Irish party music in the Netherlands

Acting The Maggot has been playing the finest and best-known Irish party music since 2013. Although it often touches on traditional Irish folk music and the band also performs many traditional songs, it is too short-sighted to call the band an Irish folk band. Irish party music is what they make!

The title ‘Irish Folk Band’ often has a somewhat silly ring to it in countries like the Netherlands. While that need not be the case at all (think of Fiddler’s Green at Pinkpop, Ye Banished Privateers at Lowlands or Acting the Maggot themselves during De Wei In with Rowwen Hèze), we can imagine it a bit. But silliness is precisely not what the band members exude on stage. At any festival, wedding, corporate event or just a pub in your city, you will see the energy and party splashing off the stage.

Partying with Irish music

Maarten de Gans, singer and frontman of Acting The Maggot: “It’s not about singing or playing as beautifully as possible, although of course we do, for us it’s about creating a great afternoon or evening together with our audience. We love that. You can sing or play as beautifully as you like: if you don’t do it together with your audience, there’s not much to it for us. So although we certainly play ballads and make real folk music, Irish party music is a better label for what we do. Whether in front of an audience of Rowwen Hèze fans, in Beijing or in the theatre in the Netherlands: we want to party!”

Irish party music with a twist

This certainly also means that they sometimes add an Irish sound to other music. A remarkable choice to thus infuse songs by Muse, Foo Fighters and even AC/DC with Irish sounds. It gives Acting the Maggot’s performances an even greater party atmosphere. It has been written about many times and video website Dumpert has also shown many recordings of Acting the Maggot playing these variations of rock classics entirely live.

Irish party music history

Although Ireland is a relatively small country, it is a great music country. Irish party music has been played and played around the world for several decades. What about music by The Pogues, or more recently by Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys? The latter two have been at every major festival around the world for years: from Lowlands to Hellfest. But first we go a little further back in time, when party music was really folk music.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

Actually, we can say that contemporary music started with these musicians who actually lived most of their lives in the United States: The Clancy Brothers. So although all three were born in Ireland, they made Irish songs known in the United States where many Irish people had now found their home. From 1951, the eldest brothers (Liam and Paddy) were already performing in Broadway musicals. Later, the youngest scion Bobby Clancy also moved to Manhattan. They recorded an album of Irish rebel songs, The Rising of The Moon, in 1956. Increasingly, they were asked to perform their songs in pubs and the record became a hit locally. Five years later, they played with Tommy Makem on The Ed Sulivan Show and, like many artists, that led to a breakthrough. The programme was seen by some 40 million people, and by 1963 the men had become world-famous and performed on many television programmes. Thanks to them, Irish music found wider support and more bands were formed. The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem opened the door for other big names such as The Wolve Tones who recently gave their last performance in Belfast and, of course, the best-known Irish band The Dubliners.

The Dubliners

The Dubliners who have been around since 1962 (then called The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group) popularised Irish traditional folk music around the world and immediately brought out new songs that we can now also call traditionals. In 1963, they featured on the TV programme Hootenanny Already in 1967, Seven Drunken Nights by The Dubliners was broadcast on TV on the West German programme Beat Club and they performed on Top of The Pops in the same year, the first time an Irish folk band performed on this programme.

Although they were now banned by their own Irish broadcaster RTÉ (from 1967 to 1971) for allegedly singing too politically, they did perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in the United States in 1968: The world discovered Irish folk music. And with them, musicians who would follow in their footsteps.

The Pogues

One of the best-known party bands of recent decades from Ireland are The Pogues with their striking singer Shane MacGowan. He was born in Kent and soon moved to London where he grew up. As a young man, he was interested in language and literature by Fyodor Dostoevsky and James Joyce, among others. Besides literature, there were other interests that were a little less good for the head: drink and drugs. And early on, Shane was hospitalised for excessive use of the stimulants. This would haunt him throughout his life.

The Pogue Mahone

Importantly for music, he entered the London punk scene and started singing with his first band: the Nipple Erectors, or Nips. You can still see footage of a 1979 gig on Youtube. Three years later, however, he joined The Pogue Mahone, which would later become The Pogues. Pogue Mahone is a corruption of the Gaelic: póg mo thóin, meaning kiss my ass…. Typical of punks to call themselves that, of course, The Pogues mixed punk music with Irish influences. And partly because of Shane MacGowan’s writing, they came up with 5 studio albums. They released several songs, such as Fairytale of New York, Fiesta, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, A Pair of Brown Eyes, Streams of Whiskey, Boys from the County Hell. All written by MacGowan or co-written. They also recorded classics such as The Auld Triangle, The Leaving of Liverpool and The Wild Rover. In 1990, The Pogues stopped performing with MacGowan because of his constant drinking and drug use. Performed in Boston at Symphony Hall and, as Tommy Clancy said at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre in 1992, The Pogues were compared as a mix between The Clancy Brothers & The Sex Pistols.”

More Irish party music or Irish-based party music

Flogging Molly (USA), Dropkick Murphys (USA), The Boomtown Rats, The Fureys, The High Kings, Stiff Little Fingers, The Corrs, The Cranberries, The Saw Doctors, The Script, The Waterboys, Wolfe Tones, Clannad, The Rumjacks (Australia), Fiddler’s Green (Germany). Irish party music by Acting The Maggot Want to experience an evening of Irish party music yourself? Then make sure you come and party with Acting The Maggot. For instance, at one of their theatre performances around the country. You can also book the band yourself should you be interested in a party of your own. Whether at a wedding, a festival or a company party: Acting The Maggot will make it a party!

NOTE: This article was automaticaly translated using DeepL machine-traslations.