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TALK Joe Talbot (Idles) From their April show in
Vicar Street to their summer outing in the Iveagh Gardens, punk rock outfit Idles had an undisputed love-in with Irish audiences last year. Their rage-fuelled releases Brutalism and Joy as an Act of Resistance chime with these times of alienation and enhanced class divisions. On some downtime before they hit South America, Coachella and Mexico, frontman Joe Talbot is taking to the road for a series of conversations. Talbot spoke about the perils of toxic and thwarted masculinity with The Guardian a while back: “We’ve been playing in small towns and there’s a lot of frustrated impotence there. I was one of those dudes when I was younger, in a fucking fishbowl wanting to get out. But it’s about trying to educate by example. I want to be able to sound like a Viz character, but also have the poise and intellect to convey something different.” Expect live music, special guests, audience questions and perhaps a mini-mosh pit. Lads, we hope you come armed with questions and introspection as well as adrenaline. The Sugar Club, Sunday March 8, €20 GIG TPM Our favourite rapscallions and cover stars of July 2019 continue their ‘Heaven Is A Harp-Pint’ tour. A “bum shaking extravaganza” is what they promise us and they have a flash new video for All The Boys on the Dole out now. Our favourite story from our trip to Dundalk last summer is the following: “We were asked to do a fundraiser in the Spirit Store around the time I was doing a course in the youth centre, says Charles. “All the kids were mad about TPM so one of the women said ‘ye’d be great to do a set for this fundraiser to bring him home this guy who died abroad’. How do you refuse it? Out of politeness we said ‘yes’. We got down on the night and there was this weird vibe about the place, not much fun, the family was sitting around telling stories about him and on the back of the stage there was this huge projection of him lying on a sun lounger with two bottles of Coors Light and sunglasses on his head with the words RIP underneath. “Everyone was in good form after a while but just before we went on we were asked if we could leave this young fellow sing a song he wrote for your man. We were like, ‘alright get him on’. This wee angel goes up on stage and sings this song about yer man and about how he’s gone. The family starts crying. And then we come on stage and sing ‘eat curry fucking sauce’, it’s actually like the worst thing. We really shouldn’t be asked to do that sort of thing. She thought it would be a good idea but it wasn’t.” The Button Factory, Friday March 20, €12/€15 THEATRE St Patrick’s Under the artistic tutelage of Karen Walshe (see interview, page 92), St Patrick’s Festival has seriously ramped up its engagement with and appeal to those of us who live here. Under the theme of Seoda - Treasures from Ireland, it’s delivered an impressive programme across the five days and nights. A few which have taken our fancy include Brendan Balfe in conversation with Dave Fanning (Friday March 13, 1pm in the Chapel Royal of Dublin Castle, €8), Abair: Treasures Lost and Stolen which pairs traveller singer Thomas McCarthy and storyteller Liz Weir, pictured, (The Music Room, Christchurch Cathedral, Friday March 13, 6.30pm, €12) and InnerEar: A Guide to Listening with Dr Leon McCarthy, Donal Dineen and Sorcha McGrath (Hen’s Teeth, Sunday March 15, 12.30pm-6pm, €15 talk, €35 talk and 1.30pm brunch). You will find more extensive references to Where We Live (ThisIsPopBaby) and Alternating Current (Dublin Digital Radio) which also form part of the programme elsewhere in the magazine. Various venues, Friday March 13 to Monday March 17 stpatricksfestival.ie THEATRE Our New Girl Playwright Nancy Harris is no stranger to the stage of The Gate having adapted The Red Shoes in 2017 and making her Druid debut with The Beacon last October. First performed in London in 2012, Our New Girl is knee-deep in dysfunctional family territory. Annie, an Irish nanny, turns up unexpectedly in the affluent London home of Hazel who is coping with her pregnancy, troubled son and Richard, her plastic surgeon husband, who is away on charitable work. Everything is simmering, she’s the ingredient which brings it to the boil when Richard returns. It’s bears all the hallmarks of an excruciatingly taut psychological drama, one both feared and beloved by the middle-classes. Gate Theatre until Saturday March 21, €15-€40 90 photo: Malcolm McGettigan