A pub in Wexford recently sparked outrage on a national scale as they banned a popular local musician for playing Irish rebel songs.
Following two complaints about the playing of rebel songs, the Crown Bar in Wexford made the hasty decision to ban local musician Luke Whitty from playing rebel songs.
This was despite the fact that the vast majority in attendance enjoyed the music and had no issue concerning rebel songs being played.
When Luke took to social media to explain the situation, his post went viral, with people outraged at the actions of the Crown Bar.
Luke Whitty – a popular local musician
Luke explained, “[They] gave me the option to continue to have gigs, but under the restrictions that I was not allowed play rebel tunes ever again, to which I replied, ‘I am a proud Irishman, and nobody is going to tell me what I can and cannot sing’.
“[They] responded by saying, ‘If that’s your beliefs, then you are no longer welcome,’ and then informed me that my gigs for the foreseeable future were no longer required”.
Luke revealed that he had absolutely no intention of returning to the Crown Bar to play again despite their eventual apology and invitation to come back.
“It’s damage control for them at this point. As far as I’m concerned, I’m done with them. How could I play a gig in there, feeling every song was being monitored? I couldn’t go back,” Luke explained.
The talented musician also mentioned that ironically, since being banned from playing in the Crown Bar for playing rebel songs, his phone has been “buzzing” constantly with offers from pubs not just all over Ireland but even throughout Europe to play at their venues.
Crown Bar – caused outrage on a national scale
In response to Luke’s post on Facebook, the Crown Bar wrote, “Firstly, we would like to extend our sincere and full apology in relation to the phone call you had yesterday with one of our managers and the stance that was taken during this conversation.
“The call was made in response to a customer complaint he received in relation to the nature of the music you were playing on the Saturday evening. The manager now fully appreciates he overreacted during the conversation, and he regrets the offence caused.
“Our intention and desire is to always provide an enjoyable atmosphere for both our customers and artists at all times.
“We would love the opportunity to speak to you in person; we did try to reach out to you yesterday to apologise. Clearly, it was not our intention to cause any annoyance, but we now fully understand how we did so.
“We have always enjoyed having you play in the Crown; this is unchanged. [The Crown] values your loyalty, and we sincerely hope you will consider continuing to play in Crown Quarter in the future.”
Irish rebel music – remains as popular as ever
Irish rebel music remains as popular as ever and may even be on the rise again, with rebel bands such as the Wolfe Tones being at the peak of their popularity, especially with the younger demographic, as was evidenced at this year’s Electric Picnic festival.
As shown by the situation between Luke Whitty and the Crown Bar in Wexford, which sparked local and national outrage, the Irish people still take their love of rebel music very seriously as an integral part of their culture.
Woe betide any person or business attempting to get in the way of that.
