The Longest Johns at the Varsity Theater (October 26, 2026)

It was a cold, rainy night, dreary in fact, and there was no better band to go see than an English group from the port city of Bristol who have made their living singing folk songs and sea shanties.  

The Varsity Theater may not have been an English pub, but for the night it was home for a night of traditional drinking and singing.  It was definitely an unusual night for I saw a person dressed as a 1850’s HMS naval officer, washing hands in the grotto-shaped restroom while a 12-year old in a puffer jacket saddled up to the bar below to order daiquiri sans the rum.  It was going to be that kind of night where young and old joined in to sing songs much older than either of them. 

Seán Dagher took the stage carrying an Irish bouzouki and started into his first song, but quickly stopped because the crowd started to also sing along.  So it was a brief recap of Sea Shanties 101 where he said, “I sing. You respond.” And with everyone on board they sang “Rio Grande” but pronounced “Rye-Oh Grande” because that’s what English sailors did when they were on the open sea:  they mispronounced words not found in the Queen’s language.  

Then it was “Lowlands Low” and a rousing “Here’s to the Health of the Company.” And after “Hanging Johnny,” Dagher  properly introduced himself. He’s from Canada and sings folk music from around the world.  He also sings sea shanties and tavern songs, and he said that he’s made his living recording them for video games like Assassin’s Creed, Black Flag and Skull and Bones.  Then he sang a song from his latest video game collaboration, Windrose, the song being “Liverpool Judies” in which he again stopped and joked, “If you’re going to clap…”

The crowd may have not been in sync but by the time Dagher finished with “Randy Dandy O” the Varsity became a giant beer hall in which the whole room filled with singing voices, voices singing from the front row all the way to the back where a twelve year-old was enjoying a virgin daiquiri.  

After a brief intermission The Longest Johns took the stage to the theme song of SpongeBob SquarePants.   We last caught them at the 7th Street Entry in March, 2022 when they were supporting their Decca label album Smoke & Oakum, Vu noting:

The Longest Johns at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (09 Mar 2022)

The Longest Johns has some of the most diverse fanbase, from very old fans to the youngest fan (a 10 year old boy with his dad) to teenagers. The dance floor was completely packed. 

Four years later everything is pretty much the same.   They did leave Decca, though, and produced their latest album Ends of the Earth after a successful Kickstarter campaign.  They even started their set with the title from their new album as well as seven other songs from it that touched on themes of public hangings “Paddington Fair,” the downsides of whaling “Scrimshaw” and trains “The Mallard.”  

Even though The Longest Johns came to international prominence with their viral rendition of “Wellerman” they joked that they wanted to be also known as a band known for train songs.  In fact, they even played a three-part-harmony train whistle with Andy Yates, Jonathan Darley and Robbie Sattin.    

The three train whistles may have been the same note, but when it came to singing, especially the acapella encore, there was no greater rousing point with the group sans their instruments singing at full strength, the crowd joining in, everyone creating a communal moment of revelry while it continued to rain outside.  There was no better way to spend a dreary Monday evening.