Event of the weekCulture Night/Oíche ChultúirFriday, September 18th, nationwide, adm free across participating venues, culturenight.ieHappy 21st birthday to Culture Night/Oíche Chultúir, the annual evening of hundreds of free events, large and small, right around the island of Ireland, based on “the belief that this rich and varied culture is alive, treasured and nurtured in people’s lives, today and every day”. We can give only a flavour of what’s on, from Musical & Culinary Flavours of Oranmore (Oranmore, Co Galway, 5.30pm) and Inner Landscape Photography (Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, Co Kerry, 5pm) to Cathy’s Call (Belfast Grand Central Station, 7pm) and a Director’s Tour of the National Library of Ireland (6pm). Culture Night Late events include multidisciplinary arts (Edge of the Atlantic, Buncrana, Co Donegal, 6pm); a Nialler9 DJ set (Watergate Urban Block Party, Kilkenny, 7.30pm); heritage (Eight Tonnes, Ballinasloe, Co Galway, 9pm); techno (Sunil Sharpe, Drogheda, Co Louth, 9pm) and comedy (Yeats and the Golden Dawn, Sligo, 10pm).GigsClonakilty International Guitar FestivalFrom Wednesday, September 16th, until Sunday, September 20th, various venues, times and prices, Clonakilty, Co Cork, clonguitarfest.com “No corporate messaging, no quagmires, no pestilential Portaloos … Just life-enhancing music, made by humans, for humans, to enjoy with other humans.” That’s the message from this community-engineered, not-for-profit festival, which for more than 20 years has presented some of the most interesting names in Irish and international folk-adjacent music. This year’s highlights include Paul Brady (Thursday, September 17th, DeBarra’s Folk Club, 8pm, €42.50, sold out), The Wran (Friday, September 18th, DeBarra’s, 6pm, free) and Dug (Sunday, September 20th, DeBarra’s, 9.45pm, €20). The festival’s impressive Session Trail offers more left-of-centre music, featuring acts such as Cliffords, Shimmer Boy, Hand of Doom, Ainm and Serengeti Longwalk. Death Cab for CutieWednesday, September 16th, and Thursday, September 17th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 7pm, €49.20/€45.20, ticketmaster.ieDeath Cab for Cutie Ben Gibbard, the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie, has said he’s not entirely happy about having borrowed his group’s name from the title of a song on Gorilla, the first album by the English art-school pranksters Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, from 1967. He should worry. From Death Cab for Cutie’s own debut album, Something About Airplanes (“a sonic blueprint that’s subtly innovative,” according to Pitchfork), from 1998, to this year’s I Built You a Tower, Gibbard and his bandmates have captured the market in melancholy, literate indie pop-rock. Hothouse FlowersThursday, September 17th, NCH, Dublin, 8pm, €45/€36.50, nch.ieHothouse Flowers More than 40 years after they formed, Hothouse Flowers remain a fixture on the Irish music scene through persistent gigging and the quality of songs such as their debut single, Love Don’t Work This Way, the perennial favourite Don’t Go, Give It Up, and Christchurch Bells. The latter two songs are on Home, the band’s 1988 album, which is the latest focus of the NCH Landmark series. They band will perform the album in its entirety, so expect, as the Los Angeles Times put it, “gospel-influenced rave-ups”.Arts festivalClifden Arts FestivalFrom Thursday, September 17th, until Sunday, September 27th, various venues, times and prices, Clifden, Co Galway, clifdenartsfestival.ieThis multidisciplinary arts festival features a townwide arts trail, with more than 50 artists, Irish and international, showcasing their work in the windows of local businesses. An intriguing addition is a daily Festival Bus Tour, which allows visitors to view art collections at nearby Ballynahinch Castle, Renvyle House Hotel, Roundstone Ceramics and the artist residency and studios at Interface, in the Inagh Valley. Music highlights include The Stunning (Friday, September 18th, West Connemara Leisure Centre, 8pm, €35) and Colm Mac Con Iomaire (Sunday, September 26th, Station House Theatre, 12pm, €10.MusicalMatilda the MusicalFrom Tuesday, September 15th, until Sunday, October 18th, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €83.40/€73.40/€63.40/€52.30, ticketmaster.ieMatilda the Musical Based on Roald Dahl’s 1988 children’s novel, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s stage production, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, made its West End debut in 2011 and its Broadway debut 18 months later. An immediate success, it went on to win seven Olivier Awards and five Tony Awards. This production features Tessa Kadler as Miss Honey, Adam Stafford as Mr Wormwood, Rebecca Thornhill as Mrs Wormwood and Richard Hurst as Miss Trunchbull. Madison Davis, Mollie Hutton, Olivia Ironmonger and Sanna Kurihara alternate in the title role.In conversationUp Close with Oprah WinfreyMonday, September 14th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €395/€195/€145/€97.50, ticketmaster.ieOprah Winfrey An intimate conversation at 3Arena might seem an unlikely prospect, but when you have someone as well known as Oprah Winfrey in the interviewee’s seat, you’re bound to want to pay attention. Before the main attraction (which is hosted by David Meade), Niall Breslin (with the Polaris Quartet) will perform tracks from The Place That Has Never Been Wounded, his instrumental album from 2025.Robert HarrisThursday, September 17th, Lexicon Library, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, 8pm, €35, eventbrite.ie; Friday, September 18th, Black Box Theatre, Galway, 8pm, €32, tht.ieThe former journalist Robert Harris left his nonfiction days behind him in 1992 with the publication of his bestselling debut novel, Fatherland. Since then he has written a succession of historically based novels that focus on topics ranging from ancient Rome and espionage to technology and religion. Harris is in Ireland to promote his book Agrippa, which follows the friendship between the titular Roman statesman and Emperor Augustus. Harris will be interviewed by Alex Clarke in Dún Laoghaire and by Ryan Tubridy in Galway. Ticket prices include a signed copy of Agrippa.Next weekendRoundstone Storytelling FestivalFrom Friday, September 18th, until Sunday, September 20th, Roundstone, Co Galway, various venues and times, free, bogbodiespress.comAindrias de Staic This three-day gathering is founded, say the organisers, Bog Bodies Press, “on the belief that a story is a starting point, not a consumable end product”. To this end the festival features conversations with writers and artists, storytelling sessions, live performance, open-mic events and traditional music. Writers/performers include Órla McGovern, Aindrias De Staic, and Seán Óg Ó Murchú.Book it this weekThe Sabres of Paradise, Róisín Dubh, Galway, January 29th, selectivememory.ieEric & Ern, Vicar Street, Dublin, May 27th, ticketmaster.ieMidsomer Murders, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, June 8th-12th, ticketmaster.ieTake That, Thomond Park, Limerick, July 2nd, ticketmaster.ie