Ger Mayock retrospective at the Linenhall

Fri, Jun 18, 2010

Currently on show in the gallery of the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar is Meadowsweet: A Retrospective, an exhibition that brings together the work of artist Ger Mayock who died in May 2006. Mayock grew up in Ross West, near Castlebar, and his childhood experiences of traditional Irish music and culture went on to inform and inspire a body of work including sculpture, writing, film, music composition, and photography. A close bond with wood and stone dominated Mayock’s work during the final years of his life and he produced a very significant body of sculpture, much of which is on view at this retrospective exhibition. In Mayock’s own words, “The carvings that I make are capturing a moment, be it from a dream or a reality, like an image or, more accurately, a state of mind we have all known from a day or from a lifetime, common to us all and unique to each one of us”. The exhibition also includes Ger Mayock's writings, photography, and his short film War. The exhibition runs until Saturday July 3.

The Bodhrán Bar

Fri, Jun 18, 2010

The Bodhrán Bar on Rush Street, Castlebar, has just opened following recent renovation work. Located next to Gifts Supreme, the bar will stage live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, promising a great atmosphere for locals and visitors alike. The Bodhrán bar caters for young and old and new owner Mary Flanagan has years of experience in the bar trade and, along with Pat Mugan, looks forward to welcoming customers old and new to their new venue.

Entertainment this weekend

Fri, Jun 18, 2010

Bands this week at the Bodhrán bar are as follows:

Friday - Black Velvet

The Beach Boys will bring a splash of sun to the Royal this month

Fri, Jun 11, 2010

You can bottle down most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they have had and how many millions of albums they have sold. These conventional measures fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. To be sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions, but the band’s greater significance lies in the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly, that every pop act since has been in its debt.

The High Kings Return for one night only at the Royal Theatre Castlebar

Fri, Jun 11, 2010

Having excited music fans on their inaugural sell out Irish Tour The High Kings return to the Royal Theatre Castlebar for one Night only on Sunday April 19 2009. Four top class performers create this unique ensemble, performing new songs and re-energising the great Irish ballads

Summer classics in Bofeenaun

Fri, Jun 11, 2010

The annual summer classical music festival in Bofeenaun church is a must for the music lover. On Saturday July 10 and Monday July 12, a group of outstanding classical musicians will again be filling this beautiful church, set against the dramatic backdrop of Nephin Mountain, with a blend of familiar and less familiar pieces, introduced, as always, with their trademark humour and insight.

The performers this year will be led by Iain King (violin), originally from Scotland and now living near Ballina. Iain has played with the Philharmonic Orchestra (first violin) and the English Chamber Orchestra (assistant leader) and has worked on more than 600 recordings. Also from Scotland, Robert Irvine (cello) has a background of orchestral, chamber, and solo performance, and co-founded the Brindisi String Quartet and the Chamber Group of Scotland. Caroline Clemmow (piano), an outstanding soloist and chamber musician with a wide-ranging repertoire, has toured the former Soviet Union and has been particularly involved in resurrecting unjustly forgotten works. This will be her first visit to Bofeenaun.

Riverdance returns to the Royal

Fri, Jun 11, 2010

Riverdance celebrates its 15th birthday in Ireland by returning to the stage in The Royal Theatre Castlebar this autumn. For five shows only from September 29, Riverdance will take to the stage of The Royal Theatre for only the second time in 15 years. As it sold out all 10 shows when it came to The Royal Theatre in September 2008 it is advisable to get your tickets early for this event to avoid being disappointed. Over 18 million people have gone to see Riverdance live since it first made it on to the stage, in more than 8,000 performances worldwide. The soundtrack of the show has sold more than 2.5 million copies and since it debuted as an interval performance at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 it has become and international phenomenon

Delorentos confirmed to play Finbar Hoban presents this Summer

Fri, Jun 04, 2010

The Delorentos have just being confirmed to play Bar Ritz in Castlebar as part of the popular Finbar Hoban Presents series this summer. Dublin-four-piece Delorentos released their debut UK album, You Can Make Sound, on April 5 this year (preceded by the single ‘S.E.C.R.E.T’ in March). They very nearly didn’t make it: Having scored early, chart-topping Irish success, the band suffered the collapse of Pinnacle, hit a creative wall, and saw singer Ronan walk out. The remaining members – school friends who bonded in spite of the disparity of their taste in music - decided to plough on, until Ronan suddenly returned, after a period of reconsideration and reflection. And with that Delorentos were back on track!

You Can Make Sound, then, is both a break-up and a reconciliation album. Delorentos have toured ferociously in the short time they’ve been together, and have the stories to back it up. Years ago, the band were invited to perform at the National Student Youth Awards, competing against an English, Scottish, and Welsh act (“it sounds like the set up to a joke,” they acknowledge). Once there, Kieran was essentially held hostage by three, cannot-be-named-for-legal-reasons record execs, and was told that he had to sign a contract, on the spot, or they “would not be eligible for the awards.” Naturally, the band scarpered. Elsewhere, a support slot for the Arctic Monkeys resulted in both bands’ set of parents watching the show together, as if their kids were playing Sunday football. Also in the scrapbook is the memory of sipping champagne under cherry blossom trees at South By Southwest, whilst quite delirious with flu: a far cry from their home town of Portrane, where, Kieran explains, “the local music scene is virtually non-existent – Portrane has one chip shop and a pub; that’s it!”

The legendary Willie Nelson live at the Royal Theatre

Fri, Jun 04, 2010

Iconic American country superstar Willie Nelson will be live in concert for one night only on Saturday June 5 in the Royal Theatre, Castlebar. Nelson’s latest album American Classic which is out now has become his most successful album of his career so far reaching number one on the Billboard’s country album chart and racking up more than five million in sales. It earned Nelson a Country Male Vocal Performance Grammy and, most significantly, helped to transform a colourful, middle-aged, cult figure into a mainstream star.

Summer of exhibitions ahead at the Custom House

Fri, Jun 04, 2010

Alison Pilkington’s show Between One Thing and Another brings together work from the first year of her practice based PhD at National College Art and Design Dublin. The exhibition will run until June 13 at the Custom House studio. Her work is centred around how imagery in painting can be presented in such a way that viewers must reconstruct it themselves in order for it to make sense. The suspended moment before this process takes place she identifies as “the uncanny moment” that exists in certain artworks. Leading on from this she examines the various forms of artifice that an artist may employ in order to bring about a genuine emotional response. One that may jolt us from our constant distracted complacency, surrounded as we are by a rapid bombardment of imagery. She hopes that painting has unique qualities that require slow, routine, and ‘active’ looking that lead to an appreciation that has been ‘learned’ from the painting rather than merely ‘seen’.

Back in black

Fri, Jun 04, 2010

Mary Black returns to the Royal Theatre Castlebar after her brilliant performance at The World Fleadh in Castlebar last summer.

Have some bank holiday fun with Status Quo

Fri, Jun 04, 2010

If you are looking for a great night out this June bank holiday weekend then come to see the legends that are Status Quo. “We are delighted to see Status Quo return to Castlebar, they never fail to bring out the crowds and this is a great weekend to have them just as the summer is about to come and people are looking for a good show to start it off,” said Donnacha Roche, theatre manager.

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