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Event guide: The Weir, Kilkenny Arts Festival and other best things to do in Ireland this week

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Aug 2

My weekly mix of arts-related events in this weekend's @IrishTimes.com Ticket magazine.

Go to:

#TheWeir @3olympiatheatre
@PierceTurner @wexfordarts
#WeveOnlyJustBegun @whelanslive
#HowthRootsAndBlues
@MIKPYRO
@KilkennyArts
#ArtandSoul @cullodenestate

www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025...

August 2nd-8th, 2025: The best movies, music, art and more coming your way this week

The Music Quiz: The Undertones’ Top Twenty features lines from which T Rex hit?

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Jul 30

You want a music quiz for your coffee break?

You got it...

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Plus: The Bear includes which former member of hip-hop collective Odd Future?

The best new Irish music releases | The Irish Post

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Jun 12

My monthly Irish-only album reviews in The Irish Post - take a bow and a curtsy.

Share widely - support Irish music!

Ciara Lawless
Stiff Little Fingers
Matthew Devereaux
Rob De Boer
Moncrieff

www.irishpost.com/entertainmen...

‘GRAB it, take it, it’s yours…’ So goes one of the lines in Alternative Ulster, a song released ...

www.irishpost.com

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Jun 12

30 years gone from tomorrow - here's one example of how brilliant a pinpoint guitarist @rorygallagher.com was.

It's a genuinely incomparable piece of rock music - Blister On the Moon.

open.spotify.com/track/6fGTwr...

Blister On The Moon

Taste · Taste · Song · 1969

The Music Quiz: Where are the brackets placed in this U2 song title?

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Jun 11

Music Quiz time - take a break, take a goddam Kit-Kat...

(@Irishtimes.com)

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Plus: From which song on Lou Reed’s 1973 album, Berlin, did Mike Scott choose the name of his band?

The Music Quiz: What is Sam Smith’s middle name?

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Jun 4

Test your music knowledge with this week's Music Quiz!

Go on - dare ya.

(@Irishtimes.com)

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Plus: Special Pride edition including questions on Elton John’s tattoo and kd lang’s tribute band

The Swell Season in Dublin review: Not a dry eye on the balcony for Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Jun 1

My review of The Swell Season (featuring Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) is now online @IrishTimes.com

From teary ballads to guitar shredding - and many things in-between...

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Show was a means for Hansard and Irglová to remember old times and reclaim lost ground

Photographer John Minihan: ‘I’ve seen a lot of heartache in my life but I’ve never been unhappy’

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 31

A genuine treat to chat with world-famous Irish photographer John Minihan...

www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

The veteran photographer captured Samuel Beckett in Paris and London as well as the then Lady Diana Spencer in 1980

Shirley Manson of Garbage: ‘I was shuffling about on a Zimmer frame. I was absolutely stripped of any pride’

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 26

Had a chat with Shirley Manson, the lead singer and potent frontwoman of rock band, Garbage - online right now @Irishtimes.com

Three words: Take. No. Prisoners.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Three years of intense physical pain shaped the way the singer saw the band’s new album – and then made her carve out a new perspective on life

Gerr Walsh · Single · 2025 · 1 songs

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 23

New song by @gerrwalsh.bsky.social

Confident, punchy pop/rock with a rigid melody spine from top to bottom.

open.spotify.com/album/38IygK...

Golden Wings

Things Too Long Left Unsaid

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 23

If there's one album (less than 40 minutes!) you really need to listen to this weekend, then it's this one - the new arrival from Vinny Peculiar…

A career highlight, no more, no less...

open.spotify.com/album/3bRGr0...

Vinny Peculiar · Album · 2025 · 10 songs

The Music Quiz: Uptown Funk namechecks which popular actor in the first verse?

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 21

Music Quiz @irishtimes.com - take five (at the very least).

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Plus: Who made Grammy Awards history by actually refusing a gong?

New Irish albums reviewed and rated: The Would-Be’s, Varo, Curtisy and Pete Holidai

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 20

Is @irishtimes.com the only national newspaper to carry a monthly Irish-only album reviews column?

Yep...

(Subscription required.)

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

May 2025 releases include HindZeitgeist, The World That I Knew, Beauty in the Beast and Electric Jukebox Volume One

New Irish albums reviewed and rated: The Would-Be’s, Varo, Curtisy and Pete Holidai

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 19

The Irish Albums Review column for May has just arrived via @Irishtimes.com

The Would Be’s
Varo
Curtisy
Pete Holidai

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

May 2025 releases include HindZeitgeist, The World That I Knew, Beauty in the Beast and Electric Jukebox Volume One

The Music Quiz: How many Grammy Awards has Beyoncé won to date?

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 14

How many??!?

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Plus: What time did The Monkees board the Last Train to Clarkesville?

Jake Burns of Stiff Little Fingers: ‘I still get angry about stuff, and writing songs is my release valve’

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 13

Chatted with Jake Burns of Belfast's durable punk band Stiff Little Fingers. He's in good form...

(Via @IrishTimes.com subscriber only.)

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Northern Ireland’s most durable rockers are releasing a singles collection featuring their best-known punk anthems

Fia Moon · Single · 2025 · 1 songs

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 9

New song from Fia Moon - her casually delivered melody lines never fail to hit the mark.

Why aren't her songs played regularly on Irish radio?

open.spotify.com/album/7jM0bN...

Like I Should Do

From chaos to craft - inside U2’s creative studio alchemy | The Irish Post

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 6

What to make of the U2 album that comprises a collection of unconventional songs written for (mostly) imaginary films, and that they decided to release under a pseudonym?

In the year of the 30th anniversary of Original Soundtracks 1, let's take a look, shall we?

www.irishpost.com/entertainmen...

TRUST U2’s soothsayer and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. to state the obvious and call out what he view...

www.irishpost.com

The Would Be's · Album · 2025 · 10 songs

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · May 2

If there's one new album that you need to listen to this weekend, this month, this year, then it's this one...

Take it away, The Would Be's!

open.spotify.com/album/5amoWA...

HindZeitgeist

The Music Quiz: Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson star in a movie about a husband-and-wife tribute act to which music institution?

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Apr 30

Music quiz time!

And your starter for ten is...

[via @Irishtimes.com]

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

Plus: What did Iggy Pop call his 1980 autobiography?

Dark Tropics · Whispers · Song · 2025

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Apr 29

Can't fathom why @DarkTropics.bsky.social aren't selling out massive venues - they are easily one of the best Irish bands around…

New single, Whispers, highlights a more robust side to the duo.

Your time and attention to this song - and others - are worth it.

open.spotify.com/track/3CVYOG...

Whispers

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Apr 24

You mean like Brie Larson?

Nappy DOOMlemite @nappydolemite.bsky.social · Apr 24

When a women tells me her name, I always follow up with, "Oh, like the cheese?" no matter what her name is.

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Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Apr 22

Wafer thin, though?

New Irish albums reviewed and rated: Paddy Hanna, Lullahush, Cushla, Maria Somerville and Danny Groenland

Tony Clayton-Lea @tcl1234.bsky.social · Apr 22

Good news for Irish musicians - @IrishTimes.com starts a monthly 'Irish Albums Only' review column today (subscription required).

Here's the first, featuring:

Maria Somerville
Danny Groenland
@PaddyHanna.bsky.social
lullahush
Cushla

Support Irish music!

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

April 2025 releases include Oylegate, Ithaca, Tech Duinn, Luster and Burning Rome