Kodaline’s Steve Garrigan: ‘After Covid, walking out and seeing a crowd made me nervous’

Steve Garrigan has overcome his anxiety and panic attacks to front one of the best live bands in Ireland. A new live record captures the group in full flight 

Steve Garrigan and Kodaline.

Steve Garrigan has spent his career hiding in plain sight. As the frontman of Irish rock band Kodaline, he’s played arenas, headlined festivals and topped the charts on numerous occasions. But if he comes across confident on stage, once the lights go down he is very different. Face to face, he cuts a shy figure and does not feel comfortable being the centre of attention. 

“A lot of musicians and songwriters and creative people are kind of introverts. I suppose I am like that,” says Garrigan, speaking ahead of the release by Kodaline of a new live album, Our Roots Run Deep.