Greetings from Third Castle
Another action packed one ahead!
The Weeknd has Croke Park for two nights. IMMA's lawn gets The Prodigy on Thursday and Moby on Friday.
Swan Lake is at the Bord Gáis all week with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in the pit. Stiff Little Fingers sold out The Academy. The Wailers are at Vicar Street and Babyshambles are back there on Sunday after eleven years away.
On Saturday and Sunday the Dublin City Fleadh takes over five city squares for free. Bluey is at the 3Olympia if you're travelling with small people.
This is our pick of what's on this week. As always for a full event list check out the link at the bottom of the email.
Let's dive in 👇
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Dublin City Fleadh
Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August · 12:00 to 18:00 ·
Smithfield Square, Meeting House Square, Wolfe Tone Square, Parliament Street and Capel Street
Sharon Shannon's Big Band, Altan and Dervish are playing the Smithfield main stage on Saturday and it costs nothing to stand there and watch. Dublin City Council has spread the programme across five hubs this year, with Kíla, The Scratch, Madra Salach and the Máirtín O'Connor Trio in the mix, and Meeting House Square holding the quieter end with acoustic collaborations from Andy Irvine. There are céilís, workshops and pop-up street sessions filling the gaps between sets. If you only do one thing this weekend, this is the one that costs nothing and delivers most.
The Prodigy, and then Moby
Thursday 20 and Friday 21 August · 17:00 · IMMA, Royal Hospital Kilmainham
Two nights on the lawn at Kilmainham, and they could hardly be less alike. Thursday is The Prodigy with Carl Cox and David Rodigan on the undercard, which is a bill assembled by someone who understands that a rave needs a proper selector before the noise starts. Friday belongs to Moby, playing Dublin for the first time in over two decades, with Faithless alongside him running through Insomnia, God Is A DJ and We Come 1. Gates at five, over-18s only, and the Royal Hospital grounds at dusk do a lot of the work.
The Weeknd: After Hours Til Dawn
Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August · 17:00 · Croke Park
Two nights at Croke Park, the second added after the first sold, with Playboi Carti opening both. The tour is built around the After Hours, Dawn FM and Hurry Up Tomorrow trilogy and it has grown into the biggest R&B tour anyone has run. Expect the northside to be impassable from about four o'clock on both days, and expect the production to justify it. Tickets were still moving from around €55 at the time of writing.
Sound House Rap Take Over
Tuesday 18 August · 20:00 · The Sound House
Seven rappers on one bill on a Tuesday night, which tells you something about the state of the Dublin hip-hop scene right now. Cjpsutton, Beddyminaj, Creed, Ruka, Survival, Babyfacee and Spellscasted Omen are all on. Short sets, quick turnarounds, and a decent chance you see someone early.
The Ocelots
Thursday 20 August · 20:00 · Whelan's
Whelan's has turned the back end of August into a Trad and Folk Festival, and the Ocelots are the pick of it. The Wexford twins have spent years building their harmonies busking around Europe, and they land somewhere between folk and something warmer. Whelan's main room suits them better than a festival field ever would.
Stiff Little Fingers
Friday 21 August · 19:00 · The Academy
Forty-nine years since they formed in Belfast and Jake Burns is still doing this properly, which is more than most of the class of '77 can claim. Ruts DC open, so the whole night is built out of bands who were there. It's gone, but returns do surface on the official exchange in the last few days. Doors at seven, over-18s.
The Wailers
Friday 21 August · 20:00 · Vicar Street
Fifty years of Rastaman Vibration, played by a band led by Aston Barrett Jr., whose father held the bassline down for Bob Marley. Mitchell Brunings is on vocals. This is the Dublin stop on an Irish run that takes in Belfast on Wednesday and Cork on Thursday, so the band arrive warm. Vicar Street's sightlines make it the right room for this.
Hot Sásta
Friday 21 August · 20:00 · Whelan's Upstairs
Upstairs at Whelan's on a Friday, which is one of the more reliable small rooms in the city for catching a band before they need a bigger one. Ticketed, and the room holds a couple of hundred at most. Worth a punt if the Trad and Folk billing downstairs isn't your thing.
The Phil Lynott Convention
Saturday 22 August · 18:00 · Button Factory
Forty years since Phil Lynott died, and the fifth annual convention marks it properly. The day starts with a vigil at the statue on Harry Street and moves through the Rock and Roll Museum before the music begins at the Button Factory, with several tribute acts working through the songs and the poetry. That structure is what separates this from a tribute night. It's a wake with a good band at the end of it.
Men in the Box
Saturday 22 August · 19:00 · The Grand Social
An Alice in Chains tribute, which is a harder job than most tribute acts take on given how much of that band lived in the vocal harmonies. The Grand Social's back room is small enough that the harmonies either work or they don't, and there's nowhere to hide. Early enough that you can go somewhere afterwards.
Niamh Keane
Saturday 22 August · 20:00 · Cobblestone
An album launch in the Cobblestone, which is about as good a room as Dublin has for this. Smithfield's Fleadh stage is winding down at six, so the timing works if you want to make an evening of it. Go early, the front bar fills.
The Weeknd Unofficial Afterparty
Saturday 22 August · 23:00 · The Grand Social
For the eighty thousand people leaving Croke Park who aren't ready to go home. The Grand Social runs Abel's catalogue plus contemporaries until late. Twenty minutes' walk from the stadium, which is faster than any taxi will be that night.
Babyshambles
Sunday 23 August · 18:30 · Vicar Street
Eleven years off the road and Pete Doherty has brought Babyshambles back with the original line-up, Mick Whitnall, Drew McConnell and Adam Ficek all present. The Dandy Hooligan tour marks twenty years since Down In Albion, an album that was a mess in 2005 and has aged into something people are genuinely fond of. Doherty called it unfinished business, and on the evidence of the reunion shows so far he wasn't being sentimental about it.
Headshrinkers
Monday 24 August · 18:30 · The Sound House
An Oasis tribute pegged to Knebworth, landing on a Monday, which is either very wrong or exactly right depending on your week. The Sound House does these nights without irony, which is the only way they work.
Rochelle Jordan
Tuesday 25 August · 19:00 · Button Factory
London-born, Toronto-raised, and one of the more interesting people working the seam between alt-R&B, UK garage and house right now. Her records have the restraint that most of that scene lacks. The Button Factory on a Tuesday will not be full, which is your gain.
Swan Lake by Ballet de Santiago
Tuesday 18 to Sunday 23 August · 19:30, with matinees Saturday 14:30 and Sunday 13:00 and 17:30 · Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
Chile's national ballet company has never danced in Ireland before, and they've brought the RTÉ Concert Orchestra with them rather than a recording, which is the detail that matters. César Morales directs, and his reading leans into the drama rather than treating the choreography as a museum piece. Six days, eight performances, and the Sunday afternoon slots are the ones with tickets left. Strobe and haze throughout, and under-16s need an adult.
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest
Tuesday 18 August · 13:40 · Irish Film Institute
A lunchtime screening about the temperate rainforest that most people don't know Ireland still has fragments of. The IFI's early afternoon slot is one of the best-value hours in town. Bar afterwards if it prompts an argument.
Synapses
Wednesday 19 to Friday 21 August · The New Theatre
Liam Wilson Smyth's new play gets three nights in Temple Bar. The New Theatre seats under seventy, which means new work either lands or it doesn't, in front of you, with no room for polite distance. Cheap tickets, short run, and the bookshop downstairs is worth the trip on its own.
The Bigger Picture: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
Thursday 20 August · 18:30 · Irish Film Institute
Dean Fleischer Camp's film about a one-inch shell with one eye is far sadder and far better than that description suggests. It's screening as part of the IFI's Bigger Picture strand, which pairs films with a bit of context. Bring someone who thinks they don't like animation.
Sensational Showtunes
Friday 21 August · 13:05 · National Concert Hall
An hour of musical theatre in the John Field Room at five past one, sung by performers with West End and Irish stage credits behind them. The NCH lunchtime series is one of the great underused things in the city. In and out inside an hour, back at your desk by half two.
Public Tour: Rembrandt to Matisse
Saturday 22 August · 13:00 · National Gallery of Ireland
A free guided hour through the Rembrandt to Matisse show, which is the sort of thing people mean to do and never book. The guided version is better than wandering it alone, because someone tells you where to stand. No booking needed, but arrive early and wait at the Merrion Square entrance.
In Electric Dreams
Saturday 22 August · Pallas Projects/Studios
Pallas Projects and Dublin Modular are throwing a yard party to mark thirty years of artist-led space in Dublin, with Rising Damp and Jinx Lennon playing outdoors. Pallas has outlasted about four generations of Dublin's studio scene, mostly by refusing to become respectable. That's worth a Saturday afternoon.
Mean Girls
Tuesday 25 August to Saturday 5 September · Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
Swan Lake clears out on Sunday and the Plastics move in on Tuesday, which is a hard pivot even by the Bord Gáis's standards. Opening night of a two-week run, so the room will be full of people who know every line. Book the first week if you want the atmosphere.
Amores Perros
Tuesday 25 August · 16:30 · Irish Film Institute
Iñárritu's debut, twenty-six years on, and still the most kinetic thing he ever made. Late afternoon on a Tuesday is an odd slot for a film this loud, which is part of the appeal. Three interlocking stories, two and a half hours, no let-up.
Hands on History Handling Sessions
Tuesday 18 August · National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks
Heritage Week runs to Sunday and Collins Barracks is letting people actually hold things, which is the opposite of every museum instinct. Objects out of the case, in your hands, with someone explaining what you're touching. Free, and the courtyard is a decent place to run children afterwards.
Bluey's Big Play
Thursday 20 August onwards, running to the end of the month · 10:00 and later shows · 3Olympia Theatre
Bluey, Bingo, Bandit and Chilli in puppet form, with an original story written by the show's creator and new music from the series composer. The relaxed performance is Friday at 1pm, with softer sound, lower lights and freedom to move around. There's a €5 per ticket family discount on Tuesday to Friday shows for bookings of four or more, which is not advertised loudly.
IFI Family Festival: Papaya
Friday 21 August · 18:30 · Irish Film Institute
The IFI Family Festival programmes films for children that aren't condescending, which narrows the field considerably. Papaya is the Friday evening pick. Suitable for the age where a cinema trip is still an event.
Summer Saturday Lunchtime Events
Saturday 22 August · 13:00 · Corkagh Park
Music, street art, juggling and slapstick in the park, free, on the last of the August Saturdays. Corkagh has the space to let it sprawl. Bring a rug and low expectations of the weather.
Meet The Makers: Craft Month at EPIC
Monday 24 August · EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, CHQ
Craft Month at EPIC means local makers set up in the museum and you can watch things being made rather than reading about them. The museum itself remains one of the better hours in the docklands. Included with admission.
Free Yoga in the City
Tuesday 25 August · 13:00 · Meeting House Square
Outdoor yoga in Meeting House Square at lunchtime, all levels, no charge. Two days after the Fleadh has packed up and left the same square, which is a fair range for one bit of Temple Bar. Book ahead, the mats run out.
Summer in Dublin Fashion, Food and Lifestyle Show
Saturday 22 August · 13:00 · Suffolk Street
Suffolk Street closed off for an afternoon of fashion, food and live bits and pieces, run by the city council as part of the summer programme. It's free and it's on your way to about six other things happening that day. Worth twenty minutes if you're passing.
For a full overview of all events on this week in Dublin City check out our event listings page
UNTIL NEXT WEEK
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