24 years since their last Dublin gig at the Olympia and just shy of 30 years since they first came together, Howth trad-rock collective In Tua Nua returned to the stage for a celebratory Christmas outing at the Button Factory.

Before a near-capacity crowd, the sprawling seven-piece fronted by an every youthful looking Leslie Dowdall (with the legendary Jack Dublin on bass), stormed through a set that included old favourites such as ‘Heaven Can Wait’, ‘Don’t Fear Me Now’, and ‘All I Wanted’, along with their take on Jefferson Airplane’s, ‘Somebody To Love’, the epic, ‘Innocent & The Honest Ones’ and the smouldering, ‘Wheel of Evil’.

Drummer Paul Byrne took over on vocals on the title track of their most successful album, The Long Acre while the encore included what is arguably their most popular live tune, ‘Seven Into The Sea’ (as famously performed at Self Aid in 1986) and their current radio-hit - a rousing version of the seasonal Slade classic, ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’.

They return to their spiritual home, the Summit Inn Howth, on Saturday December 29.