Who is your favorite Irish musician/band/song?

[Ohiogal]

I have so many.... there are way too many to post.

Van Morrison ....Sinead O'Connor ..... Bono and U2 .....Dolores O'Riordan .....Gary Moore and Thin Lizzy ..... the list is LONG!

(and here's a shout out to YOU, Glamrock, DU's very own and very favorite Irish singer!)

I will start off with one that's a bit off the beaten path ..... Youngstown, Ohio's native son Phil Keaggy playing a little tune called Shades of Green.

[DBoon]

1. from the 16th century, John Dowland may count

He *may* have been from Dublin

[DBoon]

2. The Pogues!

[happybird]

17. I saw the Pogues open for the Violent Femmes

at Wolf Trap back in the late 80's (IIRC, may have been early 90's?). It was fantastic. My best friend and I managed to finagle our way into the orchestra pit and were literally leaning on the stage for the whole show. Either Shane McGowan or Mojo Nixon got banned from the venue for life for excessive drunkenness, lol! Can't remember which one, it was possibly both.

We had camped out for Rolling Stones tickets the night before, so it was a crazy couple of days.

[bdtrppr6]

35. more rare than a mention of the Pogues

would be a mention of the main mushroom man, Mojo Fucking Nixon!

cheers!

[True Blue American]

3. Flying With Angels

[stopbush]

4. The Chieftains, who else?

https://www.thechieftains.com

[mitch96]

20. YES!! And any other group in the pubs of Westport!!

I was there last Sept and every place was better than the last.. Great fun... Accept the drunk ejit who pissed on my foot in the jacks...
m

[MountCleaners]

22. Are you or your family from Westport?

My family is from thereabouts, but I've never been there. Talked to my cousin and I still have family there.

[mitch96]

41. Naw, just good friends..

Sligo, Westport and Newport... I love the west of Ireland.. I'm a bohunk from western PA..
Something about Ireland that just draws me...
m

[mitch96]

42. "My family is from thereabouts, but I've never been there"

When you can get the time and money, just go.. The people are wonderful, the sights amazing and you can't beat a Guinness and a good tune in a pub. It's a very small country. The size of Indiana with about 4 million people.. Less in the west. Rent the smallest car you can stand as the roads are very narrow. People drive with civility too. The Wild Atlantic Way winds it self from the bottom to the top with fantastic views and nice places to eat and stay.
A fantastic bike trip if your into things like that. I'd go back just for the fish and chips.. You get spoiled cause you can't find the same quality here in the states. Floppy fries with mushy fish is NOT proper... I'd better shut up now...
m

[unblock]

5. Elvis Costello!

[Lindsay]

6. The Clancy Brothers -

my introduction to Irish music, and always my favorite. In later years, I went every March to see Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem perform, and it was always wonderful.

Here's one of my favorite songs - "Isn't It Grand, Boys."

And Tommy Makem's signature song, "Four Green Fields."

[LW1977]

7. Phi Lynott

[red dog 1]

8. "Irish Heartbeat" by Van Morrison & The Chieftans

[The Polack MSgt]

9. All of these folks you listed of course, plus a couple more

I was on a Horslips bender earlier this week - They are awesome.

The Pogues were fun and the Chieftains are ICONIC Irish Traditional Musicians (Capitalized on purpose)

But there was a guitarist that I saw open for Jefferson Starship in Pittsburgh right before he was kicked of the tour for being too good for the erratic Starship to follow.
Rory Gallagher

"Yeah" you say to yourself, "but can he play JB Hutto's Too Much Alcohol on a National Resonator"? Well yes he can in fact on this clip he warms up to that tune with a quick up tempo "Pistol Slapper Blues"

[Midnight Writer]

40. Rory was the first that came to my mind. Lots of good stuff from the Emerald Isle, though.

[Runningdawg]

10. Not the song by the White Stripes, but the band Seven Nations

So named because their members are from Seven Nations

[link:

&list=PLTw_z2UdH_TQnkAG3DimZHySXn3nMR0GK|

[FM123]

11. I love the instrumental version of Paddy McCarthy by the Corrs

(All the Corrs are amazing singers & musicians but Sharon Corr on the violin is really something)

[MaryMagdaline]

12. Cranberries

[Tikki]

13. The Undertones...

The mid to late 70’s...that music!!!

Tikki

[zipplewrath]

14. Cahir O'Doherty

But most folks never heard of him.

Mary Black would be better known.

She does this song which is probably one of the better ones.

[Hoyt]

15. A little traditional Irish Bouzouki music.

[demigoddess]

16. tommy Makem and Liam Clancy

great duo

[happybird]

18. I have to go with U2

They were my first musical obsession that I found on my own instead of in my parents' record collection. A favorite song is hard to choose. Maybe the live version of Bad off of Wide Awake in America.

[mr_lebowski]

25. That's so f***ing brilliant, man ... I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this version of this song

I think I may still have the original EP somewhere ... probably on tape though. The version of (A Sort Of) Homecoming is also kickass, way better than the studio, just like this one. Though the studio versions are still great

Saw U2 7 times from 1985 - 2001. 4 times on Joshua Tree tour, 3 of them on the indoor leg in April 1987.

[happybird]

32. Oh hell yes

That A Sort of Homecoming is perfect. I about wore out my tape of Wide Awake In America. I love the whole Unforgettable Fire period. I had a VHS tape, too, can't remember what it was called. It had the above video, traveling on a bus during Homecoming, and doing a little dance with their arms to The Three Sunrises. And one of those big carnival swings filmed from below and in slo-mo or stop motion. Watched that and Red Rocks non stop.

I've only seen them once, in '87. Had ZooTV tickets but didn't go.That's one of my biggest regrets.

[mr_lebowski]

34. Just busted out my archives and took these two for ya, couldn't find my WAiA tape

but just included a pic of a tape I made myself. I always used to cut out pics from mags to make the 'cover' of my homemade tapes lol.

There's also my Joshua Tree copy on vinyl opened to the center pic, with a couple of my 45/Singles (thought I also had one more? Anyways, only way to get Luminous Times and Spanish Eyes back then!), my April 1987 Joshua Tree Tour program, and all my U2 Tickets ... the first one was 1985, it was a Amnesty Int'l tour called 'A Conspiracy of Hope', with U2, Sting, Bryan Adams, and Peter Gabriel. So I guess it was 8 times, total

[LiberalLovinLug]

19. Enya

Especially her earlier albums. I don't know why she has been tarred as some kind of new age music joke. And you are supposed to be embarrassed to like her music. I found those early albums at least, hauntingly beautiful, with a Celtic influence, and sung with an angelic voice. They are timeless and when I do play them today, I am filled with such light and positive energy. Love it as background when doing creative work

I also liked what she did with the theme song for The Lord of the Rings, "May it Be"

[mr_lebowski]

26. I LOVE her first album ... might be the greatest single sexy-time album of all-time ...

Haven't heard too much of her later stuff but that debut was a stunner.

[MountCleaners]

21. The Bothy Band!

They brought a rock energy to traditional Irish music. I used to tape the NPR syndicated show "Thistle & Shamrock" pretty religiously. They played a lot of progressive Celtic folk music.

I like some early U2, The Virgin Prunes and Gavin Friday, and Thin Lizzy. Oh, and MY BLOODY VALENTINE took up a huge chunk of my youth.

[shenmue]

23. The Pogues, "Boys From the County Hell"

I'm surprised the song is so short. I seem to remember it being longer. Here it is. Once studio, once live.

[Heartstrings]

24. U2 a close second to Damien Rice....saw U2, haven't seen Rice yet.

My go to song for a current life situation.....lol

And hey there, Glam! Where you be lately?

[mr_lebowski]

27. Hothouse Flowers, baby!!!

Okay, I don't love 'em more than u2 or van the man, but they were freaking awesome for about 6 years there ...

And ... one of the greatest covers of all time ...

[ZZenith]

30. Squeal! Hothouse Flowers!!!

Oh hell yes.

[mr_lebowski]

36. Saw 'em on that tour ... 1992 I believe ... Great American Music Hall, SF ...

Great song, great record. All of their first 3, I know every song by heart

They were f***ing AMAZING live. It was spiritual experience, I kid you not. One of the best shows I've ever seen, and I've seen A LOT.

[ZZenith]

37. Right there with you, Dude!

Spiritual experience indeed!

Such non-stop energy pouring out of each of them. Hallelujah!

I get the feeling I couldn’t mention a band I dig without you pulling a ticket stub out of the stack for said band. You’ve not wasted your youth!

[mr_lebowski]

39. F***ing A!

What was esp. amazing is that, on their records, I'm almost positive they had a female chorus (like I'm Sorry and Hallelujah Jordan, to name a couple) but the guys in the group could still pull it off in concert, without the backup singers, and still make it sound killer. I kept looking for the backup singers, but they weren't there. That shit blew me right away.

Yeah, I actually did kinda waste my youth in many ways, but I saw a lotta damn good shows ...

Oh, I and felt a whole lotta love, so ... maybe not entirely wasted

Peace to ya ZZ!

By the way, if you like their debut People, this show is friggin' PHENOMENAL. They debut the first single from Home, which was Hardstone City but apart from that, it's all People, and a kickass B-Side late in the show ... they were ON FIRE in this show ... I totally love it ... crowd going nuts, Liam's voice in amazing form ... Enjoy!

[yonder]

28. In no particular order:

Planxty, Bothy Band, Altan, De Danann, Patrick Street, Deanta, Lunasa, collectively/individually and best toss in a bit of Chieftains for good measure.

[peacefreak2.0]

29. Delores Keane, The Waterboys

Van Morrison, Clancy Brothers

[mr_lebowski]

38. Waterboys are kinda more Scottish, really, though they've had members from all over UK

Mike Scott though is Scottish, and he's the leader ... but anyways ... The Whole of the Moon is without question one of my all time favorite songs, and videos too ...

I swear my cat likes this song, I'm guessing cause I listened to it over and over when I was getting sober, years ago, and when he was pretty young. Most songs if I crank 'em up, he'll bail ... but not this one. It's a trip ... But this is such a great 'coming out on the other side' song. Still makes my eyes well up ...

And their cover of Van's 'Sweet Thing' is an absolute masterpiece ... I'd say you can't do Van better than Van, but this one was WAY GOOD. Freaking love this version ...

[ZZenith]

31. I have so many...

But if I had to pick one...

[ZZenith]

33. Wait, no, definitely this one:

Last edited Fri Mar 15, 2019, 03:45 AM - Edit history (1)

Nobody does sad beauty like the Irish.

Maire Breatnach, The Swans at Coole

[johnp3907]

43. Stiff Little Fingers.