Don McLean announces Dublin and Belfast shows on Farewell Tour

Don McClean has announced his UK and Ireland Farewell Tour. It includes a date at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on May 13, 2027. He will also perform at the 3Arena in Dublin on May 14, 2027.

Other dates for the tour include Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Gateshead, and London's Royal Albert Hall.

Commenting on the tour, the folk singer spoke of his fondness for performing in the UK, having first performed at the London venue in 1972.

"I love these audiences. They have kept me going for 55 years and given me a career I could not have had anywhere else," he said.

"A troubadour has to make his farewells somewhere, and I would rather choose the place myself. The Albert Hall was the first room that ever felt like it belonged to me, and it seems right that it should be the last."

McClean will be performing a selection of songs from his 22 album catalogue, including from his most recent album, American Boys, released in 2024.

He is best known for his hit single 'American Pie', released in 1971. The song is inspired by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson in a plane crash in 1959.

The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2001 'American Pie' was ranked number 5 in a poll of the 365 Songs of the Century. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

His song 'Vincent', from the American Pie album, reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the UK singles chart. The song is a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh. McClean was inspired to write the song after looking at Van Gogh's painting The Starry Night in a book.

Tickets for the shows go on sale on Friday, September 18, at 10 am here.