Scene + Heard: Entertainment news round-up

FERGUS O’FARRELL: The Irish music world has been paying fulsome tribute to Fergus O’Farrell, 48, the Schull-based musician who passed away on Tuesday.

Though neither O’Farrell or his band Interference never quite got the recognition they deserved, the fact that tributes have flowed in from the likes of Glen Hansard, Gavin Friday, and Ronan Keating show how highly he was regarded in the music scene.

Musicians aside, many of us who encountered O’Farrell through the years found him to be a hugely impressive figure. His battle with muscular dystrophy didn’t prevent him from producing some great music or coming across as a lovely guy.

It’s a mark of the man that tomorrow’s celebration of his life in Schull really will have so much to include. May he rest in peace.

GIG WISE: The visit of Bruce Springsteen to Croke Park (Friday, May 27) dominated the announcements this week. Tickets go on sale next Thursday, with the possibility that at least one more gig will be added, depending on demand.

The show will continue the Boss’s revival of his classic album from 1980, The River, with music from that era taking up a large part of the show.

And don’t be afraid to buy a ticket for your nan — at a recent gig in Toronto, Sprinsteen brought an 89-year-old woman from the crowd on stage with him for the encore tune of ‘Dancing in the Dark’.

You’ll be hearing more old classics when Earth, Wind & Fire visit Dublin on June 28. ‘Boogie Wonderland’ and ‘Let’s Groove’ are just two songs in an incredible back catalogue and hopefully they can recapture some of the energy of their live shows from the 1970s.

Fans of that era might also fancy Shuggie Otis at the Sugar Club on February 18, while Detroit hip-hop outfit Slum Village play there two nights later.

In Cork, the Opera House has Richard Hawley on February 25, followed by Christy Moore on February 26.

Next Saturday, On The Pig’s Back at St Patrick’s Woollen Mills in Douglas hosts its annual Valentine’s concert with folk group Greenshines.

MUSIC NEWS: If Guns N’ Roses can get back together, then perhaps there’s still hope for peace in the Middle East. Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan have added a gig in Mexico to their previously-announced performances in the US in April. If the old wounds don’t fester and burst open in the meantime, they could even make it to this side of the Atlantic for summer.

ELO have been confirmed for Glastonbury in what should be a match made in heaven. Finally, fair play to Damon Albarn, he has long been a champion of African music, and recently ignored the risk posed by Islamists to take part in the Festival Acoustik in the troubled country of Mali.

FILM TIPS: After rave reviews at Sundance. John Carney and his Sing Street will make a triumphant homecoming for the Irish premierie of the movie at theopening of the Dublin Film Festival on February 18. The film will go on general release in Ireland soon after, and its music-laden tale of 1980s Dublin looks like adding to what is emerging as a bit of golden period for Irish cinema.

Meanwhile, picture houses aren’t exactly blessed with new offerings this week, but there are still plenty quality offerings from the pre-Oscars glut of releases. The next biggie on the international calendar is the Berlinale, opening next Thursday. Irish interest includes John Michael McDonagh’s War On Everyone, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña.

At Triskel in Cork from tonight, the roster includes Irish-Australian production Strangerland, a film that stars Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes, and was co-written by Leeside resident Michael Kinirons; Ten Years in the Sun from Dublin-based experimental filmmaker Rouzbeh Rashidi will show on Thursday.