Reliving the magic of Horslips in Town Hall Theatre show

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Founding members of the legendary Celtic Rock band Horslips, Johnny Fean, Barry Devlin and Jim Lockhart will be in concert in Galway’s Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, November 3, when they’ll be joined by Johnny’s brother Ray Fean on drums.

Fans can expect to hear soft, slow numbers such as Furniture and I’ll be Waiting, alongside more rocky offerings including Dearg Doom and Trouble with a Capital T, according to bass player, vocalist and the band’s co-founder Barry Devlin.

The group, which was formed in Dublin in 1970, recorded nine studio albums before disbanding 10 years later. In that short decade, their ground-breaking fusion of trad and rock helped transform Irish music.

Their album trilogy The Book of Invasions, Aliens and The Man Who Built America, which were released between 1976 and 1978, explored Irish history and the forging of new frontiers in the USA. They had first explored the world of Celtic mythology in 1973’s The Táin, which featured one of their most famous tracks, Dearg Doom, based on the traditional O’Neill’s March, with its distinctive guitar riffs – these later got a new life in the anthem for Ireland’s Italia 90 soccer campaign.

“If we didn’t play that still, how else would the tables get turned over?” Barry asks with a laugh, adding that when the song came on at wedding celebrations, it marked the time for things to get lively.

And the band certainly were lively in their heyday, playing more than 200 rocking gigs a year.

“We do stuff at a nice, married man’s pace now,” Barry quips, but “still give it 100 per cent”.

They come to Galway after two nights in Dun Laoghaire’s Pavillion Theatre and for him, particularly, coming West is a pleasure.

“We do gigs that look like they might be fun,” he explains, “and the Town Hall is one of those. In my other life as a filmmaker, I go to the Galway Film Fleadh and I find the Town Hall a very civilised place with great coffee.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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