THE MEREST MENTION OF the word ‘piracy’ is usually enough to send most music industry people into fits of apoplexy.

The merchants of doom have had a field-day in recent years with the massive amount of file-sharing on the internet, all of which makes the old warning that appeared on album inner-sleeves, that ‘Home taping is killing music’, now seem rather quaint — not to mention overly dramatic, given the warning came with a skull-and-crossbones logo.

This weekend, however, the skull-and-crossbones emblems will be of the more traditional variety as the Analog New Music Festival plays host to Hal Willner's Rogue's Gallery (and before you start writing angry missives, I'd have called the punctuation police too) which promises "pirate ballads, sea songs and chanteys".

As an ideal opportunity for giving it a bit of the old yo-ho-ho (bottle of rum optional), this show promises to be great fun, with an eclectic line-up that includes Tim Robbins, Lou Reed, Teddy Thompson, former Pere Ubu singer David Thomas, Neil Hannon, Waterson:Carthy, Ed Harcourt and Three Pruned Men, under which collective banner we get to thrill to Gavin Friday, Guggi and Dave Id Busaras performing together for the first time in 20 years -- lucky us.

Given the mythology of the buccaneering lifestyle and the romantic connotations it would obviously have for those of the rock'n'roll persuasion, it's surprising that it took so long for someone to take things to the logical conclusion, which Willner did on the Rogue's Gallery album a couple of years ago, where all manner of bawdy and boisterous songs were tackled by the likes of Bono, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker (an unlikely pirate if ever there was one), Rufus Wainwright (hard to imagine that lad repelling boarders with a cutlass between his teeth) and Sting (don't get me started).

Producer-arranger Hal Willner has specialised in interesting and unusual projects such as this, and put together last year's acclaimed Leonard Cohen tribute Came So Far For Beauty. Among his previous projects, apart from his production work that has included stints with Lou Reed, Gavin Friday and Lucinda Williams' West, Willner has supervised tributes to Thelonius Monk, Kurt Weill, Nino Rota, and songs from Disney films -- featuring excellent contributions from Michael Stipe, Tom Waits and Sinead O'Connor.

The setting, Grand Canal Square in the Docklands, couldn't be more apt for an evening of maritime musical mayhem. The organisers have been dropping hints that there will be special guests on the night.

Hmmh, let me see, Bono appeared on the album and U2 are recording their new album a couple of hundred yards away from the gig site. I wonder, would a visit to Paddy Power be worth my while?

Not least to see what odds I'd get on Lou Reed appearing on stage wearing an eyepatch and with a parrot perched on his shoulder?

The Analog 2008 Festival takes place in the Docklands this weekend with Rogue's Gallery swinging into action on Friday at 7.30pm

- George Byrne