Ireland
CD of the Year: Christine Tobin – Sailing to ByzantiumThursday, 27 December 2012
On Sailing to Byzantium Christine Tobin's utterly singular music fuses with the amaranthine force of WB Yeats's poetry to create one of the most transporting jazz releases in aeons. From the iridescent colours of “The Wild Swans at Coole” and the... Read more... |
Van Morrison, Sligo LiveWednesday, 07 November 2012
Sligo Live is Europe’s most westerly music festival, and its mix of indie and traditional is unique. For four nights and days, cracking traditional players fill the town’s many excellent pubs - Kennedy’s, Foley’s, the Snug, Mchugh’s and Hardagan’s... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Wexford: L'Arlesiana/Le Roi Malgré Lui at Wexford Festival OperaMonday, 05 November 2012
“Last night’s tenor was superb, wasn’t he? Such Italianate passion at the top of his range…” In the pub, the streets and – in this case – over the cereal and croissants of a hotel breakfast, there’s only one topic of conversation in Wexford for 10... Read more... |
The Kingdom, Soho TheatreTuesday, 30 October 2012
Finding the mythic echoes of the ancient Greeks in stories about the modern world is not just confined to past greats such as TS Eliot, but is also used by contemporary adapters of old tragedies. Yet Colin Teevan’s new play, which shadows the lives... Read more... |
All That Fall, Jermyn Street TheatreFriday, 12 October 2012
Samuel Beckett recalled sinking into a "whirl of depression" while writing All That Fall. Audiences at this production - those, that is, who have managed to score a ticket for this short, sold-out run - are unlikely to emerge into Jermyn Street in a... Read more... |
Arena: Amy Winehouse - The Day She Came to Dingle, BBC FourMonday, 23 July 2012
The first anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s death seems like both a temptation and an opportunity for a sensationalist, hyperbolic tribute. Refreshingly, this Arena film, which told the story of the night that a superstar in the making performed to an... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Blur, Blancmange, The Smashing Pumpkins, Strange PassionSunday, 22 July 2012
Blur: 21Bruce DessauThe recent closure of Word magazine has been seen by some as linked to the demise of "Fifty Quid Man". Who can afford such a wallet-frightening splurge these days on the kind of music the monthly's writers wrote so eloquently... Read more... |
Dara O Briain, The Playhouse, EdinburghFriday, 25 May 2012
The fact that the latest in a long line of Dara O Briain DVDs is already on sale on Amazon is pretty impressive considering that he hasn’t recorded it yet. I know this because the second show of his four-night run at the Playhouse happened to be the... Read more... |
Westlife, O2Friday, 25 May 2012
Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Cian Egan and Mark Feehily announced they were retiring Westlife in October 2011, but not before this final farewell tour. It proved to be an opportunity to roll out the red carpet for Facebook-status emoting and self-pity... Read more... |
Westport Festival of Music and Performing Arts announcedWednesday, 25 April 2012Europe's newest arts festival has been announced – in Westport, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland. The inaugural event will take place over the weekend of 23-24 June this year in the grounds of the historic Westport House.The organisers describe... Read more... |
Long Day's Journey Into Night, Apollo TheatreWednesday, 11 April 2012
We’ve seen a few American film and TV actresses grace the West End stage with surprising potency, but no one surely will surpass Laurie Metcalf for profound emotional truth-telling in Eugene O’Neill’s shattering family drama, given an unbeatably... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Belfast: A Place of Titanic EffortsSunday, 25 March 2012
For a small(ish) city, Belfast punches well above its weight where the arts are concerned. Northern Ireland's capital may have only 270,000 residents (with a further 500,000 in its catchment area), but it has a notable array of large venues serving... Read more... |
