Brendan Grace celebrates forty-three years of comedy

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

The greatest family comedian of our generation has spent 43 years in the comedy business and most of this time at the very top of his profession.

Brendan Grace’s latest show features the best and most requested pieces from his vast repertoire over the last 43 years. His sense of timing and ability to read an audience is without equal. A brilliant character actor, his ‘Bottler’ character is legendary and his interpretation of the Irish wedding will forever remain a masterpiece.

Giant Sand and Jason Lytle to play Róisín Dubh

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

IT HAS been a decade since Giant Sand, the alt.rock/Americana band led by Howe Gelb, have played Galway, but 2016 sees them return, as part of a co-headline tour with Jason Lytle.

Noelie McDonnell @ Monroe's Live

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

ONE OF the west of Ireland's finest songwriters, Noelie McDonnell, has resumed solo duties and will play Monroe’s Live, along with his band, on Thursday January 7 at 8.30pm.

Thrash Hat - ASIWYFA man goes electro

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

AND SO I Watch You From Afar have, through the albums All Hail Bright Futures and Heirs, rewritten the rule book on post-rock, kicking the genre out of the clichéd straight-jacket it had fallen into, and thrusting it towards new possibilities.

In a change of pace and direction, ASIWYFA leader Rory Friers has begun to explore other interests and musical approaches through his solo side project Trash Hat. Thrash Hat is a collection of songs, photographs and artwork by Rory, featuring recorded and sampled audio, together with electronic syntheses, created in the artist's studio on the north coast of Antrim and while travelling in a van on tour with ASIWYFA. The first fruits of this were heard in August via the track 'Pandaface'.

Captive - Music For Galway's multimedia festival

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

A MULTIMEDIA festival of music, film, and discussion will make up Captive, Music For Galway's mid-winter festival, which features music written by inmates of WWI Concentration and POW camps.

ROPES journal to raise funds for Simon

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

ROPES, THE literary journal produced by the students of NUI Galway's MA in literature and publishing, is seeking donations to cover the costs of its upcoming 24th volume.

The theme of the 2016 journal, which will be out in the spring, is 'Independence'. It will feature essays, poetry, prose, and artwork about exploring, gaining, losing, rejecting, and sustaining independence.

Creative writing classes at Galway Arts Centre

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

PEOPLE WHOSE New Year resolutions include finally getting around to writing that novel or those poems that have been in their head for ages, should check out upcoming classes at the Galway Arts Centre.

The poet and short story writer Susan Millar DuMars will teach a creative writing class, suitable for both beginning and continuing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their weeks responding to writing exercises and receive feedback. The class runs for 10 weeks on Mondays from 2.30pm to 4pm, starting January 25.

Being Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk

Wed, Dec 23, 2015

THERE IS now less than a week to go to the opening performance of this year’s Renmore Panto, Jack and the Beanstalk, and excitement is building among all involved, none moreso than Richard Brown, who plays the lead role of Jack.

Children’s 1916 theatre show to get Galway premiere

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

MALONEY'S DREAM, a new theatre show and interactive website, to allow children discover and learn about the 1916 Rising, will receive its world premiere in Galway next year.

New Inn gets ready for 38th Mummer Festival

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

Plans are in place for the hosting of the annual New Inn Mummers Festival event in the local Leisure Centre on January 2 and 3. This will be the 38th annual staging of this unique festival of music, song, dance and storytelling that attracts competitors and patrons from all over the country.

The best albums, songs, and Galway concerts of 2015

Music Reviews Thu, Dec 17, 2015

Best albums of 2015
1. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People (Bella Union)

Brendan Grace - New Year Galway shows

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

MORE THAN 40 years in the business, and Brendan Grace, one of Ireland's favourite comedians, is still going strong and he will kick off 2016 with two shows in Galway.

Galway Advertiser Galway Musicians of the Year 2015

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

GALWAY BAND OF THE YEAR: The Amazing Apples
One of Galway's most popular bands, The Amazing Apples are also one of it's success stories. Ploughing the independent furrow, their indie-folk stylings and early releases won fans across Ireland, and that hard work paid off this year with the release of their debut album, A Little Sense, produced by Joe Chester (The Coronas, Ryan Sheridan) which reached No 3 on the Official Irish Independent Charts and No 27 in the Official Irish Charts. They also played Electric Picnic in September.

From Rose of Tralee to Renmore Panto

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

CHRISTMAS IS almost upon us and along with the mince pies, roast turkey and a beardy fat man in a red suit, Galwegians can also look forward, as always, to the Renmore Panto. This year’s offering is Jack and The Beanstalk, scripted by Panto Dame Peter Kennedy and directed by AIMS award-winning twins Brian and Seán Power.

Galway writers to read at city's pop-up bookshop

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

GALWAY WRITER Alan McMonagle, who recently landed a two book deal with Picador, along with Geraldine Mills, Aoife Casby, James Martyn Joyce, and Galway Advertiser arts editor Kernan Andrews, will read from their work this weekend.

A story to make the Marquis de Sade twitch in his crypt

Literature Reviews Thu, Dec 17, 2015

THIS NEAR horror story of a novel contains a positive message which surely applies to most of us: however messed up your relationships are, or have been, even the most embarrassing catastrophe in the history of your love life was a paragon of balance and sanity compared to an average day in the life of most of the characters in this darkest of tales.

The Playboy – as you've never heard it before

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

THAT DOUGHTY old warhorse, JM Synge's The Playboy Of The Western World, has just been given a rollicking musical makeover by Galway artists Justin McCarthy and Diarmuid de Faoite and it is being broadcast this Saturday on RTÉ Radio 1 at 8pm.

Giant Sand and Jason Lytle to play Róisín Dubh

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

IT HAS been a decade since Giant Sand, the alt.rock/Americana band led by Howe Gelb, have played Galway, but 2016 sees them return, as part of a co-headline tour with Jason Lytle.

New Year creative writing classes

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

CREATIVE WRITING classes for beginners and intermediate levels will be held in the Galway Technical Institute in January and bookings are being taken now.

Daithí, Oh Boland, and The Academic to ring in 2016

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

THE ELECTRO wonderboy that is DJ, producer, and musician Daithí, along with Tuam pop-punks Oh Boland, and midlands rockers The Academic, will see out 2015 and welcome in 2016 at the Róisín Dubh New Year's Eve party.

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