Weekend of high camp and sunshine

Fun and frolics are promised at Europe's first outdoor gay music festival Milk 2010 at Ballinlough Castle in Co Westmeath this…

Fun and frolics are promised at Europe's first outdoor gay music festival Milk 2010 at Ballinlough Castle in Co Westmeath this weekend.

Named in honour of the US campaigner and politician Harvey Milk, the event boasts a strong line-up including Bananarama, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Alexandra Burke, Roisin Murphy and Right Said Fred.

Tickets for the event are still available with prices starting at €99 with free camping on site.

Other acts performing around the country over the coming days include Jedward at the INEC in Killarney, Co Kerry tonight and tomorrow, singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin this evening and folk legend Arlo Guthrie who continues his Irish tour with shows in Killarney, Cork and Wexford.

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Well-respected Elvis impersonator Kevin Doyle and his band will be commemorating the life of the King of Rock and Roll at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin on Sunday. The group will be joined by the Valley Gospel Singers for the event.

Choice Music Prize winner Adrian Crowley and the Tindersticks are among the acts appearing at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, which continues this weekend, while renown fiddler Martin Hayes will be one of many trad musicians playing at the Masters of the Tradition Festival in Bantry, Co Cork.

The Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival beings today and runs until next Friday. In Dublin the Futura fashion Fair, which is now in its 34th year, is on at the RDS from Sunday.

On the sporting front, there's racing at Tramore and Dundalk, the hurling All-Ireland minor and senior semi-finals at Croke Park, the Tour de Munster cycling event in Co Cork and the Tomás Mulligan Memorial Cycle from Dublin to Wexford and back.

In Galway, Connacht meet Harlequins this evening in a rugby friendly at the Sportsground while in soccer, Shamrock Rovers take on Manchester United reserves in the Platinum One Challenge at Tallaght Stadium on Sunday.

Met Éireann forecasts that it will be dry in most areas tonight. However, cloudier weather with outbreaks of light rain or drizzle will develop overnight in western and northwestern coastal counties.

Tomorrow will start off mostly cloudy in the western half of the country but will be brighter in the east. It will be dry in most places as the day progresses with expected highest temperatures of between 16 and 20 degrees.

Sunday will be a dry, warm day with sunny spells in most places, but cloudy periods also. Temperatures will reach as high as 21 or 22 degrees in many areas.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist