THE Wolfe Tones have announced a huge Dublin gig to celebrate their 60th anniversary, after the Irish rebel band attracted record crowds at their recent Electric Picnic festival performance.
The folk group, which was condemned over 'up the ra' chants at their Féile an Phobail gig in west Belfast last month, announced they would celebrate their 60 years as a band at Dublin's 3Arena on October 12, 2024.
The venue can hold up to 13,000 fans, and the gig announcement comes on the heels of their show at Electric Picnic in Co Laois last weekend, in which they drew the largest crowd ever seen at a covered stage in the history of the festival.
Ahead of performing the song Celtic Symphony, which contains the chorus line "ooh ah, up the 'Ra" in reference to "grafitti on the wall", singer Brian Warfield told the crowd people should never "tell an Irish person they can’t sing a song because you know what they’ll do, they’ll go out and they’ll sing it over and over again, just to spite you."
Read more:
- The Wolfe Tones and Celtic Symphony: Why is the song contentious?
- GAA pundit Joe Brolly says pro-IRA chanting 'has to go'
- Chris Donnelly: Contradictions in how loyalist band culture is accommodated but Féile an Phobail is vilified
Last year the song reached number one in the Irish singles chart, and number 11 in the official UK chart, following controversy over players in the Republic's women's soccer team chanting "ooh, aah up the ‘Ra" after defeating Scotland in a World Cup qualifying match.
The band are due to play two sold-out gigs at Dublin's 3Olympia Theatre this October and November, and will return to Belfast in January for a show at the Waterfront Hall.
