Tommy Emmanuel CGP / Shane Hennessy – live gallery and review from Vicar Street, Dublin 02.11.2026

Shane Hennessy opened the night for Tommy Emmanuel with a perfect selection of his own guitar wizardry. The set included an arrangement of the traditional Irish sean-nós song Cailleach an Airgid, as well as his distinctive guitar-bodhrán technique.
A crowd-pleasing rendition of Take On Me got things underway before the audience was transported to a far-off land with Marrakech. A nice story about playing a Chic melody in person for Nile Rogers after Nile had commented on twitter “Hey man I dig what you do” about what Shane had played 
Later, Shane emulated the sound of a West African harp-lute by placing a cut-down hotel key card near the guitar bridge to dampen most of the guitar’s sustain. This piece, Rain Dance, was the highlight for me. Clever use of a delay pedal allowed different African time signatures and melodies to intersect, culminating in hand-tapped rhythms on the guitar. Needless to say, I was near the front of the queue after the set to pick up some of the CD merchandise on sale!

A very dedicated fanbase welcomed Tommy to the stage, and I was delighted to hear Deep River Blues among the first three songs. The sticky heat of the room seemed to match the landscape the song evokes.
For those who may not know what CGP stands for after Tommy’s name, it is a title bestowed upon only a handful of guitarists by the late Chet Atkins.
His songs throughout the night received enthusiastic applause, but it was during the performances themselves that the audience really came into its own, sitting in almost complete silence, watching with giddy stares and smirks of disbelief at his distinctive guitar style and athletic guitar skills.
At one point, Tommy decided to slow things down a little after his full-on Beatles medley and Classical Gas. Even he seemed to recognise that a little common sense was needed after multiple displays of guitar mastery, working himself up to fever pitch in the very warm Vicar Street venue. As he put it, there was no need to go full pelt into something else straight away!
We were then treated to Tommy’s instrumental version of the Beatles’ Michelle, with its glistening, harmonic, harp-like movements. More seemingly impossible harmonics followed with Somewhere Over the Rainbow, leading into the obligatory solo guitar and drum percussion routine.

This incorporated a drummer’s wire brush, body tapping on the sanded Maton guitar body, and a few mic-head-butts from Tommy for good measure and the amusement of the crowd. Checking that everyone was still having fun, Tommy subtly talked over someone’s phone alarm, remarking that he needed another meal after his workout! He also shared the lovely news that he now owns the rights to his recordings, thanks to the hard work of his manager, before moving into The Mystery, recently released on vinyl for the first time.
His Aussie humour was always present, whether striking a quirky pose for me as I had my camera up front, or reassuring an audience member that things would get better in a minute on stage as they headed off to the bathroom mid-song.

Later in the set, he told the audience that Spotify had just informed him he was in the Million Streams Club — not the Billion Club just yet! The always-welcome Angelina followed, gradually building the pace again before a boogie-woogie number, once he’d received the green light from his guitar tuner! Shane Hennessy returned to the stage alongside Tommy, who graciously suggested that it was time to get some talent up there with him. He first checked with the crowd that he hadn’t worn them out just yet!
Tommy chose the first song, explaining that he wanted to earn the “cent” royalty, before telling Shane to dribble in! Unfortunately, I had to leave after this song to make a transport connection, but I left with a giddy smirk of my own, having experienced an evening of effortless guitar mastery.

Shane Hennessy photos:

Tommy Emmanuel CGP photos:

Photos & words – Wayne Polley @hawkeye_polley_photography