Dancing with the Stars
ONES TO WATCH
RTÉ One, January 8 On Ireland’s version of Strictly Come Dancing, we know who the hosts are – Nicky Byrne and Amanda Byram. And we know who the dancers will be – actor Denise McCormack and RTÉ News reporter Teresa Mannion, right, sports broadcaster Des Cahill and fat fighter Dr Eva Orsmond, to name just a few. It only remains to see who’s got rhythm and who can pull off the sparkly costumes.
24. David Bowie Festival
To mark the anniversary of David Bowie’s passing and the great man’s birthday, the Dublin Bowie Festival will take place across a number of venues in Dublin, from January 5-10. Highlights include an evening in the Sugar Club on January 5, with Dublin playwright Enda Walsh who collaborated with Bowie on the hit Broadway show Lazarus. As well as that there a number of Bowie themed DJ nights and tribute gigs. Let’s hope the Starman is looking down.
25. Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne et al come to the 3Arena on January 20 as part of their farewell tour. Can you really pass up the chance to hear Paranoid, Iron Man and War Pigs live for the last time? Of course you can’t.
26. Jack L
Jack L is out of the blocks early in 2017 with his Magic Days album on January 27. The Co. Kildare singer has been doing the rounds for 25 years and is a master of his craft.
27. Fang club
The best new Irish band of 2016 was Fang club. Their riffs recall the best of Therapy? Pixies and Weezer. The Dublin trio are already making waves in Britain and the US. Check them out in Whelan’s, Dublin, on February 4.
28. The Gloaming
This supergroup have proved over their two brilliant albums just how vibrant and exciting Irish traditional music can be. Demand for their initial shows in Dublin’s National Concert Hall could not be quenched – they will be playing a staggering seven shows there: March 6, 7,8, 11, 12, 13 and 14.
29 Imelda May
The Liberties Belle is back with a new album, new attitude and new haircut. Life, Love, Flesh And Blood is ours for the taking on March 31. The album marks a move away from the rockabilly sound to one that reveals her talents as a torch singer. May also plays two gigs in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, later in the year on May 29 and 30.
30. The Jesus And Mary Chain
The Scottish indie legends will release Damage And Joy on March 24, their first album since Munki in 1999. The chances of them making another album ever again were thought to be slim. They’re also coming to entertain us. The final date of their Irish and British tour will be in The Academy, Dublin, on April 7.
31. Guns’ n ’Roses
The mighty Guns’ n’ Roses return to Slane Castle on May 27 – it’s 25 years
to the month since they last rocked the Co. Meath venue. Reports of their comeback gigs have been almost universally positive. However, we know how mercurial Axl Rose can be – so let’s hope that he, Slash and Duff can stay friends or at least keep on trucking, until then. Put them on separate planes – who cares, just get them to the castle.
32. Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams has a special place in Irish hearts and under the ancestry rule he could even tog out for the Irish football team – his grandfather came from Co. Kilkenny. However, he won’t be playing at Croke Park this year – instead he’ll be upping the tempo at the Aviva Stadium. On June 7, Williams will touch down as part of his Heavy Entertainment Show tour to try to put us in the palm of his hand as he has done so often before.
33. Radiohead
Radiohead could also easily have played a stadium show here and comfortably sold it out, so the fact that they are playing the 3Arena means it will be a relatively intimate evening. A Moon Shaped Pool was the Irish Mail on Sunday’s album of the year, so between that and their back catalogue of more than 25 years’ work, the concert on June 20 should be special.
34. Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber plays his biggest ever show here in the RDS on June 21. Pop fans won’t want to miss this and if you can manage to get your hands on tickets, do so. What do you mean? Of course, you want to go!
35. Green Day
Green Day have had their ups and downs over the past few years but Revolution Radio was a genuine return to form; one of the MoS albums of the year, no less. The Californian punk trio come to the hallowed grounds of Imma in Kilmainham on June 29. Green Day don’t do bad gigs and this one should be a real banger.
36. Gavin James
Gavin James is the last word in affability. A true gentle giant with the voice of an angel. He has worked as hard as anyone you could mention to get to the stage where he could comfortably sell out the 3Arena. He is south-bound on July 7, for a gig in the Marquee in Cork. Don’t miss it.
37. The Indiependence Festival
The Indiependence Festival in the lovely surroundings of Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, already has early bird tickets on sale. Manic Street Preachers and The Coronas will be among the headline acts for the festival, which takes place from August 4 through to August 6.
38. Electric Picnic 2017
Auld Lang Syne is still reverberating in our ears – but the Electric Picnic has already sold out some of its packages. The annual arts and music festival runs this year between September 1 and 3. There’s no word of any acts yet but you can bet there will be a legendary one, then there will be one that probably seems unworthy of headline status but has had two best-selling albums and, finally, two blokes with computers and a great lighting show.
39. JIMMY’S HALL
The Abbey/Nationwide July/August Based on the Ken Loach/ Paul Laverty film about an actual event, Jimmy’s Hall is to premiere in Jimmy’s home county of Leitrim. Jimmy Gralton, an Irish citizen, was deported from Ireland in 1933 on a technicality, for political and cultural activities that didn’t meet with official approval, including setting up a dance hall where people were having too much fun.
40. Ballyturk
The Abbey March 3-11 This Enda Walsh play is very funny and makes great demands on the actors – but even more so on the audience trying to unravel what it’s all about.
41. The Train
The Abbey April 7-15 The musical about the 1974 contraceptive train is witty and tuneful but the 2014 production was too long and preachy – so hopefully this revival will be better.
42. Katie Roche
The Abbey August 26-September 23 This Teresa Deevy play premiered at The Abbey in 1936 and was last performed there in 1994. The illegitimate Katie, young and impulsive, rushes into marriage with a man twice her age. An early reviewer described her as ‘near to insanity … subject to religious mania’.
43. Room
The Abbey June 23-July 22 Adapted by Emma Donoghue from the prize-winning book and film, this play is inspired by the Joseph Fritzl case in Austria. A woman has been locked inside a room by her captor for seven years, along with her son who was born in the room and has never been outside. But the time has come to escape…
44. Autumn Royal
The Everyman, Cork January 25-February 4 This will be the world premiere of Kevin Barry’s first play. It’s a dark comedy set in Cork and showcasing all those favourite family emotions: love, hate and rage, all the way to homicidal notions. Barry has already written two impressive novels,
City Of Bohane and Beatlebone.
45. Futureproof
The Everyman, Cork From June 14 This play from Cork writer Lynda Radley is about a circus sideshow troupe struggling to attract crowds who are only interested in the latest novelty.
46. Angela’s Ashes
July 18-29, Bord Gáis Theatre The Bord Gáis Theatre has become a magnet for big touring musicals. But it has one homegrown one lined up that should certainly rouse some interest – Angela’s Ashes, an ambitious musical based on the Frank McCourt bestseller, with music by Adam Howell. It’s billed as a world premiere, but it had a short run in Limerick last year.
47. Sleepless
May 2-13, Bord Gáis Theatre Based on the film Sleepless In
Seattle, this musical marks another world premiere for the theatre.
48. Miss Saigon
October 4 -November 18, Bord Gáis Theatre Big audiences are expected for the production of this multiaward-winning classic.
49. La Cage Aux Folles
January 10-14, Bord Gáis Theatre This lavish production opens in the new year. The comedy musical follows what happens when the son of a gay man who runs a Parisian gay club wants to marry the daughter of a strongly traditional morality campaigner.
50. Not Dead Enough
April 18-22, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre The theatre continues its murder-mystery sequence with television presenter Laura Whitmore starring in Not
Dead Enough, an adaptation of a novel by the hugely successful writer Peter James.