Chasing Abbey // Cyber Celt World Tour // Tolũ Makay // Live Review // The Limelight // Belfast

Chasing Abbey // Cyber Celt World Tour // Tolũ Makay // Live Review // The Limelight // Belfast

So, this one has been on the radar for a while now, and whilst sitting watching the news pondering what I would do for dinner this evening, I was reminded that tonight is “Culture Night” in Belfast, so that usually means packed streets, lots going on and a sold-out gig at The Limelight Belfast for me with Chasing Abbey kicking off their Cyber Kelt World Tour on Irish soil before taking it overseas to educate the masses on how we do it over here!

In tow, Tolű Makay, an artist totally unknown to me, and, for some reason, with the theme of tonight’s show, I assumed another Celtic-flavoured artist; how wrong could I be? Completely, as it turns out, as she is a lady with strong R&B roots in her music; she comes out almost a cappella, singing what comes across as a religious-sounding prayer or hymn, not what I had on my cards at all tonight, but an interesting contradiction to what we have ahead of us. She takes us through a collection of soulful, R&B, and edgy rock-influenced numbers, at times mesmerising the Belfast audience into submission. It is Culture Night after all, and if you walk into any bar tonight you’ll have some kind of world music entertainment on your doorstep, but this was indeed unexpected! She has a stellar voice and uses it to great effect.

Photography: Mark McGrogan

The rise of contemporary Irish music has been gargantuan over the last few years; bands like Amble, Kingfishr, Dermot Kennedy, Cisn Du Crot, to mention but a few, have shone a light on the exponential talent we have in abundance here in Ireland. Recently, Belfast hosted The Fleadh, the largest celebration of Irish culture in the world, and over one million people poured into the streets of Belfast over a seven-day period to embrace the celebration. That in itself was quite an achievement, for a divided country, a border dividing an island, for Belfast to host such an event and for it to have the success it did says a lot about where Northern Ireland is in 2026.

Tonight will be a further celebration of that culture and a more diverse expansion as Chasing Abbey bring their electronica-infused trad music to Belfast’s Limelight 1. A sold-out show in Belfast means the lads will be in fine form before they take this show on the road and show the world what Ireland has to offer beyond the good old days of The Wolftones and Clannad. Don’t get me wrong, they paved the way, but today’s brand of traditional Irish music is anything but traditional! And Chasing Abbey are going to show us what that is on a cold wet night in Belfast in September.

So 9 pm comes around, and a lone masked figure walks out, taking his spot on a raised platform by the decks. Chasing Abbey take to the stage: Ronan Bell, Jonathon Byrne, and Ted Conway as Belfast erupts into rapturous applause!

The room is on fire! The crowd is eclectic, a mix of young and old, but this has definite Fleadh vibes! The craic is 90 as we say in Ireland, and the party has well and truly started! The songs are short and sweet, no drawn-out prog-tastic 7-minute numbers here; it’s fast and furious as the audience tries their best to keep up.

That’s the beauty of Irish traditional music at its very core: an emotive explosion that captures the imagination. Fuse that with electronica, and you have a seriously potent recipe to capture the imagination of everyone in the room, and Chasing Abbey do that magnificently. Their music has heft, a weight to the messages behind the lyrics. This world has never been as dark as it is right now: global conflicts, the Ommpa-Lumpa in the White House feeding disdain on a daily basis. The older I get, the more I know, the more I know, the less I want to know, but music gives us all that escapism, those moments of passion, joy and a sense of community that strips down language barriers, race, colour and creed, and you are just there, present in a room taking it all in together.

That is what a Chasing Abbey gig is all about: a room packed with like-minded people all here to let go, get lost in the music and dance their little hearts out to the thumping Celtic beats. I can see smiling faces far and wide; the room is literally bouncing from front to back, and there is a gent and a lady swinging each other round in circles off to the side of the main crowd, showing everyone how it should be done.

With the new album ‘Cyber Celt’ having just dropped, the lads are on fire; they orchestrate the room and the bloodthirsty Belfast crowd can’t get enough, a soundtrack worthy of a stadium and a frenzy down on the floor worthy of the band’s reputation that has pulled a sold-out crowd back into the Limelight following the lads’ recent appearance at The Fleadh.  It is a sight to see, and one that, as a local lad, I fully appreciate: the music of this land has found a new, contemporary voice that new generations can appreciate, build on and toss out into the ether for all to enjoy. Chasing Abbey’s debut album is more than a statement of intent but a call to those with Celtic blood flowing through their veins, a call to arms, to stand up and be counted, and if ever there was a soundtrack for that, this is it.

Photography: Mark McGrogan

Cyber Celt is out now; you can order here: available now on limited edition coloured vinyl, standard vinyl and CD from www.chasingabbey.ie