Sunday is definitely an embarrasment of riches at this year’s Electric Picnic, at least as far as the music is concerned – most festivalgoers will spend at least part of the evening tearing from one tent to another to maximise their scorecards. On the arts front, the big draw in Leviathan today will probably be Jon Ronson’s slot at 3.30pm. The journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker will be on hand to discuss his book The Men Who Stare at Goats and other oddballs with way to much power in their meaty hands, and there’ll be a sneak preview reading from this forthcoming book, The Psychopath Test.
After that, it’s very much as you were, with David McWilliams winding up his discussion series at 5pm, this time focusing on A Vision for Ireland in 2020. Trying to follow up George Galloway’s typically forthright arguments yesterday will be Minister for Communications [...]

Laurence Mackin

It’s getting very political over in the Leviathan area today. At this very moment, Sean O’Rourke is testing a panel of festival personalities, including this paper’s Conor Pope, on their knowledge of current affairs. Expect howlers aplenty, but for a guaranteed bun fight, I imagine the History Ireland Hedge School discussion on Irish neutrality is a safer bet. Former Respect MP George Galloway (who was recently interviewed here) is in a room with TCD lecturer Eunan O’Hailpin, former diplomat Eamon Delaney and T Ryle Dwyer (rumours of Tony Blair putting in an appearance later in the day are wide of the mark).
David McWilliams will be in action again later tonight at 7.30pm, this time focusing on whether there can be peace in the Middle East, with Galloway again donning his sparring gloves, along with journalist Eamonn McCann, former Fox commentator Rachel Marsden and the founder of The Gulf [...]

Laurence Mackin

The sun is beaten down on the Electric Picnicers in Stradbally, with the event warming up nicely. Every year there is one big colourful piece of art to greet festival-goers coming through the main entrance into the arena proper and this year it’s tulips. Gigantic red and green constructions by Jig Cochran that will come into their own as darkness falls.
The boat that becomes something of a photo op for most punters is still locked to the land, and is getting a graffiti makeover. Brazilian artist Askim and Brian Coldrick, James Kirwan and Risto (who some of you might know from their Monster Truck Expo), will be going to work on the, along with a host of other artists, so watch this one take on a life of its own as the weekend progresses.
The festival organisers are at pains to try and get people to clean up after [...]

Laurence Mackin

Arcade Fire – the mere mention of these words lately seems to bring out bloggers and commentators in a rash of hastily-slung insults and rabidly constructed defences. First, there was their by-all-accounts limp Oxegen performance; then they had the temerity to announce a date in the O2, follow it up with a second (after the first sold out in nanoseconds), and they had the cheek to charge €75 for the privilege (Jim Carroll and On the Record have been doing a grand job of stoking that particular Arcade Fire here).
Now, though, with a nose for publicity that Max Clifford would no doubt admire, the Fire are back in whatever passes for headlines in these digital days (Tweets? Status updates? Random binary pulses?) but for the right reasons – the video for their track We Used to Wait, which is really rather brilliant.
The online video is optimised for [...]

Laurence Mackin

Considéré comme l’un des plus beaux villages du Connemara, Roundstone est une station balnéaire plutôt réputée
pour la beauté de ses paysages sauvages. Situé non loin de Clifden, au sein de la baie de Bertraghboy, la route
(R341) qui mène à Roundstone, est l’une des plus extraordinaire d’Irlande, et permet ainsi de silloner le littoral
irlandais, tout en restant aux pieds de la majestueuse montagne Errisbeg. Un must !
[...]
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See: It’s all very well being cutting edge and part of the hip new thing, but sometimes you need to get a bit of tradition and grandmastery into your bones, just so you know you were born. The French Connection and the Rediscovery of Thomas Hovenden, now showing at the Ava Gallery in Bangor, Co Down, should do the trick. Obviously it features the work of Hovenden, as well as some of his more illustrious colleagues who were loosely known as the Irish Impressionists – and it’s fair to say some of the work on show here gives that lot in France a run for their francs. Expect work from John Lavery, Charles Lamb, Roderic O’Conor, Aloysius O’Kelly, Walter Osborne, some chap called William Scott and a deliciously dark portrait of a simple dinner by Katherine MacCausland. This is an exhibition that’s a touch above the rest.
Ava Gallery, Clandeboye [...]

Laurence Mackin

Tonight sees A Dream Play by August Strindberg open at the Peacock Theatre. It’s got a heavyweight production crew behind it, with Jimmy Fay calling the directorial shots with a pared-back Caryl Churchill script in hand.
The actors are where the real interest lies – it’s being performed by the National Youth Theatre using actors selected from youth theatres around the country. The would-be thesps had to be between 16 and 19 and, if successful, faced five weeks of rehearsals and full-time living in Dublin, sharing houses with their fellow actors. You can read more about what went on behind the scenes here.
This sounds like a fascinating experience for someone to get involved in – a shot at acting in the national theatre while still a teenager, working with some of the best production crew in the country. This project is being principally funded by the Arts Council, but [...]

Laurence Mackin