Perfectly timed for St Patrick’s Day, ‘Seven Drunken Nights: The Story of the Dubliners’ stopped off at the Usher Hall on their 2025 UK Tour. As the name suggests, this concert-style show tells the story of Ireland’s famous folk group, the Dubliners, with songs such as ‘The Irish Rover’, ‘Tell Me Ma’ and ‘Dirty Old Town’. The show was created with O’Donoghue’s pub where the original group used to perform.
The performance is made up of a talented group of musicians who bring the Dubliners’ greatest hits to life while also serving as narrators, teaching the lively audience how the group started out 50 years ago. The stage makes use of three different locations – a traditional Irish pub, a recording studio set and a section at the front left clear for the performers to come closer to the audience. The Usher Hall itself is a larger venue with a good sized set but I felt the performers often looked cramped, particularly in the pub set. While the lack of space is arguably realistic when considering a real pub in Dublin, it didn’t translate as well on stage and left the musicians boxed in during high energy songs.
A lot of the action took place in the pub during the show’s first half, switching between the music and anecdotes on the lives of the original bands. The dialogue moments made an attempt to replicate the traditional Irish Craic but often went on for too long and disturbed the pacing of the show. The performers did an excellent job in engaging the audience during familiar songs but then spent too long talking as fans eagerly anticipated another tune to sing along too. This was something that greatly improved in the second half when there was a better balance found between speaking and singing.
Ged Graham, the show’s creator and creative director, also stars alongside the younger musicians. He is full of excellent stories and his passion for the Dubliners comes across very well. We particularly see his skills as a vocalist during the song ‘The Town I Loved So Well’, a solo number for Graham. I would have loved to see him have more solo moments throughout the performance, but it seems the younger musicians have been pushed to the forefront.
While it would have been great for the excellent cast to have an opportunity to introduce themselves to the audience, they have built a fantastic musical ensemble, and their skills cannot be faulted. This is particularly the case for the young Luc Power, whose vocal talent is truly incredible. I couldn’t help but give him my full attention when he sang, and he has mastered the traditional Irish folk style of singing.
‘Seven Drunken Nights: The Story of the Dubliners’ is a perfect show for fans of the Irish Group. It is filled with great music and stories of their rise to fame. For those more interested in solely the music, they mind their minds wandering during some of the longer anecdotes, but it won’t be long before they are gripped once more by another song.
Reviewer: Dylan Mooney
Reviewed: 16 March 2025
North West End UK Rating: