Event of the weekKilkenny Arts FestivalFrom Thursday, August 6th, until Sunday, August 16th; Kilkenny city; various venues/times/prices; kilkennyarts.ieFor the 53rd time around the sun, Kilkenny Arts Festival presents opera, new music, visual art, film, concerts, alternative rock/pop, traditional music, discussions, and theatre. Opera highlights include the world premiere of Michael Gallen’s award-winning The Curing Line (Wednesday, August 5th/Thursday, August 6th/Saturday, August 8th/Sunday, August 9th, Watergate Theatre, 7.30pm, €35/€32) and a new interpretation of Samuel Beckett’s The Last Tape (Friday, August 14th/Saturday, August 15th, Watergate Theatre, 2pm/8pm, €30/€28). Other must-sees include Crash Ensemble’s Land of Winter (Friday, August 7th, St Canice’s Cathedral, 9pm, €30/€25), dance/sound hybrid For the Record (Wednesday, August 12th, 9pm/Thursday, August 13th, 7.30pm, Set Theatre, €25/€18), and the premiere of Francesco Turrisi’s multimedia show, Vuci: Voices from Sicily (Tuesday, August 11th, 6pm, €20). GigsOpethSunday, August 2nd, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin; 7pm; €92.75/€72.20 (sold out); ticketmaster.ieOpeth: Appearing Sunday, August 2nd, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, 7pm. Stockholm’s Opeth have enjoyed over 35 years as one of metal music’s most diverse bands, incorporating aspects of folk, jazz fusion, funk, classical, blues and prog rock into song arrangements that have long since deviated from their death metal beginnings. The band’s latest concept album, The Last Will & Testament, set in post-first World War years, has been praised by metal’s bible, Kerrang! magazine, for its “unwillingness to compromise, plus the lack of anything most metal fans would regard as hooks”. Unpredictability awaits. Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireannFrom Sunday, August 2nd, until Sunday, August 9th, Belfast; various venues/times/prices; fleadhcheoil.ieFleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Belfast: Lúnasa, playing on Friday, August 7th, 10.30pm. Making its debut in Belfast, Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is renowned as being the world’s largest annual celebration of Irish traditional music, song and dance. Alongside the week-long Scoil Éigse (workshops, recitals, masterclasses) and Comhaltas Competitions (during which qualifying musicians, singers and dancers compete for All-Ireland titles), there are fringe events, as well as headline performances (adm free, no ticket or booking required) from established traditional acts on the Gig Rig Stage each day, 11am-11pm. Headline performers include Macalla (Tuesday, August 4th, 10pm), Sí Fiddlers (Thursday, August 6th, 10pm), and Lúnasa (Friday, August 7th, 10.30pm).Gorgon CityFriday, August 7th, Guinness Storehouse, Dublin; 9pm; €30; guinness-storehouse.comGorgon City: Appearing on Friday, August 7th, Guinness Storehouse, Dublin, 9pm. As part of the SETS at Guinness Storehouse series, London production duo Kye Gibbon and Matt Robson-Scott visit Dublin to take charge of the decks at the venue’s 360-degree Gravity Bar. What to expect? How about textbook lessons in full-bodied basslines, rushing house music, and kiss-the-sky club anthems? Support is Tipperary-born electronic music DJ Surka, whose sets range from contagious disco/house to progressive trance. Howth Roots & Blues FestivalFrom Friday, August 7th, until Sunday, August 9th, Howth, Co Dublin; various venues/times/prices; howthrootsandblues.comHowth Roots & Blues Festival: Women in Blues event on Sunday, August 9th, at The Summit Inn, 4pm, is a triple bill including The Mary Stokes Band. A coastal location, great pubs, sunshine, guitar riffs and licks, and some of the best blues musicians in the country? It all adds up to the return of the Howth Blues & Roots Festival, which, this year in particular, focuses on women’s influence on the genre. Highlights include Bonnie Raitt - A Celebration, with Susan Tomelty & Band (Saturday, August 8th, Abbey Tavern, 2pm, €23.32) and Women in Blues (Sunday, August 9th, The Summit Inn, 4pm, €23.32), a triple bill featuring The Mary Stokes Band, Elise Frank and Niamh Strong. An acoustic set from Hothouse Flowers is the festival finale (Sunday, August 9th, Abbey Tavern, 8pm, €35).PhotographyThe Light of Other DaysFrom Saturday, August 1st, until Monday, August 31st; 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast; adm free From The Light Of Other Days, Belfast photographer Jim Maginn's exhibition, taking place at 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Belfast photographer Jim Maginn has spent almost four decades documenting Irish traditional musicians through his 1985-2012 archival photography project The Light of Other Days. Focusing on documentary portraiture and what he terms “the decisive moment”, the exhibition showcases celebrated figures and unacknowledged performers alike who have informed traditional music’s cultural vitality over the years. Artists featured include Frankie Gavin, Finbar Furey, Gerry O’Connor and Derek Bell. (The exhibition forms part of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.)Visual ArtRembrandt to Matisse - A Celebration of European WorksUntil Sunday, December 6th; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; adm free; nationalgallery.ieTo celebrate Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, National Gallery of Ireland is exhibiting some 50 of the gallery’s works on paper by European artists. Overseen by Niamh McNally, curator of the Prints and Drawings Study Room at NGI, the exhibition, covering the 15th century to the present day, considers the range of themes and methods that have influenced European art. Alongside works by the exhibition’s titular artists, also featured are works by Paul Cézanne, Nathaniel Hone, Káthe Kollwitz, Rosalba Carrier and Armand Seguin.ComedyFred ArmisenSaturday, August 1st; Vicar Street, Dublin; 8pm; €51.40/€28.99; ticketmaster.ieAs a comedian, writer, producer, actor and musician, Fred Armisen can safely claim that he is one of the busiest men in US entertainment. With a tour titled Comedy for Musicians but Everyone is Welcome, the Mississippi-born multihyphenate delivers a show featuring music-based comedy. Which is exactly? A highly accomplished musician (from 2014 to 2024 he was music director and drummer for the house band on Late Night with Seth Meyers), Armisen manages to casually weave jokes, impersonations and musical history into and between the drum fills (check out his drumming gloves) and guitar riffs. Next Weekend Bernard MacLavertyFriday, August 7th; Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Bellaghy, Co Derry; 7.15pm; £20; seamusheaneyhome.comAs part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Belfast writer Bernard MacLaverty (Booker Prize-shortlisted in 1997 for Grace Notes) will be in conversation with Dr Eamonn Hughes, formerly assistant director of the British Association for Irish Studies. Themes due for discussion include MacLaverty’s inspirations, exile, faith, love, and the intricacies of Northern Irish life. Book it this weekCinder Well, Bello Bar, Dublin, October 9th, foggynotions.ieJazzy, 3Arena, Dublin, October 24th, ticketmaster.ieShamtown, Mick Lally Theatre, Galway, November 15th-November 29th, druid.ieTwo Door Cinema Club, 3Arena, Dublin, January 23rd, ticketmaster.ie