TAKE A TRIP BACK TO THE 1980S AT THE INEC

COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CRACKER IN CHARLEVILLE

SOME of the biggest names in the Irish country music industry will come together on one stage for a ‘Christmas Cracker’ of a concert next Wednesday evening at the Charleville Park Hotel.

A must for country music fans, the evening will incorporate performances by six superstars of the genre: Declan Nerney, Roly Daniels, Louise Morrissey, Ray Lynam, Patrick O’Sullivan and Kathy Durkin.

They will be supported on the night by the The Celtic Storm Band under the watchful rye of compère Mossie Richardson.

The evening will be a veritable ‘greatest hits’ concert, featuring many well-known and loved songs made famous by the artists.

Tickets for what promises to be a magical night of song and craic cost €26.60 from www. charlevilleparkhotel.com.

MARC O’REILLY AND BAND AT COUGHLAN’S LIVE

IRISH folk/blues troubadour Marc O’Reilly will play a full band show at Coughlan’s Live on Douglas Street next Thursday evening (December 12).

While his roots may lie in Waterford and France, O’Reilly’s sound rests somewhere between the American-influenced folk blues of Peter Green and contemporary acts such as Ray LaMontagne and Gomez.

He has enjoyed international success with his track ‘Bleed’ streamed more than 1.5 million times on Spotify and featured on the soundtrack to the movie ‘Whatever Happens’.

O’Reilly has released four studio albums, the most recent ‘L’etre Politique’ addresses human interactions through themes of capitalism, war and globalisation, offering an introspective look on universal issues – political beings, being political and the politics of being.

Tickets at €10 are available from www. coughlans.ie.

NEIL YOUNG TRIBUTE ACT HARVEST AT THE LANE

FOR more than a decade, tribute band Harvest has been engaging audiences across Ireland with their pitch-perfect renditions of songs from Neil Young’s extensive back catalogue.

The eight-strong band, which recently performed a sold-out concert performing Young’s seminal album ‘Harvest’ at Dublin’s Vicar Street, will play Cork’s Crane Lane Theatre on Saturday evening.

Firm favourites on the Irish festival scene, the band’s Cork performance will see them trawl through Young’s acclaimed albums including ‘Harvest’, ‘After The Gold Rush’, ‘Freedom’ and ‘Harvest Moon’.

Fans can expect to hear classic tracks from throughout Neil Young’s career, including powerful versions of ‘Down By the River’, ‘Cinnamon Girl’ and ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ alongside choice acoustic numbers such as ‘Heart of Gold’, ‘Old Man’, ‘Helpless’ and ‘ After The Gold Rush’.

Tickets at €15 are available from www. eventbrite.ie.

THE MARY WALLOPERS LINED UP FOR DE BARRA’S

DESCRIBED as being “like the Clancy Brothers meeting Johnny Rotten” the rolling ball of energy that is the The Mary Wallopers will return to De Barra’s Folk Club in Clonakilty on Friday at 9.30pm.

The folk group from Dundalk breath new life into both well-known and rare ballads.

Travelling the length and breadth of the country singing and collecting songs, they exude a raw energy that could be described as the Clancy Brothers meeting John Lydon. If you like the idea of Johnny Rotten in an Aran sweater and The Clancy Brothers with safety pins in their noses, then the raw, folk-punk stylings of Dundalk’s Mary Wallopers play your kind of music.

As the band say themselves, “We play ballads till our heads hurt – and then we go at it again.”

Tickets at €10 (plus bookings fee) are available from www.tickets.ie.

STAR LINE-UP FOR LORD MAYOR’S FESTIVE BASH

THE annual Lord Mayor’s Christmas Concert will be held on Saturday at 8pm in the main auditorium at Cork City Hall.

Now in its 58th year, the concert is a major fundraising event, with proceeds donated to various Cork charities to help the valuable work they undertake within local communities during the course of the year.

As in previous years, the concert will feature an impressive line-up of Cork talent including the Cork Concert Orchestra under conductor Roddy O’Keeffe, soprano Emma Nash, tenor Ryan Morgan and concert pianist David Syme.

Other acts set to take to the stage of the venue on the night will Cantairí Mhuscraí, Studio Wolfe and the 2019 over-60’s talent competition winner Mary Nora O’Riordan.

Tickets for the concert, priced at €20 & €30 (plus booking fee) are available from www. everymancork.com.

IMPROVISED PANTO BACK AT THE OPERA HOUSE

NOW an annual tradition, the Improvised Panto has made a welcome return to the Cork Opera House and will run for six nights at the venue between now and Christmas.

Now in its record-breaking ninth year, audiences choose a different panto every night and it’s all improvised – made up on the spot with nothing prepared or scripted.

Audiences can expect a night packed with laughter, fun, made-up hilarity, on-the-spot songs, dancing, and fantastic dialogue.

It features talented improvisers, actors and comedians including Young Offenders star Dominic MacHale, the hilarious Bernard Casey (aka the Local Gossip) and Laura O’Mahony from CCCahoots.

Expect the unexpected, the hilarious and the outrageous – it’s a whole new world of Panto where anything is possible.

For show dates and tickets details visit www. corkoperahouse.ie.

NIGHT OF RED HOT GUITAR VIBES AT CHARLIE’S

RENOWNED Cork-based blues band Hot Guitars will play a free gig amid the intimate surroundings of Charlie’s on Cork’s Union Quay at 10.20pm on Saturday.

The five-piece band regularly performs at venues and festivals across the Munster area, playing covers of tracks by an eclectic mix of artist including The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Dylan, Clapton, Chuck Berry and Wilson Pickett.

Fronted by Joe O’Callaghan, who is also an accomplished harmonica, saxophone and keyboard player, the group also includes virtuoso guitarists Tom Stephens and Tony Burke; bassist Peter Brennann who has played with various different Cork band since the early 1970s; and John Quirke on drums.

The band has been a staple of the vibrant Cork music scene for two decades, a timeframe which has included playing the Guinness Jazz Festival for 12 straight years.

FICINO ENSEMBLE AT THE TRISKEL ARTS CENTRE

THE penultimate concert of the Triskel Christchurch Arts Centre’s 2019 Spotlight Chamber Music Series will take place at the Cork City Venue this coming Saturday at 1.10pm.

The recital will be performed by the Ficino Ensemble, which was formed by artistic director Nathan Sherman in 2012 as a flexible group aiming to perform popular chamber music alongside lesser-known works that deserve to be appreciated.

Comprised of Elaine Clark (violin), Lynda O’Connor (violin), Nathan Sherman (violin) and Ailbhe McDonagh (cello), the quartet will open the programme with Haydn’s String Quartet in D major (Op. 76 No. 5)

Donnacha Dennehy’s rhythmically entertaining ‘Stamp’ will provide an interlude before a major and rarely heard British masterpiece from 1946, William Walton’s second string quartet, written just two years after his celebrated score for Laurence Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s Henry V.

Admission to the performance will be €14/€13.

MUSIC fans of a certain vintage will be able to take trip down musical memory lane this weekend when the forever young Winterfest arrives at the INEC in Killarney.

Across Friday and Saturday some of the biggest names from the decade will take to the stage at the venue, performing their greatest hits from album tracks.

Organisers have invited people to dust down their leg warmers, shoulder pads, double denim and scrunchies and party like it’s 1985 to an unmistakeable retro soundtrack of synths and drum machines.

Artists in the line-up for the weekend include ‘80s icons Howard Jones, Tony Hadley, Nik Kershaw, Go West, Nick Heyward, Altered Images, The Christians, Andrew Strong (Commitments), Dr and the Medics, with proceeds from the event going to the ISPCA.

Day tickets at priced at €75 (Friday) and €95 (Saturday), and weekend passes are available at €145 from www.inec.ie.

BEE GEES TRIBUTE ACT AT BALLYMALOE VENUE

THE Bee Gees tribute show ‘Nights on Broadway’ will bring the music of the Gibb brothers to the stage of the Ballymaloe Grainstore in Shanagarry tonight (Thursday).

During their long and prolific career the Bee Gees sold more than 120million albums with massive hits such as ‘You Should Be Dancing’, ‘Night Fever’, ‘Stayin’ Alive’, ‘ Tragedy, Jive Talkin’, ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, ‘Massachusetts’, ‘ Too Much Heaven’ and ‘I’ve Got To Get A Message To You’.

Having originated and sold out theatres in Ireland, ‘ Nights on Broadway’ now tours to the UK, Europe and Dubai.

It will have you boogying to the Bee Gees huge catalogue of hits over four decades, with a totally live concert experience which prides itself on musical and vocal authenticity.

The costume changes complement the show to give audiences a truly original feeling.

Tickets from www.eventbrite.ie are priced at €25 (plus booking fee).