If you were at the Spirit Store on Sunday night, you witnessed the closing chapter of what has been a breakout tour for Dublin’s Madra Salach. Wrapping up their “It’s a Hell of an Age” Irish tour in Dundalk, the six-piece cemented their reputation as one of the most vital acts in the “New Weird Ireland” folk revival. Coincidentally, it was almost a year to the day since they last played there, originally supporting Dundalk’s own David Keenan, and now they triumphantly return to sell out the place themselves.
The Spirit Store and its diverse crowd of both young gig goers and older fans of Irish trad, all with sweaty hands holding pints of the black stuff, was the perfect cauldron for their sound. There’s something about the venue’s proximity to the Irish Sea that always adds a layer of grit to a folk gig, and Madra Salach (Irish for “Dirty Dog”) leaned right into it. The room was jam packed—a testament to the word-of-mouth buzz following their sets at festivals like Other Voices and Eurosonic.
Led by the very charismatic Paul Banks, whose guttural, fierce vocals have a way of pinning a room to the wall, the band moved seamlessly between reverence and rebellion.
They aren’t just a “trad” band. While the bones of their music are folk standards, they flesh them out with post-rock textures, harmonium drones, and analog synths. It’s heavy, atmospheric, and at times, dizzying.
While the setlist seemed a bit short, the songs themselves hit pretty hard, showing that quality over quantity is always appreciated more than a longer set that may not hold the crowds attention. The crowd went particularly wild for “Blue & Gold” and the sprawling, seven-minute “I Was Just a Boy”. Their rendition of “Spancil Hill” was a standout, stripped of its usual sentimentality and replaced with a dark, shoegaze-infused intensity that felt incredibly modern.
The interplay between the six members (drawn from other notable bands like Fizzy Orange and Ten Hail Mary’s) was airtight. They have a knack for building tension—starting with a single drone or a quiet mandolin line and escalating into a wall of sound that felt massive for such a small stage.
The gig felt less like a standard tour finale and more like a victory lap. Madra Salach managed to bridge the gap between the experimental weight of Lankum and the rowdy energy of The Pogues. If you missed this one, you’ve missed them at their most intimate; with a summer slot supporting Kneecap at Crystal Palace already on the books, they won’t be playing rooms this size for much longer.
Madra Salach photos:
Set-list:
Blue & Gold
Spancil Hill
The Tunnel Tigers (Ewan MacColl cover)
The Blantyre Explosion (Luke Kelly cover)
Murphy Can Never Go Home
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
The Old Main Drag (The Pogues cover)
The Ribbon Factory
I Was Just A Boy
The Man Who Seeks Pleasure
Photos & Words – David McEneaney @experimentzero