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File photo of the band's lead singer Brian Warfield.
rebel county
Wolfe Tones announce big outdoor concert in Cork
The longstanding republican group has connected with a whole new audience in recent years.
THE WOLFE TONES have announced a big outdoor show at Cork’s Virgin Media Park (formerly Musgrave Park) this summer.
The popular group made the announcement today, as part of what’s being billed as their 60th anniversary concerts. The announcement comes after the band sold out two nights in Dublin’s 3 Arena as well a concert in Belfast’s SSE Arena. Those sellout shows will take place in October.
They will play the concert on Saturday 29 June. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 9am.
The Wolfe Tones have been a highly popular – and divisive – rebel band for decades, and have become synonymous with a number of well-known republican ballads, such as Come out Ye Black and Tans, as well as other songs that highlight the experience of the Irish diaspora, like Streets of New York.
In the last few years the band has found wider fame and connected with a whole new generation of listeners. This has sparked the latest run of shows in some of Ireland’s biggest venues.
A major performance at last year’s Electric Picnic festival cemented the band’s new status, with a crowd of over 10,000 showing up to their gig. Organisers said the turn out was a record-breaking figure for a non-main stage act in the festival’s 19-year history.
Footage of that performance – including thousands of people chanting the “Ooh, Ah, Up the ‘Ra” refrain from the band’s popular song Celtic Symphony – led to much debate in the media about the appropriateness of the lyrics.
This followed on from the band making headlines in late-2022, when footage emerged of the Ireland Women’s National Team celebrating qualification for the Women’s World Cup singing the same song in the dressing room.
Virgin Media Park has a capacity of 8,000. Along with the Electric Picnic and 3 Arena concerts, it marks a significant increase in capacity compared to where the band had been playing in the last 10 years.
The Wolfe Tones will be joined in their summer concert with the Sharon Shannon Band, the Scratch, and Ispíní na hÉireann,
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