Review: Seven Drunken Nights - Theatre Royal Wakefield

During their five-decade reign, which ended in 2012, there were several lineups with 11 members in total.

The story of the band was told on the stage at Theatre Royal Wakefield by a six-strong group of musicians - The Seven Drunken Nights.

What made it even better was that it was St Patrick's Day, and the sell-out audience was in the mood for a great night out.

The band is named for the famous Dubliners song, which reached number 7 in the UK charts in 1967 and led to an appearance on Top of the Pops.

The brilliant six-piece band is made up of three guitars, two banjos and one fiddle, all highly accomplished.

Fiddler player Aidan Burke, for one, is a 20-time All-Britain and All-Ireland Champion in Irish traditional music. And the others all have impressive pedigrees.

Over two hours, they worked their way through the Dubliners' back catalogue with snippets of information about the band members, their lives and music. Vintage reels of Dublin life and old beer and stout adverts played on the backdrop throughout.

Lots of audience participation, including a lesson in clapping, made for a hugely enjoyable night.

Crowd pleasers such as I’ll Tell Me Ma, Wild Rover, Leaving of Liverpool, Paddy on the Railroad, All For Me Grog and one of my favourites, The Auld Triangle, were interspersed with traditional reels and jigs which got everyone’s feet tapping.

The second half was even livelier, though there were a couple of poignant numbers, such as The Town I Love So Well and Fields of Athenry.

By the time Whiskey in the Jar and Dirty Old Town came up, everyone was on their feet, dancing, clapping and singing along.

I’m sure I’d be right in saying that an enjoyable time was had by all, including the band.

The show was a great reminder of the band that introduced generations to Irish folk music and hopefully will introduce generations more.

sevendrunkennights.com