View from the Green Room: Dan’s authentic folk sound
Dan McCabe performed at Theatre Royal.
Singer/songwriter Dan McCabe connects with that sixties folk/traditional vibe that provided an alternative scene to the pop world of the Beatles and other groups. It’s a scene that attracted huge audiences worldwide with the high priests of folk – Dylan, Cohen, Seeger, Baez, Simon & Garfunkel et al.
At home, folk groups also performed to huge local audiences. The Clancys, Dubliners, Wolfe Tones, Planxty, Stockton’s Wing, Johnny McEvoy, The Fureys drove folk music forward and reinvented traditional folk.
Dan McCabe is the latest addition to this folk scene. He draws on the balladeers of a previous generation and is now attracting big audiences at home and abroad.
He started singing in his home town of Naas and then gigged across Kildare and Kilkenny venues before arriving at Temple Bar. He started gigging online during Covid and his traditional folk connected with an audience searching for a sense of shared identity.
Some of his online videos reached 12 million viewers, including the Áras. President Michael D Higgins invited Dan to perform ‘The Parting Glass’ after the Presidential New Year's speech as a tribute to all the people who have sadly passed away from the pandemic and his performance was a huge success.
Since then, Dan’s star has been in the ascendant. Multiple sell-out shows at Vicar Street and The Olympia and a rapidly growing international following, his rise has been nothing short of extraordinary. Three sell-out Australian tours earlier this year and he’s just kicked off his Irish tour tonight at the Royal.
"It’s been a hell of a journey," says Dan. In 2024, he released his debut album ‘Back to Life’, recorded in just two and a half days at the iconic Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin - a space that has hosted legends like U2 and The Rolling Stones.
Dan has a big local following and they’re here tonight in numbers. He’s not afraid of the banter and the craic either and when an audience member requests ‘Wonderwall’, the house cracks up. But…Dan is quick to point out that his three fellow musicians have all played in Dublin bands and are more than comfortable with Oasis.
"Still…not just tonight my friend…you’re in the wrong gig!"
Part of the charm of tonight’s gig is that Dan entertains requests all night long. And they come in lists because this audience are huge fans. ‘McAlpine’s Fusileers…Streets of New York…Marry the soldier…Grace…Caledonia…Spancil Hill.
Dan explains his technique: "When I sing a ballad, I become the character in the song…I inhabit the storyline and I make it my own…if there’s a tragedy there, I want you to feel it along with me."
When he’s ‘Walkin’ in Memphis’, we’re all ‘in the land of the Delta Blues’ and when he’s droning ‘Zombie’, he’s definitely ‘in your head’.
He’s got a fine angsty tenor as well; just like his hero Luke Kelly. When he sings ‘Sam Hall…Black Velvet Band …Raglin Road and Dirty Old Town’ the audience are in sync. More or less. That’s the ones who weren’t running in and out to the loos all night.
A final encore of ‘Sweet Sixteen’ and ‘Song for Ireland’ sees us out the gap and into the night.
Dan gave us a good night on the Mall.
