Gaelic Storm Setlist

Whiskey Johnny
The Night Pat Murphy Died
Johnny Jump Up
Teacher’s Snow Day
Don’t Go for ‘the One’
Scalliwag
Johnny Tarr
Wake Me Up
Liverpool Judies
Northampton Pickup
Darcy’s Donkey
Kiss Me I’m Irish
— Encore —
Don’t Worry Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin cover)
Freeborn Man (Jimmy Martin cover)
Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver cover)
Tell Me Ma

Tour Dates

Mar 13 Menomonie, WI · Historic Mabel Tainter Center
Feb 28 DeKalb, IL · Egyptian Theatre
Mar 1 Dubuque, IA · Diamond Jo Casino
Mar 3 Des Moines, IA · Hoyt Sherman Place
Mar 5 Iowa City, IA · The Englert Theatre
Mar 6 Omaha, NE · Steelhouse Omaha
Mar 8 Madison, WI · Barrymore Theatre
Mar 9 Wausau, WI · The Grand Theater
Mar 11 Green Bay, WI · Meyer Theatre
Mar 12 Milwaukee, WI · The Pabst Theater
Mar 14 Chicago, IL · House of Blues
Mar 15 Chicago, IL · House of Blues
Mar 16 Akron, OH · Goodyear Theater
Mar 23 Wilmington, DE · Grand Opera House
Mar 25 Harrisburg, PA · XL Live
Mar 26 Northampton, MA · Academy of Music
Mar 27 Boston, MA · The Wilbur
Mar 28 Troy, NY · Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

Beloved Celtic band Gaelic Storm returned to the Pantages Theatre, in Minneapolis, last night, thanks to Sue McLean & Associates (SMA).

Opening the show was Twin Cities Metro Pipe Band, who was not listed on the official poster and show announcement. The large nine-piece band, dressed in Scottish highland traditional outfits, features mostly bagpipers with some snare drums and a bass drum. As you would guess, they played traditional Celtic instrumental songs.

Next up was Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band with Reverend Peyton on guitars, his wife Breezy Peyton on washboard, and drummer Jacob Powell.

The Indiana band is a country blues band, but I would also throw in a type of ‘driving’ Americana music as well. Peyton likes to write a catchy note and work around that in his song, like “Pot Roast and Kisses”, which was my favorite on their set. Peyton’s personal favorite was “Ways and Means”, from their 2021 album Dance Songs for Hard Times.

Peyton had at least seven guitars on stage, and he promised that they were going to use all of them (or at least try to get to all of them). One of the guitars was made out of an ax! It looks tiny … and deadly.

They played a couple of songs from their new album Honeysuckle (which came out in Feb 2025), including the title track.

They were pretty good, and very engaging. Hope to see them come back as headliner soon.

Gaelic Storm is on their “Roll out the Barrel” Tour… which is rolling out the barrel of fun. In fact, before the band took the Pantages stage, their walk on music was “Beer Barrel Polka” to get us in the mood for the theme.

The Celtic band started in Santa Monica, playing traditional Irish and Scottish music, as well as writing original Celtic folk and rock songs. Their music debut in the Titanic (1997) soundtrack, and since then have been bringing their music to a wide audience as a touring band.

We saw Gaelic Storm in August 2016 and wrote, “Celtic rock band Gaelic Storm lived up to their name, as they played through the storm… then came back for more— The occasion was the annual Irish Fair of Minnesota, held on Harriet Island, just south of downtown St. Paul, and where the band has played before to become a crowd-pleasing favorite. On the first of two nights, a summer rainstorm whipped about challenging the fairgoers, but Saturday night’s weather turned near perfect and the band and crowd were in a celebrating mood.”

Last year (2024), on Gaelic Storm’s “The Mighty Tour 2” with the band High Kings, their lead guitarist Steve Twigger stepped down due to health concern. Twigger officially retired in early 2025, so the current band features singer and harmonica player Patrick Murphy, guitarist Parker Hastings, drummer Ryan Lacey, bagpiper Pete Purvis, and fiddler Natalya “Netallica” Kay.

Murphy is very charismatic, often going very goofy facial expressions and always joking. Being the only original band member he does stand out a little, as the rest of the band looks very young, such as Natalya Kay standing beside Pete Purvis and Parker Hastings (who replaced Twigger).

In Gaelic Storm tradition, the band is known as being a live band. Many of the fans in the audience have seen the band at least once or twice… so they keep returning whenever Gaelic Storm is in town. They have a very strong fanbase in Minneapolis, so, of course, you can expect them to return on their next tour.