Gigs and news
Bucketloads of gratitude to you all for coming along to the gigs during the year in England, Spain, Sweden and during my Irish tour in June. I hope to see you at my remaining open gigs in Colchester and London for 2023
The last few months have mega busy. I’ve been gigging flat out across the country since March and of course the St Patrick’s celebrations were a big part of that. I am not complaining though! it’s been so good to get back out there after the work shutdown from the pandemic. I’ve been playing at many funerals, wakes and private parties since the beginning of the year and was delighted to have squeezed in a fabulous set of gigs in Lapland, Sweden in February with Caroline (concertina and vocals) and James (Banjo and mandolin). I also spent part of April doing gigs in sunny Alicante out in Spain. It was a hoot and I really enjoyed the experience. Thanks to all of you, wherever you are for coming to my gigs and for listening to my music on Facebook, YouTube and across the platforms.
There was a very large turnout of hundreds of people from the Irish community in London for the unveiling of the plaque to commemorate Michael Collins and his connection with London, at the Barnsbury Hall and afterwards at Islington Town Hall.
The Mayor of County Cork, The Mayor of Islington, The Irish Ambassador and several other notable figures attended, including relatives of the ‘Big Fellow’ himself.
It was a great honour to have been asked to perform at the unveiling and the response to ‘Only Our Rivers Run Free’ from the crowd was fantastic.
Well done to Frank and all of the organisers for making it such a resounding success.
The Irish in London did themselves proud. There are many more pictures from the event on my Facebook page.
I'm booking up now for St Patricks week 2024
I played across Britain last St Patrick’s week. I have also spent the festivities working abroad in the past and enjoy new challenges and horizons. I invite enquiries from anywhere across the globe and suggest getting in touch asap. I tend to get booked up fully by the end of the year. Please feel free to WhatsApp me by clicking on the green logo on the bottom right of your screen. I promise you I’ll get back to you right away. You can also call me or fill in the enquiry form on my contact page.
Pub gigs and the Irish tour
Since I got back from the USA last autumn I decided to take on a few more pub gigs and to take my live performances nationwide.
I’ve really enjoyed the challenge and the thrill of getting back to them full on and I’m looking forward to doing a good few more between here and the end of the year.
The return began at the Gateway in Reading, Angie’s in Willesden and the Orchard in Croydon, were all great craic and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old faces, many whom I hadn’t seen for several years.
The Swedish gigs went fantastically and I’m currently chatting with other overseas venues about heading abroad in 2024, where dates are available.
It was great to finally got around to organising and doing the Irish tour, it was a fantastic adventure and I’m hoping to put a more extensive tour together for the spring of ’24. I’ll keep you posted.
My latest CD from Dolphin is out now
The latest album and single
My De Valera song was released last autumn on a Dolphin records compilation album entitled ‘Birth of our Nation’. It’s available now via mail order directly from Dolphin Records..
I’m also working on a brand new album which is progressing nicely, with luck it’ll be out in the early part of 2024*.
I’m hard at it, amongst all else that’s going on.
*Due to my increasingly hectic gig schedule that time frame is looking a tad ambitious but I’ll keep you posted.
Meanwhile, my very latest single ‘Magdalene Refugee’ is now available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube, Apple music, etc.
My song tells the tragic story of what happened to many innocent young Irish women during some of the darkest days of modern Irish history.
Available via all usual streaming platforms
Bookings for 2023
I’m taking bookings now for 2024 and I still have a few dates left for the rest of 2023.
I play nationwide and as well as lots of gigs in London, I’ve also played throughout the current year in Birmingham, Yorkshire, Sussex, Kent, Essex and Nottingham.
I’m open for bookings in pubs, clubs, weddings, wakes, funerals, cruises, festivals and venues internationally.
To make an enquiry use my contact page, or click on the WhatsApp gizmo at the bottom of the screen.
What's popular on Spotify?
My most played track for the past few months, has been ‘Galway Girl’ with over 100,000 spins on Spotify, closely chased by ‘The Thatcher Song’.
It’s closely followed by my 90’s Irish world cup song. ‘Jackie’s Army’.
The other 3 most played tracks are ‘The Bojo Song’, ‘Rev Ian Paisley’ and ‘De Valera’
My new album will feature some brand new songs and a couple of re recordings of old covers, plus new versions of ‘Michael’ and ‘The Drumshanbo Exile’.
NEW SINGLE! ‘The Election Song’ coming soon!