McCreagh and Cormac Kenevey, pianist Johnny Taylor, guitarist Nigel Mooney and others.
THEATRE
Near Gone
Scots Church, Clonmel. July 7-8, 7pm €16/€14
junctionfestival.com
Clonmel’s Junction Festival has long been alert to the surprises of contemporary theatre, now bringing the English company Two Destination Language to the Tipperary stage in July. “This is a difficult story to tell,” begins Katherina Radeva in Bulgarian, translated – sometimes haltingly – into English by Alister Lownie, as they both try to put into words the heartwrenching accident that befell her young sister. Grief, however, is an emotion that no language can ever fully bear and, on a stage lined with white carnations different connections are forged through a physical performance in wild and unfettered dancing.
The recipient of a Total Theatre Award last year in Edinburgh, Near Gone seeks a new grammar to convey these storms of emotion.
