Chasing Abbey / Tolü Makay – Cyber Celts World Tour live gallery and review from Vicar Street, Dublin 17.09.26

Cyber Celt was officially released today. Last night, the night before their debut album dropped, Chasing Abbey opened their world tour at a sold out Vicar Street, and the room treated it exactly like the occasion it was.

Tolü Makay set the tone for the evening, the Nigerian-born, Tullamore-raised singer-songwriter who is supporting Chasing Abbey on the Irish leg of their world tour, brought a depth and warmth to the stage that the crowd responded to immediately. Her new EP People Still Cry In Summer lands on streaming in twelve days, and the material she aired from it tonight, closing on “Trust” with the rousing “War” just before it, carried the kind of emotional directness that only comes from songs that have been genuinely lived in.

When Chasing Abbey took the stage the energy shifted entirely. After opening with “Gorta” and “Arís Is Arís,” being the band that they are, they had to address the elephant in the room. Vocal supporters of Palestine, they made their position clear with a pointed observation about Macklemore having his Irish card renewed while Ed Sheeran has now lost his, before shouting “Free Palestine” and moving straight into “Seachain,” their hard-hitting single referencing the genocide. The crowd needed no further invitation. The set moved with real momentum through “Mar Sin,” “Morrison’s Jig,” and “Scartha” before giving the Dublin crowd something extra. Much of the Cyber Celt material had been road tested on their US tour earlier in the year, songs the band had been playing for months before the world could hear the recorded versions. But tonight “Culchie” and “Seán Tír” were added to the set for the first time, two tracks from the album that had never been played live before, at least not to an Irish crowd, slotted in on the opening night of the world tour the night before the album dropped. “Oh My Johnny (Banks of the Roses),” their biggest track, brought the room to its loudest, and “Learning to Dance (Lanigan’s Ball)” kept that energy running. “Colonised Minds,” “Greedy Pigs,” and “Saoirse Saoirse” carried the political weight of the new record with real force, before “T.a.L” closed the main set.

The encore opened with “Íoróntá,” followed by “Bag of Spuds,” a traditional Irish reel that has become a live staple for the band, a nod to where they come from that sits perfectly within everything Cyber Celt stands for. They brought the night full circle with a second run of “Arís Is Arís.”

Tolü Makay photos:

Chasing Abbey photos & set-list:

Set-list:
Gorta
Arís Is Arís
Seachain
Mar Sin  
Morrison’s Jig
Scartha
Culchie
Is Rud Crua
Oh My Johnny (Banks of the Roses)
Learning to Dance (Lanigan’s Ball)
Colonised Minds
Seán Tír
Greedy Pigs
Saoirse Saoirse
T.a.L
_____________________________
Íoróntá
Bag of Spuds
Arís Is Arís

Photos & words – Cian O’Donnell @cianod6