Andy Irvine announces Vicar Street show to celebrate 80th birthday

Andy Irvine will mark his 80th birthday with a show at Vicar Street Dublin on Monday, June 20th this year.

The veteran musician will perform alongside special guests Paul Brady, Dónal Lunny, Paddy Glackin, John Doyle, Mike McGoldrick, Bruce Molsky, Rens Van Der Zalm, Chrysoula K, Nikola Parov and Ágnes Herczku.

Multi-instrumentalist and trad/folk singer-songwriter Andy Irvine has maintained his highly individual performing skills throughout his over 50-year career.

Having been been hailed as "a tradition in himself", Andy has been at the helm of legendary bands like Sweeney's Men in the mid 60s, to the enormous success of Planxty in the 70s. Irvine and Lunny recently revisited their self-titled debut album for the Hot Press Up Close and Personal series.

Following Planxty, Irvine joined fellow trad outfits Patrick Street, Mozaik, LAPD and recently Usher's Island. Andy has been a world music pioneer and an icon for traditional music and musicians in his time.

As a soloist, the performer fills the role of the archetypal troubadour with a show and a travelling lifestyle that reflect his lifelong influence, Woody Guthrie. His repertoire consists of Irish traditional songs, dexterous Balkan dance tunes and a compelling canon of his own self-penned songs.

During the various Covid-19 lockdowns in Ireland, the folk legend finally managed to compile the material together for his own Woody Guthrie album and recorded the results.

“I'd been planning to do a Woody Guthrie album for four years now, care to remember," he told Hot Press late last year, smiling. "I got it together and I recorded everything, and now it awaits other people's inputs. He’s my first and main influence. I'll have to relearn all this material I've recorded, but I'm looking forward to it.”

“I've booked Vicar Street in June to celebrate my 80th birthday, because 10 years ago I played two gigs there for my 70th birthday with a couple of bands," Irvine added. "Sweeney's Man, Mosaik, and LAPD with Paddy Glackin and Liam O'Flynn. That gig was a great success. We put it together on a CD and on a DVD, and I don't see why I shouldn't do it again for my 80th. Then I'd be looking forward to my 90th!”

Tickets €45 (including booking fee) on general sale Thursday 17th March at 10am.

Revisit Andy Irvine's 2021 Hot Press interview here.