Loves

Catching up with friends

One of my favourite things when I come home after a long tour is getting together with a bunch of friends I haven't seen in a while and cooking up a dinner. I'll get some really nice wines in and if the weather is good, we might start out in the garden. I love to cook and especially for other people. I'll roast a few chickens and vegetables – I'm a big sweet potato fan – with lots of salad. My mates would bring dessert as I'm not a big dessert eater.

Reading at home

Travelling is a funny thing. Sometimes it's not that conducive to reading, unless the flights are long and I tend to take a little sleeping pill on long flights, so I don't always have a whole lot of time to read. I love reading at home where I have my reading chair in the house – I'm a habitual kind of fellow. If there's a new book out by Colum McCann or Colm Tóibín, I get very excited.

Anything new by Kate Bush

I love to hear that Kate Bush is making new music and I'll always look forward to the day that she's releasing a new record. I don't know what it is about her – certain people speak to you and her records really move me. I love her approach to lyrics and her melodies are always kind of eccentric and getting more eccentric as she's getting older. I just think she's a one-off.

Going to the gym

I do it really regularly now and I've really found my way with it. I love how I feel afterwards. I love being able to change my body like that and I love the fitness element of it as I get older.

Loathes

Non-indicating drivers

People who don't indicate when they move lanes drive me mental, because I always indicate. I'm a grand driver and have no points, thank God.

Ignorance

I hate to hear of people from different parts of Europe being beaten up or not being paid properly and it reminds me that the Irish sometimes have a very short memory. I hate anything remotely associated with racism. The same would go for homophobia, like Iris Robinson mouthing off like she did.

Bad time-keepers

I can't stand people who are late. It's like saying 'My time is more important than yours'. I'm not obsessed with it but it's just respectful to say 'I'll be there at 3 o'clock' and actually be there at 3 o'clock'.

Untidiness

I'm pretty tidy in the house and I find it harder and harder to put up with slovenliness, untidiness or things being messy. I hate clutter. It drives me bonkers.

Boring restaurant food

I hate going to a restaurant and ending up with food that I could have cooked as well myself at home. I want to eat gorgeous food that I definitely couldn't have cooked at home, so that it's a treat.

Brian Kennedy plays Dundrum House Hotel, Dundrum, Cashel, Co Tipperary on 12 June and the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on 16 June