Andy Irvine is still going strong into his seventies

HE MAY have been 72 by the time it hit the record stores, but Gerry Quinn says musician Andy Irvine is justifiably proud of the CD and DVD of his 70th birthday concerts in Dublin’s Vicar St.

For the recording, the indomitable folk-singer brought together, over two nights, bands and performers with whom he has been associated to perform a pair of remarkable gigs.

The concept was to gather the various bands of which Irvine has been a member, starting with Sweeney’s Men. This was a trio that comprised Andy, Johnny Moynihan and Terry Woods. “Next up was one of my favourite bands, Mozaik, featuring Dónal Lunny, Rens van der Zalm, Bruce Molsky and Nikola Parov. Then, we had the incomparable Paul Brady, who was in fantastic form over the two nights,” says Irvine. “I’ve never seen him as ebullient. Paul is ebullient at the best of times, but he was super-ebullient on those nights.”