The Wolfe Tones have been together for 59 years! There used to be four of them, but one left to go on his own quite awhile back. They are the ultimate Irish Rebel Band. IRA Forever! Ireland Free from the Crown of England! Read about them here.
Back story: In 1985-ish, I was playing Sunday morning basketball with Bobby Messina and Billy Murphy. In the beer session at Amrhein’s in South Boston after playing, we ran into a clerk of court from Quincy. He persuaded us all to take tickets for a concert to be held that night at the Boston Teacher’s Union (on Galvan Blvd, I think). We all agreed to go. Billy and Mianne showed up as scheduled. So did Elaine and I. Bobby was a no show. The concert was by the Wolfe Tones (named after Irish patriot Theobald Wolfe Tone) on an American tour surreptitiously raising money for the IRA. We all had a good time.
So now it is 59 years since the band’s founding and 38 odd years since we saw them. They are doing their 60 Year Farewell Tour that ends next October in Dublin and Belfast. And tonight there were playing at INEC Arena in Killarney, just a 90-minute drive from Dingle. So back in September when the date was announced we decided to get tickets. Good thing we got them then. The concert was totally sold out. And we decided to stay overnight in Killarney at the Gleneagles Hotel which is part of the INEC campus. (INEC Arena is, by the way, the largest concert venue in Ireland outside of Dublin.)
We drove over early and checked into our very comfortable (if chilly) suite. And we had a nice late lunch / early dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. Fried brie bites followed by a quite good fish pie special.
Our room:
The hotel and our lunch:
Then at 7:30 it was off to the concert scheduled to start at 8:00 PM. Irish time, that is. The opening group (okay) started about 8:40. The Wolfe Tones came on well after 9:00 PM. The first floor of the arena was set up as standing room only. Then there is a lower balcony and an upper balcony plus two side balconies. We were midway up in the upper balcony. Very good seats but not great for picture taking or sound recording. The pictures are the best that I could do. Yes, that’s a selfie of the two of us. Directly in front of us sat a three generational family – grandfather, father, and son. The grandfather was a blast and could easily have been in the IRA back in the day. He was totally involved! There were bars about and they were very busy! Beer was flowing freely through the whole affair. We pretty much abstained until after the concert. (Yeah, weird for us, I know.)
The Wolfe Tones played until close to 11:30 PM. They did all their classics and many, many of my favorites. I’ll link to two U-Tube presentations by the Wolfe Tones of two of my most favorite songs:
The story of Grace Gifford and Joseph Plunkett is a heart breaking story. Read the story here.
Of course, they ended with the classics: Celtic Symphony, On the One Road, and A Nation Once Again. The crowd went wild. Here is the best video that I got:
After the concert we went back to the hotel for a quiet beer in a very busy bar and chatted with a nice family from Cork. Then it was off to bed well after midnight. We had an early breakfast (delicious!) the next morning at the hotel and headed back to Dingle. We stopped briefly at Inch Beach just to snap a picture of angry Dingle Bay. Dinner Thursday night at the Chart House, our favorite Dingle venue. More tomorrow!
What a great story of how you happened upon this band. And that you became such great fans and followers. It was such fun to see and hear you and Elaine clapping and singing along. Great time.
I remember the story of Grace and Joseph from one of your earlier blogs. So very sad indeed. I also listened to Sean South and Grace back then. Such history in Irish music.
Enjoy dinner at Chart House tonight.
What a fun time you had. The room was great, food looked amazing, and concert worth going to for sure. Certainly having a wonderful time in Ireland. All family okay. Keep having fun.