Twin Cities Irish Fest (August 9, 2026)

It was the final day of the Twin Cities Irish Fest.  And unlike the prior two days, it was going to be blistering hot.  How hot?  Well in the middle of his set frontman for Seo Linn Stiofán Ó Fearail told the crowd the three most important things of Irish Culture.  “The first is the Irish language.  Second is the music.”  Then he stopped and bent over.  “Jesus it’s hot!”

It wasn’t much cooler for the Irish Wolfhound I saw on my way to Harriet Island.  He was being carted to the island in a neon blue Honda Civic, the bulk of his frame completely filling the back seat, his head sticking out and his six-inch tongue flapping in the wind, already trying to cool down.  

We have seen the Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band, whether it was marching down 5th Street in St. Paul on St Patrick’s Day in 2025 or opening for Boiled in Lead at the Parkway Theater in March, 2026.  But it was my first time hearing them play more than a few songs.  And what I learned was a few traditional types of pipe music: marches, which are mostly played in parades, reels, which are fast and lively and encourage dancing, airs which are emotional and lyrical, and Strathspey, a Scottish dance with a slower highly stylized tempo.  A personal favorite was “Stream Train” which unlike most of the other songs had four intricate parts, creating an orchestral, almost cinematic sound.  

Surprisingly, some of the members put down their instruments and moved to the front of the stage to sing.  This is new for the band, but they sang a lovely rendition “Come by the Hills.” They also said they were expanding their choir ranks and looking to incorporate more songs in future performances.  

If there is a merit badge for Team Spirit for the TC Irish Fest, I think it should go to the next band that took the Main Stage.  I think Seo Linn are one of the few bands that played every day of the festival, even playing twice on Saturday with a kids show at the Celtic Junction Stage at Noon, then a 2:30pm set on the Main Stage.  

The Sunday set at 2pm was their fourth and the sun could not have been in a worse position.  It was laser-focused on Ó Fearail while Kev Shortall on accordion and Daithí Ó Ruaidh on keys and sax somehow escaped the blistering heat by remaining slightly in the shadier part of the stage.  The final member, Keith Ó Briain on bass and mandolin would also turn into a puddle of sweat along with Ó Fearail.

The reason Seo Linn put on a kids show on Saturday is that’s what they did before they became Irish rock musicians.  They were teachers who taught music and one of their videos with their kids caught fire on social media and launched them into a new gig.  

Like most bands at the festival, their sound has an underlying base of traditional Irish music, but with a propelling rock beat.  But it was just too darn hot for much dancing.  Still, Seo Linn put on a great set with a nice blend of traditional songs from “Rocky Road to Dublin” to “Óró ‘Sé do Bheatha ‘Bhaile”.  They played their own music like the new song “Open My Eyes” and the rousing “The Irish Roar” which was the official song for the Irish Football Association when they last qualified for the world cup in 2016.  (Sports was the final most important thing when it came to Irish Culture along with their native language and music.)

Then there were reels and jigs to keep the crowd moving, which wasn’t much until  Ó Fearail stopped the music with a “Wait!”  He then pointed to a couple who were matching the band beat for beat.  Ó Fearail took it as an opportunity to get the whole crowd into the spirit even if the temperature was close to 90 and the pints Guinness were in danger of being spilled. Afterall, Seo Linn means here we go in Gaelic.  

When I first looked at the lineup for the festival, my first and only question was “Tophouse?”

First of all, they are not from Ireland and second, they play more Americana.  But it was Celtic music that Will Cook on fiddle and Jesse Davis on guitar and mandolin first started playing together in a cold parking garage in Missoula, Montana because they liked the acoustics.  When Joe Larson on banjo and guitar and Andy LaFave on keys jumped in they moved more towards American folk music.  But a funny thing happened along the way.  I’ll let Will take it from there in an interview with American Highways:

Absolutely, Tophouse wanted to play at the Celtic festival, and along the way they have incorporated more Irish songs into their shows like “The Irish Rover” and “Belle of Belfast City.”  Jesse said the band recently moved to Nashville and said that it was illegal to play “Wagon Wheel” in the city limits, which led to a question:  “Is it tacky to play “Galway Girl”at an Irish festival?  Jesse said that it didn’t matter how the crowd answered, they were going to play it anyway. 

We had a chance to see Tophouse at the Fine Line in December, 2024, and it was one of my favorite shows to cover because they were so funny between their songs.  On Harriet Island they seemed more assured in their music and played great original songs like “The Ballad of Michael Light” “Wine or the Weather” and “The Mountain Song.”  They even had a rousing ballad called “RUN” which seems to have the storyline of John Ford’s Western “The Searchers”  but from a female’s perspective.

Funny thing about that name of the song.  As soon as it was over, Joe said he broke a banjo string and said these guys will play a song before dashing off the stage with Andy not far behind.  He was pointing to Will and Jesse, and so the group was again a duo and off they went improvising with Jesse laying down the tracks with his guitar and Will fluttering about with his fiddle.  It was like they were back in that cold parking garage in Missoula.  It was also a highlight of the weekend to see musicians doing what they do best: improvising in the moment and having a grand time along the way.