Dublin Event Guide

Hi all!

This week I have to hurry because the weekend already begins with a BIG event on Friday. And it seems that this guide is taking more and more time, not because I am typing slower ;-), but because I am finding more information and events and am trying to tell you all.

I know that for some people the guide is too long and they give up after the first few paragraphs, but you miss out on soooo many great events. ;-) (Ann, the recommendations for you are marked with “@@”. :-) )

I have lots of plans for this guide and while I can’t guarantee that I will be able to realise all of them (it is only a bit of a hobby), I will do my best.

This Friday (14/09) is the second Dublin Culture Night (www.culturenight.ie). Over 80 of the city’s museums, galleries, theatres, libraries, historic houses, cathedrals, artists’ studios and cultural centres bring you a night of FREE entertainment, discovery and adventure. In addition there are many outdoor events with Samba Drummers, African Rhythm and Dance, the Discovery Gospel Choir, Uilleann Pipes and Indian Dancing. The variety is AMAZING and you HAVE to experience that evening! It will start at 17:00 and go on until 22:00 in most venues. Have a look at the website and plan your evening and whatever you do, do NOT stay at home. :-)
@@ I will try to catch the Samba Drummers at 18:00 near Merrion Square, will listen to the Discovery Gospel Choir at 19:00 at Dublin Castle. Then I might go to a free tour of the Trinity College Library, where I haven’t been for more than 10 years. After that I will go back to Temple Bar and will have a look at one or two of the galleries there. It will be a busy evening and I can’t wait!
The website is great, but to get most of the information about the EVENTS rather the locations, I suggest you click on “Explore the night” and then choose “Outdoor events” or “Explore by A-Z”. In “Explore by A-Z” use the “Search by category” function on the left to navigate through the events.
If you are in town, give me a call, maybe we can meet up afterwards somewhere in or near Temple Bar.

The Fringe Festival is in full swing at the moment and this weekend will see a number of free events again. www.fringefest.com shows all, but a summary of the free ones is this: Philip Fogarty Concert on 14/09 at 20:00 in Alliance Francaise, Mamuska Night on 15/05 at 20:00 in the Backloft, Rehearsed Readings on 16/09 at 12:30/14:00/15:30 in the Dancehouse. I can’t list the visual arts projects, but you will find them on the website.

After last Saturdays very interesting and rather strange Festival Opening Event (Modern art challenges me at times ;-) ), there are a few more Fringe Fest outdoor events on this week:
@@ Guardian Angels (German Street Performers) on 14+15/09 at 21:00 on Smithfield Plaza (45 minutes) www.fringefest.com/shows/107
@@ The Urban Playground (diffcult to describe what it is but it sounds very interesting, trust me! ;-) on 14+15/09 at 14:00 on Wolfe Tone Square in Jervis Street (15 min performance plus workshop and freestyle jamming session) www.fringefest.com/shows/108
War of the Roses: The Risen (Outdoor Theatre) on 14/09 at 13:00 in the Civic Office Amphitheatre (55 min). www.fringefest.com/shows/109
Pity that none of these event is on Sunday, but all on Friday or Saturday.

@@ On Saturday another weird and wonderful event takes place: the annual Liffey Swim. It is the 88th swim this year! I know, the triathlon I was telling you about recently started with a 1.5 km swim in the Liffey, but that was near the Phoenix Park, where the water at least APPEARS to be a little cleaner and the river has a soft river bed etc. The Liffey Swim starts at the end of Victoria Quay (near the Guinness Brewery) one bridge up from Heuston Station and goes until the Customs House Quay. Yuck! The distance is a cool 1.5 miles or 2.4 km and the race starts for the men at 13:30 and for the women at 14:00. More than 300 participants are expected this year!!!
A few years ago I read an interwiew with one of the swimmers and he was talking about disturbing noises as the only problem during the swim. The interviewer didn’t understand what he meant and asked for clarification. The swimmer was talking about the noises the 4-legged inhabitants (the long tailed ones) of the Liffey make when they jum into the water because the swimmers disturbed them. Eeek!

Beck’s, the German beer brand is coming with the Beck’s Fusions event to Dublin. The musical part of that event will be for ticket holders only on the Sunday evening. But during the day from 11:00-17:00 on the 16th the “Beck’s Fusions Experience” (Innovative art & Music Installation) is free to all.

The Cyber Games Festival is running for another few days (I only reaslised that now) and there are a number of free but ticketed events this weekend. www.worldcybergamesireland.com/gameon.htm

Oh, by the way, for all you singles out there: The Matchmaking Festival is still on in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare. You have until the 07/10 to get there if you are looking for an eligible farmer or a woman of a certain age. ;-) www.matchmakerireland.com/festival.html

I think that’s all for this weekend. Get out and at least enjoy one or two events on Friday night! You will feel better for it! ;-)
_________________

By the way, due to the length of the guide already I usually don’t get much of a chance to tell you about past events. But I want o make an exception this time just to explain something. Last week I went to the Opera Alfresco on Smithfield Market. It was advertised with the following features if you remember:

- family event…on a backdrop of classical and opera classics
- soak up the relics of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in the main tent
- kids can enjoy the One Voice in the outdoors or take part in the
interactive opera sessions in the ‘interactive tent’
- Good food from around the world washed down with good wine
- Clowns, Jugglers, Street Entertainers

NONE of this was really true! It was a great event, but announced false advertisement from start to finish. There was a BIT of opera, some classical music, a barber shop chorus, the Army Band, a Jazz Trio, the Dublin Gospel Choir and the absolutely brilliant Stanhope Street Gospel Choir. There was NO tent for the kids, there was no good food from around the world (just burgers and crepes), there was no wine and certainly no clowns, jugglers or street entertainers.

Was I disappointed? Not at all, it was better musically than announced, but I am telling you this story to explain that I am dependent on what the official advertisement is. If they advertise it wrong, I will pass on wrong information. I hope you understand. Still try out the events and I can promise that you will enjoy most of them even if they are different than they are billed.

So, now enjoy the weekend, you will hear from me again next week and next week I will answer the most asked question about this guide: “Where do you find all that information?”.

–Joerg

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Disclaimer: This Event Guide is sent to friends and colleagues of mine
to let you know about events in the Greater Dublin Area that are mostly free! Ticketed events usually have enough money to do their own advertisement, they don’t need this guide.
I started this because some friends asked me to share my weekend
plans with them as I went to all types of festivals and searched for
more. ;-) If you don’t want to receive this mail, just let me know. If
you have feedback, good or bad, PLEASE tell me. If you want to be added to the mailing list send a mail to dublineventguide@gmail.com.
BTW: I have no affiliation with any of the organisers and don’t get any reward from them for advertising their events.
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Hi all!

Another week over, a BUSY weekend ahead! September has firmly arrived, and with it some warm weather. Happy days! Now make the best of it and enjoy especially the outdoor events. A lot is happening this weekend, so don’t stay at home, but sample the cultural life in our Dublin.

I mentioned last week that there will be an interesting event this week as part of the Dublin Opera Festival: On Saturday from 11:00 – 19:00 the “Opera Alfresco” will take place on Smithfield Market.
Opera Alfresco is a family event which brings young and old together on a backdrop of classical and opera classics. As Mum and Dad soak up the relics of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in the main tent, kids can enjoy the One Voice in the outdoors or take part in the interactive opera sessions in the ‘interactive tent’.
And a bit more from the official description: “Good food from around the world washed down with good wine is what it is all about. Children being entertained while you let the Sunday afternoon slip away as day turns to night. Clowns, Jugglers, Street Entertainers, Musicians will surprise you as we celebrate the return of Anna Livia Dublin International Opera Festival. Let the story begin!” www.dublinopera.com
That sounds very interesting and even if you are not a big opera fan (yet?) you should try it out!

The Fringe Festival starts as well this weekend! Over 16 days a vast amount of events takes place in 40 venues throughout Dublin. Most events are ticketed, but the tickets are quite reasonable at typically not more than EUR 15. The events in the Spiegeltent at George’s Dock in the IFSC are a little more expensive, but to make up for this there are lots of free events also:
Dublin Fringe Festival Opening Event at the George’s Dock from 21:00 for 1hr (www.fringefest.com/shows/104)
Mamuska Nights in the Back Loft from 20:00 on Sat (8th) for 3 hrs (www.fringefest.com/shows/12)
Visual Arts projects are “The Lantern Project” along the Liffey Boardwalk (www.fringefest.com/shows/105), Somaticity in Wolfe Tone Park (www.fringefest.com/shows/106) and the Memory Laboratory in Filmbase (www.fringefest.com/shows/112).
The complete program is on www.fringefest.com

The You & Your Money show is on in the RDS (Main Hall) this weekend from Friday until Sunday and in the spirit of this Event Guide the entry is free – as it should be! ;-) And from the website it seems that the show will be worth a visit. expo.youandyourmoney.ie/ If you go on Sunday and park your car on the street a little away from the RDS (in Pay&Display zones), you won’t even have to pay for the parking!

If unusual sports events are more your thing, check this out: www.liffeydescent.com/ On Saturday up to 1,000 competitors from Ireland and overseas race the canoe/kayak course which combines both long sections of flat water and white water weirs. From the K Club in Straffan, via Celbridge, Leixlip and Lucan, the paddlers will make their way over 28 km until the Memorial Park near Phoenix Park. The race starts at 12:00 (as far as I can see) and finishes at 15:00 and especially the white water sections should be exciting to watch.

After a start on Friday evening with the discussion about Culture in Ireland that I mentioned in the midweek Event Alert, the Opera Alfresco on Saturday during the day, the Fringefest Opening Event on Saturday evening and a visit to You&Your Money on Sunday, you will be cultured out and will be in need of some spirituality!! For this you should come to the Gardiner Street Gospel Mass. After a long summer break, the Gospel Mass and Gospel Choir are back again on Sunday evening at 19:30 with the first mass after the break. I am involved in this on a weekly basis, so I am a little biased ;-) but if you are looking for a mass with a difference that comes additionally with uplifting music and singing of a great choir, your should come. If church is not really your thing, but Gospel Music is something you like, give the Gardiner Street Gospel Mass a chance. You can enjoy the mass no matter what your belief or religion is and everybody is welcome! The mass is at the top of Gardiner Street near the junction with Dorset Street in the “Temple-style” church with the columns on the outside.

And finally another alert for a ticketed but free event:
Have you seen any of the “Long way around”-episodes? Where two guys on motorbikes traveled from London to New York via Asia on motorbikes? Helene showed me a few of the episodes on DVD and they were fascinating. The same two guys went “A long way down”, a trip from John o’ Groats in Scotland, to Cape Town, South Africa
On October 11th, BMI are flying in adventurer and best selling author Charley Boorman for an exclusive travel talk. He’ll be in the Champagne Bar at Ron Black’s at 7pm talking about his latest motorcycle journey and TV series with Ewan McGregor, A Long Way Down, and their travels across the globe. There will be a drinks reception afterwards. For free tickets HURRY to www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=qp178EXDHFe1jWjzekyTLg_3d_3d
I am not sure how long they will be available.

Did I promise too much when I said this weekends event guide will be bursting at the seams? ;-)

Enjoy your weekend!!

–Joerg