Scene + Heard

Get your weekend sorted with everything that’s happening in thw world of entertainment

Fri, 23 Jan, 2015 - 00:00

Des O’Driscoll

MUSIC NEWS:

Bjork has made fools of us newspaper scribes who announced last week that her Vulnicura album would be released in March. In a surprise move, the Icelandic trickster actually let it slip out via iTunes earlier this week.

But old fogies and young hipsters should not fear – the vinyl and CD versions won’t be available until the originally-mentioned release date. Bob Dylan is also about to release a new album, Shadows in the Night, and you probably wouldn’t have guessed that it’s made up of songs made famous by Frank Sinatra.

Finally, legendary music producer Kim Fowley passed away last week, and gets the all time prize for bizarre funeral wishes. He requested that his remains feature on the niche magazine, Girls and Corpses, which features pictures of semi-dressed ladies posing with real dead bodies. Could it catch on here?

GIG WISE:

Needless to say, the hottest ticket in town this weekend are for Ed Sheeran’s two gigs at the 450-capacity Whelans in Dublin. The event was arranged for a broadcast by the VH1 music tv channel, and the online application for tickets was hugely over-subscribed.

Billy Idol, 59, has been announced for the Marquee in Cork on June 17. Tickets (€55 + bf) go on sale next Thursday. The Killarney Festival of Music and Food (June 27-28) is to be headlined by the great Burt Bacharach, with the likes of Texas, Jools Holland and the Proclaimers also be appearing in the town.

The Coronas have added Walking On Cars to their bill for the 3Arena on Feb 21 in what makes for a decent all-Irish affair. Top-class home-grown talent is also on its way to Cork, with Villagers at DeBarra’s in Clonakilty on Feb 5 and Jape at Cyprus Avenue on Feb 22. Hudson Taylor will be supported by Southern at the Savoy on March 1.

COMEDY CAPERS:

Dara Ó Briain brings his Crowd Tickler tour to Cork Opera House from Feb 4-7, while Tommy Tiernan does his bit at the venue from Feb 25 to March 1. Al Murray could be an MP in Britain following the next election, and the pub landlord brings his straight-talking common sense to Vicar Street in Dublin on March 14. PJ Gallagher is on tour through February and March, with dates including Dolans in Limerick (Feb 6) and Everyman in Cork (Feb 14).

FILM TIPS:

Today’s openings include Domhnall Gleeson in the Kubrick-esque Ex Machina from Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later). Elsewhere, the roster at the Triskel in Cork this weekend includes Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal; and Chinese martial arts drama, The Grandmaster. Next Thursday, the venue has a double bill of New Zealand horror films, Housebound and What We Do In The Shadows.

THEATRE NIGHTS:

Lippy has been getting rave reviews since it was first seen in 2013, and the joint creation of Bush Moukarzel and Mark O’Halloran will presumably do very well for its run at the Peacock in Dublin from next week (29 January to 14 February). In Cork, bookings are open for the much-anticipated production of Faust at the Everyman, with Cara O’Sullivan. In the meantime, Heroin at the Everyman (Feb 3-4) tells the tale of the drug’s rise in Dublin, and unfortunately, it’s a story that has become increasingly relevant in other towns.

ALL AND SUNDRY:

Clonakilty-based writer David Mitchell has been riding high on the success of The Bone Clocks, and publisher Random House has announced that his seventh novel, Slade House, will be available in October.

Riverdance has added a fifth show to its run at Live at the Marquee in Cork, with tickets for that afternoon performance on June 13 going on sale this morning.