After an incredible career spanning six decades, The Wolfe Tones are set to retire.
Formed 60 years ago, The Wolfe Tones have just announced that they will hang up their hats after their shows in Belfast and Dublin in October 2024.
These gigs at Belfast SSE Arena and Dublin 3Arena are a part of their 60th anniversary tour.
They also announced that they will perform a gig at Galway Airport as part of Galway Summer Sessions on 23 August next year. Tickets for this gig go on sale on Friday, 17 November at 10 am.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, the band said they want to “go out on a high” after a very successful career.
The Wolfe Tones are retiring after 60 years – “It’s been absolutely amazing.”
Saying they want to “go out on a high” after such a successful 60 years in business, band member Tommy Byrne said he and fellow members Brian Warfield and Noel Nagle are in agreement on the decision.
“I never thought that we would go on so long,” he said. “It’s been absolutely amazing, but I’m 80 next year and I think that would be a good time to stop.
“I brought this motion to Brian and Noel and they agreed. To go out on a high like this would be a great tribute to the band”.
The Wolfe Tones – a career spanning six decades
The Wolfe Tones’s career kicked off in Dublin in 1964. Their songs include hits like ‘Celtic Symphony’, ‘Irish Eyes’, ‘Grace’, ‘Streets of New York’ and ‘Come Out Ye Black & Tans’.
The band takes its name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, as well as the double meaning of ‘wolfe tone’ – a sound that can affect instruments of the violin family.
The band is made up of three members – Derek Warfield, Tommy Byrne and Noel Nagel to form the world’s most popular Irish folk group of all time.
Recent success and headlines – going out with a bang
In September this year, the band delighted fans and shocked music lovers when they performed to the biggest-ever crowd at Electric Picnic’s Electric Arena in the festival’s 19-year history.
An Electric Picnic spokesperson at the time said: “The Wolfe Tones drew the biggest crowd ever in the Electric Arena, with fans enjoying the music inside and outside the tent, singing along to every song”.
Also, in August, the band’s lead vocalist, Brian Warfield, clashed live on air with Joe Duffy on RTÉ’s Liveline.
At the time, Duffy told Warfield that he didn’t want to hear “all the guff” about the meaning behind the firebrand chorus of “Ooh aah up the ‘Ra’” in their song ‘Celtic Symphony’.
