Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys
Mon 28 Jul, 7.30pm at the Barbican in London

Baby Gramps, Martha Wainwright, David Thomas, Gavin Friday, Ralph Steadman, Robyn Hitchcock, Norma Waterston, Teddy Thompson, Martin Carthy, Julie Fowlis, Eliza Carthy, Tim Robbins, Ed Harcourt, Neil Hannon, Pete Doherty & more

Based on the extraordinary recent CD release produced by legendary Hal Willner, this concert features contemporary re-workings of traditional sea-songs and chanteys. A stellar line-up of artists take us on a trip like no other, exploring the hardships, the horrors, the lusts and lurid depths, and the crystal beauty that led men to the sea in ships for hundreds of years.

Expect songs about drinking, death, nasty crimes on the water and of course pirates...

Tickets from £15. Book now.

Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

'Three Pruned Men' recorded the song 'Bully In The Alley' on disc one of the Rogue's Gallery double album.

It is first time in 25 years the three ex-Virgin Prunes will perform together 'live'.

Rogue's Gallery Dublin is part of the Analog festival and will take place on Grand Canal Square on July 18. Tickets are available from the festival website.

Performing songs from the Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys album are Teddy Thompson, Waterson: Carthy, David Thomas of Pere Ubu fame, Julie Fowlis, Baby Grapms, Ed Harcourt, Rachel Unthank, The Winterset and of course, Gavin Friday.

Update (June 12): Lou Reed has been confirmed for the Dublin show.

"The night before, more mysticism at a Messiaen Anniversary Concert. The French composer was honoured in a performance of his Quatuor pour la fin du temps, played with robust commitment by Finghin Collins (piano), Elizabeth Cooney (violin), Richard Harwood (cello) and Carol McGonnell (clarinet). And for those players, the Belfast-born composer Ian Wilson had written a "setting" of the Gabriel Garcia Márquez short story, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World.

With Gavin Friday as narrator, it received its UK premiere in a packed Corn Exchange: sand-ripples of meandering lines and sea-sprays of song and tremolo, in a cunning score that never upstaged, but was as impassioned as the words themselves."

Elsewhere, Gavin Burrows says on his blog: 'Friday read ebulliently.'

He will be joined by a new ensemble featuring three highly talented young Irish artists and the cellist of the Belcea Quartet. The piece was originally commissioned by the IIB Bank Music in Great Irish Houses Festival with support from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Wilson's The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World will be performed alongside Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. Together they form the Messiaen Anniversary Concert to mark the centenary of his birth.

• Buy tickets from the Festival website

We're still in the process of copying all the old information to the new database as well as writing new content to cover Gavin's career. This includes some of the larger sections of the old site, such as the discography. Rest assured, these will return.

Tickets are available from the venues' websites.

18 July 2008 - Grand Canal Square, Dublin
24 July 2008 - The Sage, Gateshead
28 July 2008 - Barbican Hall, London

The Rogue's Gallery album is available from Amazon.com.

Willner and Friday recorded the score as a live improvisation to the picture over two days in Manhattan earlier this month. Musicians included Tony Garnier and guitarist G.E. Smith (from Bob Dylan's backing band) as well as drummer Jim White from The Dirty Three.

The film, starring Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Milos Forman and Grace Jones, is set in New York's Chelsea Hotel and is currently in post-production. 'Chelsea on the Rocks' is expected to premiere at this year's Cannes Festival.

Stills from the movie.

The New York Sun writes: "Gavin Friday gave a mournful, beautiful rendition of "Chim Chim Cheree" from Mary Poppins." (Read the full review)

Babette R's got some lovely pictures of Gavin and all the other artists.

The song was written by Bono, The Edge, Simon Carmody and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, and features appearances by Kila, the Pogues' Shane MacGowan, the Frames' Glen Hansard, Sinead O'Connor, Andrea Corr, Damien Dempsey, Ronan Keating, Chris de Burgh, members of the Dubliners, and Gavin Friday.

Complete list of screenings:
Sat, Feb 11 21:30 Zoo Palast 1
Sun, Feb 12 10:30 CinemaxX 7
Sun, Feb 19 17:00 International

You can download a nice pdf flyer about the film on the festival website.