Event guide: Tim Wheeler, Kate Nash and the other best things to see in Ireland in the week ahead
Event of the week Tim Wheeler Wednesday, October 7th, Spirit Store, Dundalk, Co Louth, 7.30, €27, spiritstore.ie ; Thursday, October 8th, Mike the Pies, Listowel, Co Kerry, 8pm, €30 (sold out), mikethepies.com ; Friday, October 9th, Cleary’s Bar, Newcastle West, Co Limerick, 8pm, €30 (sold out) When he isn’t throwing shapes on stage with a Gibson Flying V guitar as a member of the punk-pop band Ash, Tim Wheeler is a deft, sensitive songwriter blessed with the ability to create lasting and memorable tunes out of thin air. On his debut solo tour of Ireland, Wheeler will be delivering acoustic versions of some of Ash’s sterling guitar-pop songs as well as digging into the band and solo archives for a few long-lost nuggets. Also Saturday, October 10th, John Lee’s, Tullamore, Co Offaly, 8pm, €26.50, leesbar.ie ; Sunday, October 11th, Grand Social, Dublin, 7pm, €27.80, thegrandsocial.ie . Gigs Ólafur Arnalds Saturday, October 3rd, 8pm, Sunday, October 4th, 3.30pm and 8pm, €45 (all shows sold out), NCH, Dublin, nch.ie The Icelandic musician and composer Ólafur Arnalds returns to Ireland for three shows, subtitled Falling Apart Together, that, through almost 20 pieces of music, attempt, he says, to loosen “the distance between us”. With an ensemble of musicians plus an immersive visual production, Arnalds presents a hybrid concert featuring fusions of electronic and neoclassical music. Kate Nash Sunday, October 4th, Coughlan’s, Cork, 8pm, €17 (sold out), coughlans.ie; Monday, October 5th, Cleere’s, Kilkenny, 8pm, €17 (sold out), cleeres.com; Tuesday, October 6th, Doyle’s Bar, Dublin, 8pm, €15 The London-Irish singer-songwriter Kate Nash has been popping over to Ireland more often than usual this past year, and now we know the reason: she has been recording her forthcoming album, Cailín, at Stiúideo Cuan, in Spiddal, Co Galway. In February she’ll follow the album release with a more extensive Irish tour. Before that, this is a golden opportunity to see the acerbic performer play in small venues. Alongside a batch of her pop gems, expect a tin whistle to make an appearance, as well as her fine cover version of Sinéad O’Connor’s song Famine. Declan O’Rourke Thursday, October 8th, Cork Opera House, 8pm, €45, corkoperahouse.ie; Friday, October 9th, Mullingar Arts Centre, Co Westmeath, 8pm, €38, mullingarartscentre.ie One of Ireland’s most admired storyteller songwriters embarks on a rare nationwide tour in support of Oceanic, his eighth studio album, which is released on Friday, October 16th. Expect a bundle of new material alongside fan favourites such as Galileo, Big Bad Beautiful World and Caterpillar DNA. Also, Saturday, October 10th, Town Hall, Westport, Co Mayo, 8pm, €38, westporttheatre.com ; Saturday, October 17th, Vicar Street, Dublin, 8pm, €45, ticketmaster.ie ; Thursday, October 22nd, Spiegeltent, Wexford, 8pm, €35, lantern.ie . Touring throughout November. Literature Muldoon’s Picnic Tuesday, October 6th, NCH, Dublin, 8pm, €45/€32.50, nch.ie Referencing a popular 19th-century New York vaudeville act featuring songs and sketches, Muldoon’s Picnic sees the US-based Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon preside over an array of prose, poetry, song and banter with the Horslips members Jim Lockhart and Barry Devlin, the writer Anne Enright, the author and film-maker Neil Jordan, the sean-nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird and the songwriter and performer Paul Brady. Children’s festival Baboró International Arts Festival for Children From Friday, October 9th, until Sunday, October 18th, various venues, times and prices, Galway, baboro.ie Celebrating its 30th birthday, the festival this year features dance, circus, theatre, music, literature, visual art and pop-up shows. Highlights include Shapeshifters (from Saturday, October 10th, until Sunday, October 18th, Outset Gallery, various times, free), Shades of Shadows (from Wednesday, October 14th, until Sunday, October 18th, An Taibhdhearc, various times, €15) and Bake, an outreach show touring to Galway school halls. In conversation/poetry Ryan Hennessy Friday, October 9th, Harlem Cafe, Belfast, 6.30pm, £22 (sold out); Saturday, October 10th, Sugar Club, 2pm, €22 (sold out), thesugarclub.com When Ryan Hennessy isn’t bouncing across stages, taking off his top and launching into any one of the band’s impressive list of hit songs as the lead singer of Picture This, he sits in quiet spaces and writes poetry. His first collection, Syncopated Blue, was published by Gill in 2021; his latest collection, In Another Lifetime, is published by Faber. Hennessy will read from his new collection and, we will safely bet, have an acoustic guitar close at hand. Visual art Elizabeth Magill: Northern Sky From Friday, October 9th, until Saturday, November 14th, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, kerlingallery.com Representing a more experimental facet of her work, Elizabeth Magill’s new exhibition features smaller-scale works that investigate, she says, “the tension between abstraction and observation”. Most of the paintings are named after lyrics from Northern Sky, the song by the late English musician Nick Drake. To coincide with the exhibition, a new monograph, featuring text by the writer Colm Tóibín (“There is much ambiguity and strange, coiled beauty”), will be available. Next weekend Gearr: Cork International Short Film Festival From Thursday, October 8th, until Sunday, October 11th, Arc Cinema, Cork city, gearrshortfilmfest.com Building on the legacy of the Indie Cork film festival, which was shuttered last year, Gearr will feature the work of Irish and international short-filmmakers. Categories include thriller, comedy, horror, noir and sci-fi. The festival will close with the presentation of four awards: best international short, Blacknight award for best Irish short, best made in Cork, and spirit of Gearr. Book it this week Charli XCX, 3Arena, Dublin, February 13th, ticketmaster.ie Lambrini Girls, Vicar Street, Dublin, March 9th, ticketmaster.ie Ruby Wax, Ireland tour, May 20th-28th, rubywax.net Kaleidoscope Festival, Glendalough Estate, Co Wicklow, July 2nd-4th, kaleidoscopefestival.ie