Wolfe Tones gave Kylie Minogue a miss after epic Electric Picnic performance - and they explain why
Exclusive: Legendary band members Brian Warfield (78), Tommy Byrne (80), and Noel Nagle (80) gave a phenomenal performance on Sunday
THE Wolfe Tones were so exhausted after their Electric Picnic set for the festival’s 75,000 revellers that they went straight home and gave Kylie Minogue a miss.
Legendary band members Brian Warfield (78), Tommy Byrne (80), and Noel Nagle (80) gave a phenomenal performance on Sunday – after driving for over four hours to get there.
The world’s most famous republican band had driven 330kms from Letterkenny in Donegal after headlining a festival there on Saturday.
READ MORE:Olympic hero Kellie Harrington joins the Wolfe Tones on stage at Electric Picnic
The three elderly Irish rockers went straight to the Electric Picnic site at Stradbally in Co Laois the next day as part of their 2024 farewell tour. The band, which formed in 1964, announced last year that they are to retire after 60 years at the top.
But many who claimed their evening slot in the sun at Electric Picnic should have been the closing headline – instead of world super star Kylie Minogue (56) - have pleaded for them to continue
The band’s youngest member Brian told the Irish Mirror that they would “have a discussion” if there was an invite to the Glastonbury music festival in England. He said: “Electric Picnic was fantastic. The crowd were fabulous, they really were.
“I couldn’t believe the amount of people. It was incredible. The weather was amazing and we were very humbled by it all. It was fantastic. You would have divided opinions on a headliner, but it’s nice of them to say so. We didn’t meet Kylie. I went home straight after our show. I was very tired after playing in Donegal the night before.
“I got home early enough and I’m now nearly back to normal. We had just arrived in Stradbally that day after going down from Letterkenny. It’s a long drive down.
“I had to stop in Monaghan for a coffee and then carried on. If I didn’t have a coffee, I don’t know. I needed the coffee to keep me awake.
“It’s a tough drive. But the crowd were great when we got there. They sang Celtic Symphony louder than us. They were fantastic, they really were.”
The band’s performance at Electric Picnic made history for attracting one of the biggest crowds in the 20-year history of Ireland’s biggest festival. Brian said: “It’s great to see the interest in us from young people. We have brought on every generation, going back to the ’60s.
“We’ve always had a young following and now we have a following from aged nine to 90 and that’s great to see. Everyone is enjoying the shows and hearing about the Irish story from an Irish perspective and the Wolfe Tones are probably the only ones who do that.”
He added: “A lot of people are insisting that we add on another year, but I don’t know if that could happen or not. Tommy is saying, ‘That’s it’. I would be up for another live performance in 2025, but we’ll have to convince the other two. Glastonbury was spoken about in the past, but you never know. It would require us to have a discussion.
“We still have a lot to go yet this year. We’re really enjoying it. The crowds have been so responsive. It’s amazing the reception that we get around the country. It couldn’t be better.”
The Wolfe Tones now continue their hugely successful farewell tour with dates in Galway, Mayo, Derry, Kerry, Belfast, and finish up at the 3 Arena in Dublin.
Brian has an exciting musical called Celtic Exodus that will be performed in January at a 400-seat capacity theatre in Smithfield, Co Dublin. It is a tale of love within the Irish emigration story to America and is initially scheduled to run for one week.
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