Black Box, Belfast Friday Tonight 8pm £12/£10 048-90246609; Whelan’s, Dublin Sun 8.30pm 14 01-4780766/1890-200078

Englishman Luke Haines had a brush with fame in the early and mid-1990s, as the leader of such bands as The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder, but it didn’t suit him, and so here he is now, a middle-aged maverick who has settled into a most suitable groove of resolute determination, against-the-odds hubris, and a knack for fashioning music that sells in dribs and drabs but which is usually admired for its integrity and individualism.

A career writing pop songs for Olly Murs seems unlikely, as the ever-contrary Haines steers his own boat with the aid of a singular paddle. (His website profile is in the form of an obituary: “He died . . . due to complications from the untreatable ailments brought about by his flirtations with sincere boredom.”)

For these two shows, Haines will perform old and new material from his multi- faceted career, as well as reading from his best-selling memoirs, Bad Vibesand Post Everything.

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