Weekender: |wiːkˈɛndə|– noun – what to do in Dublin this weekend.
ANTI-VALENTINE’S QUEER GIG
Friday 13 February | Tenterhooks, New Market Square | €3, 8pm
Find the pontifical, hetro-normative, commercialist feeding frenzy of Valentines day equal parts exhausting and nauseating? Well it would seem this Friday the 13th might be, contrary to popular belief, your lucky day. The folks behind new DIY punk space, Tenterhooks, have put out a call for all ‘gender outlaws, dykes, fags, biz, queers and friends’ to join them for an evening of raucous post-punk romance.
Taking to the stage on the evening will be an eclectic mix of left of center tunesmiths including, Folk Punk raconteur Eris, Badass barbershop quarter Old Moon, pitch-black post-punkers Sounds of Sodomy and Raincoats/ESG inspired funk punks Fierce Mild. There’s a €3 suggested donation on the door and festivities will roll on into the evening as Tenterhooks DJs will be spinning all your favourite ‘Funky Beats and Queer Hip-Hop’.
VALENTINE’S DAY AT 57 HEADLINE
Saturday 14 February | 57 Headline, Clanbrassil Street | 4.30pm, win tickets!
Single? Got no plans for Valentine’s day? Well, The Beer and Whiskey Festival are giving away eats and craft beer treats at 4.30pm this Saturday evening in 57 The Headline Bar, where you can tuck into platters from their new menu and a selection of drinks while watching Ireland vs France in the Six Nations (k.o. 5pm). We’ll have four winners who can each bring along a friend too. All you have to do is follow the link to the competition and leave a comment saying ’57’ below.
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: ANTI-VALENTINE’S DELIGHT
Saturday 14 February | The Sugar Club | €15, 8pm
Since they pulled down the Classic in Harold’s Cross to make way for a vacant yards full of weeds (great shout, by the way), opportunities to get involved in the full dress-up, sing-along, do-whatever-else experience of the Rocky Horror Picture Show are much rarer. Fear not because it’s back to provide the perfect antidote to saccharine suckitude of Valentine’s day with guest performance from burlesque queen Bella A Go Go in the mixer. The Sugar Club is probably a far swankier place to do the Timewarp than midnight at the Cla’ ever was mind you.
BALLROOM OF ROMANCE w/ Squarehead, Cruising, Sissy & GMG
Saturday 14 February | Sweeney’s | €5, 8pm
After slowing down their traditionally hectic gigging schedule for the majority of last year, alt-rock troupe Squarehead are back, and are in finer fettle than ever. Squarehead’s visceral live show is, as ever, enough of draw in itself, but this lonely hearts celebration (which revives the much loved Ballroom of Romance moniker late of the Lower Deck in Portobello) also boasts the most tantalizing selection of support acts. Cross-border punks Cruising will be plying their fuzzed out wares alongside riot grrl power-trio Sissy and up-and-coming Dublin indie popsters GMG. For the meagre price of a fiver you’d be a fool to sit this one out in favour of spending time with a significant other or some other such nonsense. They’ll only break your heart anyway.
TINSMITH’S SCOOP
Saturday 14 February | Freemason’s Hall | 7.30pm, €14
Young Hearts Run Free are throwing their first gig since their always cockle-warming Christmas do at the Dublin Co Op, this time taking place in the salubrious surrounds of the Freemasons Hall. Named after a line from a Heaney poem, Tinsmith’s Scoop is a St. Valentine’s Day event aimed at fostering a different kind of love – one found in a sense of community – to the romantic one so celebrated this day. On the night, there’ll be readings from Kevin Barry, Prof. Declan Kiberd and Paula Meehan, as well as music from I Am The Cosmos (pictured) and Brigid Power-Ryce, with all proceeds, as usual, going to support the Dublin Simon Community. Tickets cost €14 and will move fast so hop to it!
LOVE SENSATION
Saturday 14 & Sunday 15 February | Pygmalion | €10/15, 8pm
A collaborative effort between Pyg and Together Disco gives sessioners double the excused to get loved up this for the weekend on Valentine’s Day this year. The event takes over both Pygmalion and parts of the Powerscourt building and is spread over two days, with Love Sensation featuring wax and flacs from the likes of Southpaw, Discotekken, Together Disco and 4wrd grad. Then on Sunday, Love Hangover will feature sets Get Down Edits and some softer sets from the previous night’s heroes of the wheels of steel for those who just won’t let the sesh die. Sleazy disco, White Russians and making out: all the ingredients for a whopper weekend.
ALL DAY DIP @ SODA
Sunday 15 February | Bernarad Shaw | 4pm, free
One of the hottest tickets for this Valentine’s weekend is undoubtedly for Dip’s special Blind Date BYOB blowout. So hot in fact, they are now entirely sold out. But fear not, lollygaggers who missed the love boat: Dip DJs are on hand to ease the pain. Taking over the Bernard Shaw from 4pm, the Dip-ers will be cooking up their own special sauce of disco, boogie and house grooves that’s smooth as it is spicy. Get down early and end the weekend on a high.
