Twin Cities Irish Fest (August 8, 2026)

You couldn’t ask for a nicer day to hold an outdoor festival, and the crowds responded to the perfect summer weather by filling up Harriet Island early for the second day of the Twin Cities Irish Fest.  I came a little later to catch a few headliners at the main stage, three to be exact.  Two of the bands are new to the musical scene and were making their Twin Cities debuts.  Sandwiched between them was a band that has been playing for thirty years and still collecting fans along the way.  

When I made my way to the main stage, I heard the MC announce the band, and the introduction sounded like I was about to attend a monster truck rally:  “Let’s give it up for BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRD!!!”

The actual spelling of the band is Biird, which is a term for all things female.  Or as the founder and leader of the group Lisa Canny told the Irish World: 

Canny is a seven-time All-Ireland harp and banjo champion, and it was always her wish to form an all-female group founded in Irish music.  The group is more of a musical collective of thirty musicians Canny can draw from.  Think of the Wu-Tang Clan but with less baseball caps and winter jackets and more clothing that was inspired by the close proximity of the Irish Sea.  The group has in fact teamed up with a fashion designer from Cork, Rion Hannora, and I have to say that they were by far the best dressed group of the whole weekend.  

Out of the thirty musicians available, seven accompanied Canny to St. Paul.  And what a sight it was to see an Irish band solely populated with females.  Besides the seafoam colored dresses, it was their take on Irish folk combined with elements of all-girl bands like the Spice Girls, that won over the crowd.  Even though it was only their second show on their first US tour, they didn’t give the appearance of being rookies.  In fact, most if not all, were seasoned professionals who blended seamlessly into their new gig with their first album, Gold, yet to be released.  

A familiar face next took the stage when Patrick Murphy took the mic and told the crowd, “I’m so happy to be playing early.”  

I’m not really sure if he was joking, being that his band has usually been the headliners for most Irish music festivals, but then again, Gaelic Storm has been going at it since 1996.  

We have seen them multiple times over the years, the first a rare morning show at the Fine Line on St. Paddy’s Day 2014, and the last at the Pantages Theatre in March, 2025,  Murphy had a funny story about catching his flight the next day.  What he thought was an 8am flight was actually pm.  So he had an extra twelve hours to hang out as M… S… P!!!!!!!!

Like Vu mentioned in his Pantages Theatre review, Murphy seems to be more interested in cracking jokes and interacting with the crowd.  Between fan favorites like “Raised on Black and Tans” and “The Night Pat Murphy Died” he borrowed a harmonica from Eddie from Maple Grove and invited Riley on stage to dance and jockey during “Darcy’s Donkey.”  And he hilariously brought a St. Paul police officer onto the stage and asked him to tell the crowd what he said to him before the show.  The cop could only laugh, so Murphy told the crowd that the cop said to him, “You look a lot better than yesterday when you were on the street corner with a sign that said ‘Will work for beer.’”

It wasn’t all laughs.  Murphy gave his fellow musicians the spotlight a couple of times to take over while he stepped off the stage.  So Ryan Lacey on percussion, Peter Purvis on bagpipes and tin whistle, Natayla Kay on fiddle and Parker Hastings on guitar gathered in front of Lacey’s drum kit to briefly turn the main stage into a Dublin pub.

The festival had a slight hitch when one of the more popular bands of the weekend finished their early set and its fans started to stream for the merch table or head home.  The MC got on stage and hyped the next band for close to twenty minutes to remind the crowd that one of Ireland’s hottest bands was going to play next.  The problem is that the band who is currently playing to crowds in the thousands in Europe is still unknown in the United States.  But those who stuck around were once again treated to a young band that puts their own spin on traditional Irish Music.    

Chasing Abbey is from Tullamore and their take on traditional Irish music is to fuse it with the underlying currents of electronic dance music.  Like Biird they are pretty new to the music scene with their debut album Cyber Celt set to be released September 18. They have started an ambitious world tour with another stop in St. Paul on October 6 at the Turf Club, a show that is already sold out.  

Chasing Abbey consists of Ronan Bell on lead vocals, Jonathan Byrne on acoustic guitar and Ted Conway on banjo.  They were backed by a DJ wearing a deer mask.  And when they took the stage,  it felt an awkward transition to go from high frivolity with Gaelic Storm to a blend of electronica fused with traditional Irish music sung in the Gaelic tongue.  But there was a reason to have this band play last, because by the time the sun set and the stage lighting took over the music found a home with the crowd as everybody started dancing to a “Scartha” “Learning to Dance” and Saoirse Saoirse.”  

Midway through the show Bell told the crowd the origin story on how their band came to be.  Like most children in Ireland the trio of friends were trained to play traditional Irish music.  But as teenagers they found an affinity to create their own electronic dance music, creating beats in a shed on Byrne’s family’s property.  Then a town celebration for Bell’s grandma’s 100th birthday gave the trio a chance to dust off their instruments and the traditional songs, which posed a question for the group after the celebration was done:  What if they combined the two music styles?  

Based on how their show ended on Harriet Island, this band looks poised to win over new fans all over the world.