PERFECT 10
HERE’S OUR TOP TEN THINGS TO DO IN CORK THIS WEEK
FIRST LADY OF IRISH BLUES AT FIRST FRUITS
LEGENDARY Irish jazz and blues legend Mary Coughlan will bring her sassy and uncompromising live show to the First Fruits Arts Centre inn Watergrasshill on Saturday night.
Throughout the more than 25-years of her extraordinary career, Coughlan has drawn heavily from her legendary heroes combining Billie Holiday’s grievous and teary outpourings, the husky flirtations of Peggy Lee, Van Morrison’s soulful wails and the defiant chanteusery of Edith Piaf into one stunning package.
Coughlan’s naked honesty and unmistakable voice have earned her the respect of the music critics and fans alike, with her live performances the stuff of legend.
Tickets for the gig from www.firstfruitsartscentre.ie priced at €20.
CANADA’S ‘JIMI HENDRIX’ TO PLAY BUTTEVANT GIG
THE man dubbed ‘ the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar, multi-award winning Canadian guitarist Dona Alder, will play a gig in the Mercy Centre in Buttevant tonight (Thursday) at 8.30pm.
Alder’s finger picking style, combined with his soulful voice and heartfelt lyrics, have earned him a burgeoning reputation as one of the finest exponents of his craft in the world.
Regarded as a rising superstar by music industry insiders, Alder has thrilled audiences across Canada and Europe and a night in his company is something that all true music fans will not want to miss.
Admission at the door.
SINGING CLERIC FR RAY TO PLAY CORK OPERA HOUSE
SINGING cleric Fr Ray Kelly and friends will take to the stage of the Cork Opera House next Monday night for an evening of inspirational song and chat.
In 2014 Fr Kelly became an unlikely internet sensation after a video of him singing the Leonard Cohen classic ‘Hallelujah, when viral on YouTube.
Since then the video has been viewed more than 50 million times, leading to Fr Kelly being awarded a contract by Universal Music and recording and releasing two best-selling albums.
Tickets for ‘Hallelujah – An Evening with FR Ray Kelly & His Musicians’ from Cork Opera House on 021 427 0022 priced at €21/€26 and €31.
MUNDY ON FRIDAY AT THE WHITE HORSE IN B/COLLIG
ONE of Ireland’s finest contemporary singer/songwriters, Mundy, will play the White Horse Folk Club in Ballincollig on Friday night.
The Offaly native, who cut his teeth busking on the streets of the capital, released his debut album ‘Jellylegs’ to widespread critical acclaim in 1996.
Over the past two-decades he has gone on to release a further seven studio and live albums and cement his reputation as one of the country’s most exciting live performers.
His fame has spread beyond these shores, with Mundy selling out gigs in the US and across Europe as well as performing twice for President Obama.
Tickets for the gig from www.eventbrite.ie priced at €18.68.
LISA O’NEILL SLOW AND EASY AT COUGHLAN’S
CAVAN singer/songwriter Lisa O’Neill will play a gig amid the intimate surroundings of Coughlan’s Live, Douglas Street on Friday night.
Last April O’Neill released her third studio album ‘Pothole in the Sky’, a musical tour-de-force showcasing her rich voice, sublime harmonies and wry lyrics that rely heavily on intricate word play.
At the time the record was widely touted as being one of the Irish records of the year and over the intervening months very few new albums have been released to challenge that.
O’Neill’s Cork gig will be a break from her 52-date European tour with The Divine comedy.
Tickets from www.coughlans.ie priced at €18.
TRISKEL TO HOST HANDEL’S ‘MESSIAH’.
YOU know that Christmas is not too far away when the Irish Baroque Orchestra make their annual pilgrimage to the Triskel Christchurch in Cork for a performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’.
The Orchestra will be joined next Thursday night by the Resurgam Choir and soloists Katherine Crompton (soprano), Raphaela Mangan (mezzo-soprano), Owen Gilhooly) and Tristan Hambleton (bass-baritone) for the thrilling performance of Handel’s glorious masterpiece.
Messiah shows Handel at the height of his powers, with its great vocal numbers telling the story of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection.
Tickets for the concert, which will commence at 7pm, are available from the venue on 021 427 2022 priced at €20/€25.
JAMES OR TO TOP-OFF A FINE YEAR AT CYPRUS AVE
IRISH singer/songwriter James Or will top-off what has been a breakthrough year for him with a gig at Cork’s Cyprus Avenue tonight (Thursday) at 8pm, with support by Emma Langford.
Following the launch of his debut EP ‘Cold Open’, Or went on to play the Indiependence Music Festival, headline a show at Whelan’s in Dublin and perform alongside artists including Paddy Casey and Jack O’Rourke.
He also found time to return to the studio with producer Christian Best (Mick Flannery) to record the single ‘Berlin’, which is due for release in January.
Admission to the gig will be €5 at the door, which will include a download code for the new single.
NO FORCE ON EARTH LIKE DAMIEN DEMPSEY
ONE of Ireland’s finest contemporary singer/songwriters, Damien Dempsey, will bring his ‘No Force on Earth Tour’ to Killarney’s INEC Acoustic Club on Friday night.
The tour follows the release of Dempsey’s latest album of the same name, a celebration and commemoration of the Easter 1916 uprising.
The album is a lyrical masterpiece, with Dempsey penning new tracks and rewriting some classic covers of the period to create a musical masterpiece that encapsulates the atmosphere of this seminal period in Irish history.
The gig will offer fans a chance to hear tracks from the album performed live alongside songs from his impressive back catalogue.
Tickets from the INEC box office on 064 667 1555 priced at €22.90.
A SHORTT SHOW ABOUT THINGS IN MACROOM
THE irrepressible Pat Shortt will make a welcome return to Macroom on Friday night when he brings his hilarious new ‘How’s Things’ show to the Riverside Park Hotel.
During a night of music and mayhem, Shortt will explore a whole manner of “big and little tings”, some personal and some not so personal, some international and others that in his own words “only affect the parish”.
The show, the follow-on to the hugely successful ‘Selfie’, sees Shortt once again in fine form as he pokes fun and all aspects of Irish life from the sublime to the downright ridiculous.
Tickets, priced at €28 from the Briery Gap box office on 026 41917.
ATLANTIC SONGBOOK SESSIONS DOWN THE LANE
THE Crane Lane Theatre’s ‘Atlantic Songbook Sessions’ series will continue this week with no less than four free late-nights gigs over the coming days.
Tonight (Thursday) indie/jazz band Tanya Louise and the Jam Masters will play the venue, with Cork singer Hank Wedel set to perform tracks from his 30-year career on Sunday evening.
Popular Cork singer Tony Milner will play an acoustic set of covers and original songs on Monday night, with Wexford based, Cork-born singer set to showcase tracks from her eagerly awaited second album, which is due out early next year, on Wednesday night.
The series of gigs offers music lovers a welcome opportunity to sample music by an eclectic mix of established and upcoming Irish artists.