The Pogues and Dropkick Murphys to headline Boston’s Seisiún Irish music festival

The Irish music festival and cultural gathering Seisiún is set to launch in Boston on September 6 and 7, with The Pogues and Dropkick Murphys announced as headliners.

The Pogues will include original members Jem Finer, James Fearnley and Spider Stacy, marking their first show in the U.S. since the passing of former frontman Shane McGowan in 2023. The set will span across their entire career, “while honoring Shane, leaving space for alchemy and magic from very special guest performances,” according to a press release.

Other Irish acts on the bill include The Scratch, Stiff Little Fingers, John Francis Flynn, Cardinals, Lisa O’Neill, Just Mustards and Mairéad.

Also on the line up are The Hold Steady. The Rumjacks, Holy Locust and The Waterboys.

The new festival comes nearly three decades after founders Joe Killian and Liam Lynch launched NYC’s Fleadh Festival celebrating global Irish culture, and aims to honor the memory of the first Fleadh Festival in 1997 on New York City’s Randall’s Island.

“We’re launching Seisiún at a time when Irish culture is once again witnessing another rich revival and resurgence. There is such an exciting wave of extraordinary cross-category Irish music talent,” Lynch explained.

“With this two-day event our hope is to reignite some of that same sense of gathering, of revelry and of community, while also tapping into that emergent new interest in the genre. Let the music keep our spirits high.”

Tickets for Seisiún will go on sale on Friday, March 21 here.