Ireland’s next big thing on playlist pop and lessons learned touring with Niall Horan

Wild Youth have been widely tipped as the country’s next big thing. They tell Ed Power about their unashamed pop leanings and what they learnt from touring with Niall Horan.

IRISH rock is having the ultimate feelgood moment. Picture This — the first band to put “Athy” and “superstars” in the same sentence — will this year play five nights at the 14,000 capacity 3Arena. Kodaline, derided early on as a watered down north county Dublin Coldplay, have bounced back with their third number one LP. And Hozier was recently singled out for praise by noted influencer / former US president Barack Obama.