Highlight of the Week
Dublin Fringe Festival is on schedule for another dynamic celebration of art from Saturday, 7th of September to Sunday, 22nd of September. The event will be held at various places and will have different timings and prices as stated on fringegest.com. The festival has been celebrated since 1995 and continues to promote “artistic daring, high ambition and excellence across artistic disciplines” that captivate and inspire audiences. Essentially, the festival is a platform for a myriad of artists who prioritise innovation and exploration above all. The event will feature everything from theatre, comedy, circus and dance to cabaret, spoken word performances and nightclub events. One notable feature to look out for is Fermented Dreams, which will showcase singer Jess Kav at the Bewley’s Cafe Theatre from Monday, 9th of September through to Saturday, 14th September.
Concerts
Morgan Wallen will perform at the 3Arena, Dublin, on Saturday and Sunday, 7th and 8th of September at 6.30pm. Tickets are priced at €99.04 and can be purchased from ticketmaster.ie. Country music is inescapable these days, regardless if it’s Willie Nelson’s traditional country music, Shania Twain’s pop-country, Lucinda Williams’s alt-country or Gillian Welch’s unique style. The name Morgan Wallen can be added to this list. He has paid tribute to classic country music in the past decade with mainstream hit songs such as Whiskey Glasses, Chasin’ You, Thinkin’ Bout Me, You Proof and Last Night. His hometown newspaper, The Nashville Tennessean, acclaims: “There’s no stopping Morgan Wallen –one can only hope to keep up with him.”
The Jonas Brothers are scheduled to perform at the SSE Arena, Belfast on Monday, 9th of September, at 6.30pm. Tickets range from £80-£100. They will also be performing at the 3Arena, Dublin, on Tuesday, 10th of September at 6.30pm. Tickets are priced at €91/€80.45 and can be booked at ticketmaster.ie.
The Jonas Brothers, recognised since 2005 due to their extensive Disney Channel appearances, have evolved from a teen boy band singing Busted covers to mature adults presenting gentle pop/yacht rock about maturing, parenthood, and relationships. Kevin, Joe, and Nick are promoting their most recent album, The Album, from the previous year, and the dates have been rearranged from June to initiate the European portion of the band’s global tour.
Gilbert O’Sullivan is set to perform on September 10th and 11th at the Cork Opera House, and on September 14th and 15th at NCH, Dublin. Long gone are Gilbert O’Sullivan’s days in the Guilty Pleasures box, as numerous songs from the 1970s are widely acclaimed as pop masterpieces. Songs like Nothing Rhymed, We Will, Alone Again (Naturally), and Clair gained him a lot of fame, yet his recent albums (including 2018’s self-titled album and 2022’s Driven) deliver songs that rival those earlier hits. O’Sullivan will be performing a series of sold-out shows in his hometown of Waterford during November and December.
Arab Strap will take the stage on September 12th at Dolan’s, Limerick; on September 13th at Róisín Dubh, Galway; and on September 14th at Whelan’s, Dublin.
An artist’s perspective on life could potentially serve as the title for their music project as they mature. This is evident in Arab Strap’s contemporary album named I’m Totally Fine with It … Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore, which conveys a sense of accepting life’s challenges. Fans should anticipate more of such content in the upcoming performances featuring the backbone of the Scottish group – Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton, both tough men in their fifties, who skillfully imbue their art with what Uncut magazine has labelled as a mix of hardened contempt and self-aware, darkly comic introspection.
In the comedy world, Kyla Cobbler’s ascending career has been inspiring. This comedian from Co Cork, now based in Barcelona, is showing that changing career paths at a later stage can be possible. Cobbler has amassed a following of nearly 160,000 on Instagram throughout the pandemic, posting humorous videos. Now in her thirties, she is entertaining crowds in sizeable locations across Ireland, recently upgraded her Dublin venue to the just launched Ambassador Theatre. Catch her live while you can.
Similarly, for classical music lovers, a tribute concert to Mozart is scheduled for Thursday, September 12th, at the UCH in Limerick, with tickets ranging from €5-€30. Additionally, it will be hosted on Friday, the following day, at City Hall, Waterford, with ticket prices between €12.50-€25. More information can be found at the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s website.
In a tribute to Mozart spanning two days and two cities, the Irish Chamber Orchestra is set to perform a selection of pieces, led by Katherine Hunka, their principal conductor since 2002. The chosen performances include Divertimento K 136, penned by Mozart whilst in Salzburg in 1772, Schnittke’s 1977 composition, Moz-Art à la Haydn, featuring parts of Mozart’s Symphony in G minor KV 550 from 1788, and the Mozart-infused Serenade for Strings by Tchaikovsky.
The Solstice Arts Centre in Navan, County Meath, is hosting ‘Thresholds to the Unseen’, an art exhibition, from September 7th to November 1st. The exhibition will feature new and contemporary artworks from five local artists, Fiona Kerbey, Christopher McMullan, Joanne Reid, Katherine Sankey and Emily Waszak. These promising and established artists have already showcased their work both nationally and abroad.
The Civic Theatre in Tallaght, Dublin, presents an ongoing play entitled, ‘The Man Who Talks to Statues’. Running until Wednesday, September 11th, it tells the story of a voiceover artist and recording engineer, Darryl. Following a car accident, Darryl begins to have mystic interactions with statues of late celebrities and historic figures. Notably, this one-man show is written and performed by the Cork-based actor, Shane Casey.
In the coming weeks, several noteworthy events include the play ‘Lady Gregory in America’ at the National Opera House in Wexford from October 20th to 30th, a Nas concert at the 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin on November 13th, followed by Blossoms at The Academy in Dublin on November 16th. Looking further ahead, Oasis has scheduled performances at Croke Park, Dublin, on August 16th and 17th, 2025.