Event of the week
Joanne McNally
Wednesday and Thursday, November 12th and 13th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €53.90/€47.15 (sold out); Friday, November 14th, and Saturday, November 15th, INEC, Killarney, Co Kerry, 7.30pm, €53.90/€47.15 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
The best of luck to you if you haven’t already nabbed a ticket to one of Joanne McNally’s shows this year. She follows her immensely successful Prosecco Express stand-up tour with Pinotphile, an even greater success not only in terms of audience numbers but also in the audacious honesty of her material, which focuses on singledom, ageing, stereotyping and (according to a review of a recent Glasgow show) “the low quality of men she attracts”. McNally’s tour of Ireland continues throughout November and into December (4th-6th, TF Royal, Castlebar, Co Mayo), and then into 2026 with more, mostly sold-out shows at the 3Olympia in January, February and March.
Gigs
Butler, Blake & Grant
Tuesday, November 11th, Set Theatre, Kilkenny, 8pm, €35; Wednesday, November 12th, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, 7pm, €36.15; Friday, November 14th, Ambassador Theatre, Dublin, 7pm, €49.20/€33.65, ticketmaster.ie
Fans of smartly written pop-rock should flock to these in-the-round shows, especially when they see the (law-firm-leaning) names attached to them. The best known are Bernard Butler, former guitarist with Suede (and more recently collaborator with the Irish actor and singer Jessie Buckley, on the Mercury-nominated album For All Our Days that Tear the Heart), and Norman Blake, a pivotal member of the pre-eminent Scottish guitar-pop group Teenage Fanclub. Love and Money’s James Grant is also no slouch when it comes to writing memorable tunes. Expect songs from the musicians’ respective back catalogues, astute collaborations and a warm, cosy afterglow as you make your way home.
English Teacher
Saturday, November 8th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 7pm, €34.15/€28.50, ticketmaster.ie
The Leeds-based band English Teacher have been busy since their debut album, This Could Be Texas, won the 2024 Mercury Prize. Reviews of the album praised its originality, character and “fresh approach to the traditional guitar-band format”. Media coverage also noted that the band’s win ended a nine-year streak of London-based acts nabbing the music prize (although this was further eased by this year’s win, by the North Shields singer Sam Fender). Whatever about the north-south divide, fans of pop, rock, ballads and classical piano rolled into artful earworms will have a blast.
The Offspring
Wednesday, November 12th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6pm, €61.85/€56.35, ticketmaster.ie
Forty years after they formed in Garden Grove, California, The Offspring remain a remarkably successful punk-pop band not only because they have refused to bow out but also because they have continued to give the fans what they want: familiar and fast-paced punk-rock with built-in melodies and bouncy choruses. Interesting fact: lead singer Dexter Holland holds a PhD in molecular biology.
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The Last Dinner Party
Friday, November 14th, 3Arena, Dublin, 7pm, €61.85/€56.35, ticketmaster.ie
“Art-rock bombast” is what Rolling Stone screamed of The Last Dinner Party, one of the most acclaimed bands to have emerged from the UK in the past five years, with music that has cleverly absorbed the 1970s back catalogues of Roxy Music, David Bowie, Sparks and Kate Bush, as well as 1970s-adjacent contemporaneous acts such as St Vincent and Chappell Roan. The band’s latest album, From the Pyre, is a shoo-in for albums-of-2025 lists. Think baroque rock, glam pop and dizzying, dramatic tunes delivered with panache.
Literature
Imram 2025
From Saturday, November 8th, until Sunday, November 23rd, various venues, times and prices, imram.ie
Promising a “voyage of discovery” into the landscape of Irish-language literature, Imram 2025 opens on Saturday, November 8th (Imma, Dublin, 2.30pm, free, booking required), with Ailceimic an Aistritheora, a round-table discussion about literary translation with the translator Antain Mac Lochlainn and Máirín Nic Con Iomaire, director of translation programmes in the school of Celtic studies at Maynooth University. Other events include Bard na Páirce (Friday, November 21st, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €15), which celebrates the life and work of the sports commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh through commissioned poetry and prose from Alan Titley, Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh and Colm Mac Gearailt, as well as commissioned music from Colm Ó Snodaigh and Brian Hogan.
Classical/world
Three Worlds
Thursday, November 13th, Whyte Recital Hall, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, 7.30pm, €30/€25/€10, riam.ie; Friday, November 14th, UCH, Limerick, 7.30pm, €30/€25/€10, uch.ie; Saturday, November 15, MTU Cork School of Music, 7.30pm, €20/€15/€10, csm.mtu.ie
Across three evenings, the Irish Chamber Orchestra presents a fascinating programme featuring Purcell’s elegant 17th-century Abdelazer Suite and Dvorak’s jubilant 19th-century orchestral work Serenade. A magnet for lovers of Indian music is the world premiere of Ronan Guilfoyle’s Mani (Concerto for Percussion), a pulsating tribute to the south Indian percussionist and composer TAS Mani.
Stage
The Kiss
From Monday, November 10th, until Saturday, November 29th, Bewley’s Theatre, Dublin, 1pm (not Sundays), €15/€12/€10, bewleyscafetheatre.com
In a corner of a once-popular Dublin pub, taxi driver Eddie (Luke Griffin) begins a monologue that draws the listener in with a forlorn tale of how a hopeful life can change in a minute. A decade after its debut, in the year of the marriage-equality referendum, Jimmy Murphy’s lyrical, regretful and humorous play reflects the society we (still) live in. Lee Coffey directs.
Still running
West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival
From Friday, November 14th, until Sunday, November 16th, Manor House, Tulfarris, Co Wicklow, various times, €35, westwicklowfestival.com
Three days and nights of classical music features Mozart’s G Minor Piano Quartet, Mahler’s Quartet in A Minor, Garth Knox’s Fuga Libre for solo viola, Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne and Brahms’s 3rd Sonata in D Minor. Performers include the pianist Fiachra Garvey, the violinist Rosanne Philippens, the harpist Catrin Finch, the violist Fiachra de hOra and the mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan.
Book it this week
Emmylou Harris, 3Arena, Dublin, January 18th, ticketmaster.ie
Paul Weller, Fairview Park, Dublin, June 28th, ticketmaster.ie
Tom Grennan, Live at the Marquee, Cork, July 9th, ticketmaster.ie
Bon Jovi, Croke Park, Dublin, August 30th, ticketmaster.ie
