Kingfishr review: 'Killeagh' returns to its native county for a fine night at Musgrave Park
Kingfishr lead singer Eddie Keogh onstage during their sellout performance in Musgrave Park (Virgin Media Park). Picture: Chani Anderson
How better to kick off the Musgrave Park (Virgin Media Park) 2026 summer series than with two successive nights of Kingfishr?
The standout heroes of the current Irish folk revival, Kingfishr find themselves in the driving seat of a deeply unlikely retro revival, with their fan base dominated by twentysomethings, but with a handful of diehard greybeards suggesting a timeless quality to the band's appeal.
Eddie Keogh (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica), Eoghan 'McGoo' McGrath (banjo, guitar, backing vocals) and Eoin 'Fitz' Fitzgibbon (guitar, backing vocals) — to use the names their mammies know them by — bring great talent and a brand of passion for trad that we thought we’d never again see enjoying such a global wave of popularity.
The three lads, who met studying engineering together in University of Limerick in 2017, have come a long way in just a few years.
They walk onstage as 9pm approaches.
"How are we doing down the back? How’re we doing at the front?" asks Eddie. The crowd is roaring, clapping along on cue before any fireworks really kick off.
"We were here three years ago as support, and now we’re getting to do two nights like this. What is going on, Cork!?"
They're straight in with gems including , and
“Sláinte Cork,” says Eddie, adding of the latter track: “This is the first song we ever recorded.”
Just 15 minutes into the show, the trio walk out into the crowd and up onto a mini stage.
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"Three years ago, we were given the gift of a bottle of whiskey. We said if we made it back here, we’d open it with you," they reveal, before performing .
"Sláinte, we love you Cork."
It’s clearly mutual.
They possess that rare gift of writing songs with lyrics that hit you in the heart, coupled with melodies that set your toes involuntarily tapping. Songs like and have an immense charm.
All decent stablemates for the truly epic , their heartfelt ode to club-level Gaelic football, rendered all the more emotional by its powerful embrace of the lower grades of the parochial game. With 60m streams and counting, really is an unstoppable train.
It somehow sounds sweeter than ever tonight, being sung in the county that spawned it by thousands of kids in GAA outfits, teens in tracksuits and - loudest of all - the mums and dads bursting with pride and pleasure in the midst of this wonderful shared experience.
There’s a real stirring beauty to the music these three lads play. They have a rare gift.
Don’t wait three years until the next time, lads.
A nod also to Dublin support band The Scratch, whose blend of Irish trad, rap, and metal stoked the patriotic fires nicely on a nippy night; well worth catching for anyone heading to Kingfishr for their second sold-out show on Friday evening.
Next up for the Musgrave Park series is Kodaline on Friday, June 19.
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