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IN 2023 ORGANISERS of Electric Picnic underestimated the popularity of the Wolfe Tones, with thousands more than expected turning out to watch the folk trio perform at the Electric Arena tent.
This year, that mistake was rectified with the Irish ballad singers attracting one of the largest ever crowds to the festival’s main stage yesterday afternoon.
The band received a rapturous response from the crowd as they made their way through all the hits, including Come Out Ye Black & Tans, The Men Behind The Wire and Grace.
Before finishing up they surprised the audience by bringing two-time Olympic gold medalist Kellie Harrington out on stage, the boxer draped in an Irish flag.
The band then wrapped things up with a rendition of their infamous Celtic Symphony.
The three musicians have been no strangers to controversy over the lyrics of some of their songs, in particular the popular chant of “Ooh ah, up the Ra” in Celtic Symphony.
Despite this, their music remains hugely beloved across Ireland with two sell out 60th anniversary gigs set to take place in Dublin’s 3Arena this October.
What do you think: Do you like Irish rebel songs?
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The Wolfe Tones are class
And a rebel songs are a very important part of our culture
@Argus Romsworth: Or, in some cases, tribalist, divisive, self-pitying, terrorism-justifying dross that offers a distorted picture of our history (was there really much anti-imperialist activity in the KIlleshandra area?).
@Brendan O’Brien: you’d have no problem with Palestinian rebel songs though, I bet.
@Brendan O’Brien: Maybe you should change your name, seeing as you clearly can’t stand your own countrymen. Maybe a nice british name would suit you better
@Brendan O’Brien: Here, factor 50, shush.
@Brendan O’Brien: get a life sir and enjoy it,for a man with such a good Irish name,I think you took the soup
@Brendan O’Brien: you should go to a wolfe tones gig
@Argus Romsworth: they are actually a relatively recent take on English culture, originating in the folk pop scene of the 1950s in Dublin. Learn a trad instrument if you want culture, these are just cashing in on sectarianism and longing for a time of anger. two great Irish bands were there over the weekend – sawdoctors and mary wallopers… these and those other medialoving doses need to be put to rest.
@Argus Romsworth: the music isnt great tbh, they are fairly low in the rankings of irish traditional music i would say. Not a patch on the dubliners, Fureys, or Christy Moore. They have a few alright songs after a few pints. That’s about it.
@Fionn McCool: Edna O’Briens books are like a cheap wine. She was celebrated by certain circles. I think they should read Joyce if they want a bit of culture
@Setanta O’Toole: I’ve gone to see all of them live. All brilliant
@Brendan O’Brien: Art and poetry is not expected to be an exact historical record.
Ever hear of Poets Licence
@Gerard McMonagle: Elaborate please on your definition of ‘taking the soup’, dying to hear this republican claptrap
@The Firestarter: I’m surprised that the old reliable ‘west Brit’ didn’t get an outing.
@Finian McG: Name one.
@Brendan O’Brien: truth told right there!!
@Brendan O’Brien: “Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is mine own, My native land”
@Brian Hunt: But what does that have to do with ‘rebel songs’? Patriotism doesn’t necessarily entail violence: Provisional IRA violence was anti-patriotic in my opinion.
@Brendan O’Brien: the poll results are a more accurate reflection rather than your “opinion”.
@Brendan O’Brien: jayus what a lot of tosh…Bend the knee there for yourself!
@damien leen: tosh???
@Brendan O’Brien: you’re very very sad in terms of most of what you contribute.
@Brendan O’Brien: don’t be a wet wipe all your life, you Marxist snowflake
@Argus Romsworth: You’re scraping the barrel if you think Journal polls are reflective of Irish society in general. The majority of people who inhabit the Journal comments are xenophobic, Brit hating armchair republicans.
@The Firestarter: aren’t the xenophobia in bed with the loyalists?
@The Firestarter: Do the attendees at EP fall into the same category?
@Brendan O’Brien: oh my lord you wet wipe lol
@Finian McG: yeah can you name one?
@Daniel Killeen: I nice British name these days is muhammad ﷺ
@Brendan O’Brien: its a song, you tit
@Brendan O’Brien: What? When I think of all the deeds that they have done.
@Brendan O’Connor: right…it’s the language you’re currently speaking…you know,the language that was forced on our ancestors. You really have a lot of reading to do.
@Brendan O’Brien: make sure you iron that blue shirt in the wardrobe.
@Brendan O’Brien: But it’s not just rebel songs, your posts reek of vitriol towards Ireland and all things Irish!
@Argus Romsworth: You obviously never read any of her work and from the tenor of your posts I’m pretty sure you definately never read any Joyce.
No offence but I imagine it a tad above your pay grade.
@Mies Valkenburg: “definately”, lol. Someone trying to be smart.
@Argus. What condition was the site left after the gig? Is this also a part of your ( republican ) culture?
@Vincent Alexander: have you ever been to electric picnic? The whole place is left covered with waste, nearly all plastic. It has nothing to do with the artists and their music genre.
@Vincent Alexander: same can be said about about the Dublin marathon
@Setanta O’Toole: Christy Moore?
@Daniel Killeen: Maybe a British name like Frederic Weatherly the English man who wrote “Danny Boy” or even Philip Lynott the English man born in West Bromwich. For the record, I don’t agree with Brendan O’Brien’s comment either, but this incessant Brit bashing is the acceptable face of racism to the likes of you.
@Vincent Alexander: It was their followers that left the rubbish. Some of them were claiming this was part of our culture singing rebel songs. Apparently civic responsibility is not.
Can’t bait a few pints of Guinness on a Sunday and a few rebel songs. Graffiti on the wall
@James Rowan: arthur guinness would be spinning in his grave, if he knew people were listening to and supporting Irish rebel songs whilst drinking his slop. Try a real Irish drink next time.
Joe Duffy will be fuming eating his Yorkshire puddings tonight
No, I don’t like them.
But I love that they make Joe Duffy apoplectic.
@Gavan Hogan: now you ve said it !
@Gavan Hogan: Don’t forget Kevin Myers.
Ive seen some low life polls from this mob over the past few years, ones to try and divide over covid and the likes but now they have stooped to the fox news level of asking about rebel songs…..classy!
@Tom Newell: ‘Divide over Covid…’ 90% of Irish people got vaccinated, 5% couldn’t, and 5% refused to because they watched a video on Facebook, there was no ‘divide’, lol!
@Tom Newell: Pay no heed. The universe is simply doing its thing. Dance.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: source
@Jacintha Dumbrell: 90% were thick.
@Brian O’Grady: HPSC COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake in Ireland Reports
@Jacintha Dumbrell: what did I say about vaccines, I meant pointless polls about masks, social distancing like completely stupid things that were already set in stone but sure getting the people wound up for a row on here was great to see…..
@087 bed: Ah yea, the overwhelming majority were wrong, were sheep, whilst the minority, the ones who refused to follow guidelines, gathered and spread COVID further most likely resulting in deaths, they were the smart ones ? Muppet.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: anfd thousands more could barely get access to some reasonable coverage thanks to the dystopia pushed by everyone from the spindo, to newstalk. Delighted I had no boosters. Not going to happen either and the adverse reactions are very real
When they are popular at Electric Picnic then you know they are just another fashion accessory, like kneecap. Paddywagon version of music. Rebellion turned into money.
@Alan: who cares, their music has a feel good vibe, if it takes our minds of things for a while sure ain’t they worth it, you don’t have to be anti Brit to enjoy them
@Alan: Bang on.
The more people who die for Ireland the louder the cash register
@H Woo: I’m not saying that. In fairness to the Wolfe tones they donate to the Peter McVerry trust. I just think it’s a case of history being reborn as light entertainment and fashion. PR and marketing will capitalise on anything these days. Kneecap a good example of this. Early hip hop and rap did the same thing in the states. Ghetto chic and the ‘hood’.
@Alan: just because you don’t listen to hiphop doesn’t mean everyone else has been duped by clever marketing. You wouldn’t say everyone who likes coldplay is a proruct of clever marketing.
@Setanta O’Toole: I do listen to it and have been for a long time now. Anybody else who listens to it would probably make the same point. Unless they came in after it started being more about merch and social media bling and booty. It’s time has come and gone really, though I still enjoy some bits and pieces released recently.
@Alan: well donating to PVT used to be a moral and noble thing. Now the people who do are donating to more fat salaries and people who cannot be trusted
The virtue signal index is high here today. Rebel songs can’t be allowed as they ignite patriotism are remind us we repelled invaders before. All the Best.
@087 bed: sure the ‘patriots’ who believe they ‘repelling invaders’ now surely dissaprove of rebel songs aswell, what with many being so close allies with staunch loyalists and all.
@087 bed: “We”. You’d be hiding under your bed.
Well the way some have being going on the last few weeks including the journal I m surprised they not describing the listers as far right wing and calling for them to be banned.
@Be Lucky: You must spend a lot of time being surprised.
@Brendan O’Brien: I do life’s full of surprises
And an outbreak of rebel culture in Donegal too. Up the rebels, and I don’t mean Cork!
Depends, if they’re glorifying terrorism, then absolutely not. Sad thing is that most of the younger people who are jumping on this bandwagon have no clue whatsoever. My 20 year old daughter thinks the Wolfe Tones are great, yet she hasn’t a clue when it comes to history, which is also quite sad. I also find it quite sad that in 2024 where we are a modern, successful nation that can hold our head high on the International stage, that so many people still feel the need to openly display their anti-Britishness by singing these pro IRA songs.
@The Firestarter: the instagram republican army!
@The Firestarter: Yawn!! We used to sing anti British army songs as kids, ‘real made up anti BA songs’ lol! When I look back at what we were singing it makes me laugh tbh, yet none of us would have hurt a fly, they were only words and music
@The Firestarter: Well said
@The Firestarter: I disagree. I think it’s good that the young people know nothing about the troubles. It was a harrowing time but there’s no need to revisit it for those who didn’t have to go through it.
@Colette Walsh: every reason to know history. And from all points of view not just one side
NOTHING to do with Music, so No
Three old farts stuck in the past, terrified to haul their hoops into the 21st century
@Fintan Pox: Those who forget their history, we didn’t charm tye British out of the 26 counties as sone like to think and you expected Nationalists in the north to accept being abandoned by the south in a sectarian state? History is for everyone, read it before emarrassing yourself and you’ll know that it was always Ulster that sent down men to protect the Irish, be it from Elizabeth or Cromwell, or maybe realising that the majority of leaders in 1798 were Protestants, ignorance can take a hold very quickly.
@Brian D’Arcy:
Maybe if your Grand daddy fought a bit harder, maybe if the Northern Bragade had Not matched south and sided with the Pro treaty side things would have being so different for the north.
@Fintan Pox: stuck in the past? You must have missed what the Irish population were put through in even the fairly recent past in Norn in. And you’re a cl own with everything you type as you proudly turn a blind eye to your FF wrecking our economy
We need to start writing some new ones against our new oppressors our own Government!
Looks like the majority like them so much for the sisy government trying to sniffle these songs with their new laws
I could never get my head around: “Come out ye Black & Tans, come out and fight me like a man!”
The IRA did everything they could to avoid ‘open’ battles, relying on flying columns and ambushes. It’s a rattling good tune, but historically dubious!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: There are three mentions of Killeshandra in the Bureau of Military History witness statements (36,000 pages). The only one involving any action is ‘My brother Tom and a party of the Drumbrade Company raided the premises of the Killeshandra Creamery stores and took from it about eight or ten new bicycles.’
@Brendan O’Brien: In 1922, ex-RIC and Black and Tan soldiers were forced to retreat from Killeshandra after being given a few days warning to leave by the local IRA.
There’s a Wikipedia page about the song. (I can’t post links)
@sean mcnamara: Thanks for that. The source says “ex-RIC and ‘Black and Tans’ in Killeshandra and elsewhere were given a few days
to leave”. There doesn’t appear to have been any actual fighting there, though, in 1922 or previously.
Rebel songs are ok. It’s Nationalists I can’t stand. SF, DUP and Reform are all the same to me. – all thrive on division. All think their culture is better than the others. I wish people would stop believing them or funding them.
@Derick R M: well I think Michelle O’Neill is doing a hell of an inclusive job in the north, not to mention Martin McGuinness and co who took a hell of a chance to team up with an anti Irish anti nationalist loud mouth and go into government, they are not as divisive as those still stuck in 1690
@Derick R M: they don’t think their culture is better than another in Northern Ireland. They’ve fought state terrorism, constant anti democratic tactics from the DUP from a political side who have nothing but contempt for those who don’t agree with them, speak Irish and ARE Irish since thats a majority of young people in the region
@Marie Agnew: McGuinness or Paisley could never undo the sectarian division they entrenched. Both did well out of the 30 years terrorist campaign not like the innocent victims.
They’re just folk songs about stories on the formation of our state and the battles won and people lost. Every country has their own but they don’t blanket label them as controversial like we do.
“it’s not about the money, it’s about the story”
Re this topic: the debate between Fintan O’Toole and the Wolfe Tones, featuring Ian O’Doherty from the late late in 2002 is a funny watch and still on youtube. Great shithousery by the ‘tones constantly calling Fintan ‘Finbarr’.
The Devil is Dead is a good one.
This is great
https://youtu.be/dfFopsFofz4?si=qqlIPXbGdmGps-i7
Love The Wolfe Tones. That beingbsaid, I also love Liam Clancy’s rendition of The Sash My Father Wore.
If you ever get the chance to listen to bands on the twelfth you’ll be surprised how many of the tunes they play are actually rebel songs with their words changed for loyalist sensitivities.
@AnthonyK: The sash is an Irish song. It’s a distinctly Irish air. That’s the irony. A lot of hardcore unionists would hate it being referred to as Irish
The Wolfe Tones are awful. Terrible weedy voices plus they ripped off The Gap Band
Most rebel songs were well written when they had a reason, a bit like all other social commentary songs ..
@Dermot: That’s far to reasonable and balanced for the journal comments section! You need to write something incendiary and one sided to get lots of lives!! I gave you a like mate so your on 2 now lol
No. They are offensive to victims of terrorism.
Every man will be stand behind, the men behind the wire. As poetic as Yeats, Shakespeare or Marlowe.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill. I always thought that “Come out ye Black and tans” was a parody of Behan senior getting ratarsed and shouting at his Protestant neighbours and, by extension, a dig at all barstool “republicans”.
Irony seems to be a lost art
@Padraig O’Brien: That would make sense!
I like Irish rebel songs, even though there has never been a united Ireland.
It gives drunken Shinners something to dream about.
I also love Rule Britannia…what a piece of musical mastery!
Wolf Tones sing some songs of legends of our history ! History is never forgotten.
I’d imagine the shower in the Dail would hate them
@Billy Joe: correct. they are very Tory, as I was challenged on before but that individual is probably a Tory. FG = love the crown
The Wolf tones are a great pub-band. The North is part of the UK which is part of NATO and it’s status won’t change until long after Putin is gone.
The new woke world will try banning the Shamrock soon and homemade brown bread.
have your say