RIOT-GRRRLL
Sleater-Kinney
Vicar St, Dublin 7.30pm €30
vicarstreet.ie
One of America’s best ever rock bands playing in Dublin? Hands up how many people have been waiting for this gig for years? It certainly isn’t before time, as following their break-up in 2005, Sleater- Kinney’s (right) reputation and influence only continued to increase until they reformed in 2014. That breath you’ve been holding in for years? You can let it go now.
ALT.COUNTRY
The Handsome Family
Dolan's Warehouse, Limerick 8pm €15
dolans.ie
Brett and Rennie Sparks return once again to tour around Ireland, the country that best understands their tales of spooky backwoods goings-on. Yes, we like 'em, we do, and after years of touring around these parts it's good to know that Mr and Mrs Sparks are gaining a commercial foothold in the US due to their musical involvement in the hit TV show True Detective.
ART
WET
Hive Waterford Until Apr 2
hiveemerging.com
Hive Emerging, an artist-run studio and gallery project in Waterford, has built a track record of consistent, lively enterprise with the emphasis on group rather than individual events. WET is a show of works made in the past year by Jane Rainey, Julie Brazil, Damien O Reilly, Aileen Conroy, Pascal Ungerer and more.
PICK OF THE WEEK
Beka Gochiashvili
The Ticket doesn’t usually set much store by the utterances of US secretaries of state – and certainly not on the subject of music – but classically trained pianist Condoleeza Rice has performed with Aretha Franklin so we’re prepared to concede that she may know her arts from her elbow. On a visit to Tiblisi in 2008, a 12-year-old Georgian boy played piano for her at an embassy reception and she declared him “one of the best jazz pianists I’ve heard anywhere”. Indeed, she was sufficiently impressed to sponsor his entry to the US and get him a place at the Julliard School of Music.
Beka Gochiashvili was playing Scott Joplin by ear at the age of two, was a Keith Jarrett fan at four and, by the age of 10, was performing in jazz clubs around Tiblisi. Now at the advanced age of 19, he is the toast of the US jazz scene, endorsed by a roll-call of heavyweight musicians, including his hero Chick Corea, with a maturity beyond his years and the sort of chops that make other piano players want to slam their keyboards shut.
His first visit to Ireland will probably not be his last, but this short tour is a chance to witness the emergence of a major new star of the piano, up close and personal.
Gochiashvili plays Dolans Warehouse, Limerick, on March 25th; the Radisson Hotel, Galway, March 26th; and St Ann’s Church, Dublin, on March 27th.
