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There and Black Again: Live Q&A with Don Letts Thursday, March 11th, 7pm, £23.50 (€27.50), dice.fm You’ll remember Don Letts as the co-founder of Big Audio Dynamite with ex-Clash man Mick Jones. But that’s not even half the story. Letts is a musician, film-maker, DJ, broadcaster and social commentator, who moved easily between London’s subcultures in the 1980s, and whose various projects effortlessly nailed the zeitgeist. In this special Q&A, Letts looks back on a very eventful life, which began when he was born in the UK to Windrush parents. He was besties with Bob Marley, managed punk queens The Slits, and became one of the most in-demand video directors in the age of MTV. It’s all documented in his autobiography There and Black Again, published by Omnibus Press, and tickets for this event include a copy of the book.
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Live Friday, March 12th to Friday, April 16th, 7pm, Admission free Live-streamed on rte.ie/culture and broadcast live on RTÉ Lyric FM Need something to ease you out of lockdown? The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra have announced six special concerts to take place every Friday night until April 16th, by which time we should all be vaccinated and having the craic in the real world. Right? We may not be getting out of lockdown that easily, but at least we can look forward to this run of concerts, live-streamed from the National Concert Hall, and also broadcast live on Lyric FM. Chief conductor Jaime Martín will be on the baton for the first three concerts, starting this Friday with two evocative orchestral showpieces: Deirdre McKay’s Meltwater and Mendelssohn’s Scottish symphony.
Kazuo Ishiguro in conversation with Sinéad Gleeson Friday, March 12th, 7.30pm, €8/€25, ilfdublin.com To whet our appetites for International Literature Festival Dublin in May, ILFDublin has set up an intriguing meeting of minds in this special Off the Page event. Acclaimed author Kazuo Ishiguro will chat about his new novel, Klara and the Sun, his first since being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and which critics are hailing as a return to form for the novelist. His inquisitor is one of our finest arts writers and commentators, Sinéad Gleeson, author of the acclaimed essay collection, Constellations. You’ll also get a chance to put your own questions to Ishiguro, and if you purchase a €25 ticket, you’ll get a signed hardback copy of Klara and the Sun.
Puccini’s La Bohème: A Live Stream Concert Performance Saturday, March 13th, 7.30pm, €20-€28, bordgaisenergytheatre.ie We’ve missed going to the big musicals at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre – you can’t beat a big, costumed extravaganza with lots of roof-raising tunes to lift your spirits. While we wait for the day we can get back into venues, the theatre has teamed up with the Irish National Opera to bring a special live-streamed performance of La Bohème, Puccini’s much-loved tale of youthful passion in Paris. Celine Byrne stars as Mimi, with Lithuanian tenor Merunas Vitulskis as Rolofo and Anna Devin as Musetta, backed up by the 62-piece National Opera Orchestra conducted by Sergio Alapont. Add in the Irish National Opera Chorus and a children’s choir, and you’ll be glad you’ve got a widescreen TV to fully capture the spectacle.

Dropkick Murphys will perform a free concert on St Patrick’s Day.


Dropkick Murphys St Patrick’s Day Concert – Still Locked Down Wednesday, March 17th, 11pm, Free, dropkickmurphys.com In pre-pandemic days, Paddy’s Day was simple and uncomplicated. You went to the parade. You drank beer. You fell asleep in front of the telly watching Darby O’Gill and the Little People. But lockdown has brought a whole range of choices for March 17th, with endless live-streamed events offering myriad ways to celebrate our national day. Potentially the most raucous happening is Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys’ annual live shindig from Boston, and you can bet they’ll be doing loads of fan favourites, including Fields of Athenry, Rose Tattoo and I’m Shipping Up to Boston. Better move the furniture out of the room – you’ll need lots of space to pogo.
Bob Geldof in conversation with Rory Stewart Thursday, March 18th, 6.30pm, €6-€15, festivalofwritingandideas.com Entitled Rebels with a Cause: Rock and Roll Eloquence, Public Service and Social Justice, this is a live-streamed conversation between musician and activist Bob Geldof, and former UK secretary of state for international development, Rory Stewart, as part of the the Festival of Writing and Ideas’ Winter Series. These two men with a passion for social justice will delve into contemporary global politics. They will discuss how the recent UK foreign-aid cuts will affect war-ridden countries like Yemen, the link between spending on overseas aid and the climate crisis, the current humanitarian disaster in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the Brexit debacle and how Covid will require a global response.

Sharon Shannon will perform via live stream from from the National Concert on March 20th. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill


Sharon Shannon: Live Stream from the National Concert Hall Saturday, March 20th, 8pm, €16.50, dice.fm Paddy’s Day festivities don’t end when the clock strikes midnight on March 17th. On Saturday night, Ireland’s High Queen of the button accordion, Sharon Shannon, will bring her big band to the National Concert Hall for a special live stream performance, just to put the cap on the St Patrick’s celebrations. Listen out for tunes from Shannon’s new album The Reckoning – entirely written and recorded during lockdown – along with plenty of old favourites and no doubt a few surprises. Shannon has worked with varied artists across so many different genres, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid if she knocked off a sean-nós K-pop grindcore tune or two along the way.