Alabama 3 announce run of acoustic Irish gigs

Alabama 3 have announced a run of three Irish gigs for December.

They will play Whelan's, Dublin, on December 9; Dolan's, Limerick, on December 10; and the Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast, on December 13.

The band are internationally recognised for releasing ‘Woke Up This Morning’, the opening theme song to the hit TV series The Sopranos.

The group formed in 1995 when Jake Black met Robert Spragg at a rave in Peckham, deciding to form a group that fuses country music with acid house.

They initially performed under the name the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine. The title was a heavily ironic, satirical concept designed to blend American Deep South televangelism with the obsessive nature of modern celebrity worship.

They gained a name for their bizarre costumes, stage personas, and theatrical live shows as the mainstream media dismissed them as a novelty act. To be taken more seriously as musicians, they shortened their name to Alabama 3

In 1996, they signed with One Little Independent Records and released their debut album, Exile on Coldharbour Lane.

Despite writing the iconic theme tune, Robert Spragg revealed to Hot Press in 2023 that he has never actually watched an episode of The Sopranos.

“I couldn’t get past having to listen to my bloody voice every week,” he said. “Thanks to the wonders of modern technology we now have a ‘Skip Intro’ option, so I might give it another go because everyone says it’s the greatest TV show ever made.

“I did see the Many Saints Of Newark prequel, though, in a cinema in Brixton that was rammed. I’d just had a row with the girlfriend so I wasn’t really in the mood for light entertainment, but it was brilliant. When the film cut to black at the end and ‘Woke Up…’ started, the place fucking erupted. I was sat there bawling crying from the emotion of it.”

Tickets for their three Irish shows go sale at 10 a.m, July 7.