Rising Sons at The Civic: Genre-spanning, energetic show

George Murphy and the Rising Sons will be bringing their genre-spanning, energetic show to the Civic Theatre stage on Saturday, February 19.

Irish folk music, sometimes with a rock’n’roll edge, is a mainstay of the band’s output, led by George Murphy who previously wowed the nation when he performed powerful renditions of Luke Kelly songs on RTÉ’s ‘You’re a Star’.

George went on to release four solo studio albums and toured with The High Kings for a time, before assembling a team of musicians from music sessions that he held in his local pub in Santry in 2018.

The eight-strong collective of amateur musicians, known as the Rising Sons, have formed a strong bond over the years and are all united by their love of music.

“The guys that play in the Rising Sons are from all walks of life,” George told The Echo.

“We have a school teacher, an electrician, a painter and decorator. They all have their day jobs but they all happen to be brilliant musicians as well.

“They chose a different path in life and they only play music for the love of playing music.”

Their love of music is apparent at the band’s electrifying gigs, which sees them creating an atmosphere that matches the excitement of the audience.

“We’re an eight-piece band made up of electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjos, mandolins, bass guitar, that make a wall of sound,” said George.

“We put on a show that blows people away, I think. We’ve got slow, powerful ballads, but we also have the ability to turn it up and go full rock’n’roll.

“We push the parameters of folk music and veer into rock’n’roll.”

George Murphy and the Rising Sons are excited to return to the Civic Theatre stage again later this month, after they played a show there in 2019 which was a high point during that tour.

“It was arguably the best show of the tour,” added George. “We’re a Dublin band and getting to play for a Dublin crowd is always good, but we’re from the other side of the city.

“We didn’t think the show would sell out, but we arrived to a sold-out audience of genuine fans of the band. They were cheering for us before we’d even played a note.”

The band are now looking forward to once again returning to the Civic Theatre stage, as part of an 11-date national tour, and receiving a warm welcome from a Tallaght audience.

George Murphy and the Rising Sons will perform at the Civic Theatre on Saturday, February 19, at 8pm. Tickets are €26 and are available at civictheatre.ie