Listeners reunite for summer gigs

A QUARTÉR of a century after they first came together in West Cork, three musicians have put the band back together for a limited number of performances this summer.

Paul Tiernan, Tony Davis and, Donagh Long have each had long careers in writing, recording and touring music.

Paul Tiernan is a singer and songwriter who is based in France and who has seven albums to his name.

Singer and songwriter Tony Davis has long worked as a studio singer, performing with the likes of Freddie White, Mary Black, and Moving Hearts.

Donagh Long is a songwriter and musician who has written songs for household names like Mary Black and Dolores Keane.

During the winter of 1998, when the three were living in West Cork, they came together as The Listeners, performing three-part acoustic and vocal arrangements of their favourite songs.

In the summer of 2000, The Listeners recorded Live at the Courtyard during their weekly gigs at that famous establishment in Schull.

Regular sessions over the following two years honed a performance that combined not just a vocal style but an energy, emotion, and joy in music which has lived on in all three artists since then.

The years since have seen all three musicians pursue their individual careers and lives, and now, in the summer of 2023, 25 years after they first came together, The Listeners have reunited for a limited number of performances in West Cork.

Tickets are still available for their gig in St Matthew’s Church in Baltimore on July 22; their gig in O’Regan’s Bar in Schull the following night is completely sold out.

A quarter of a century in the making, an evening with The Listeners has been described as an occasion that’s not to be missed.

The Listeners play St Matthew’s Church in Baltimore on Saturday, July 22. Tickets are available from live@stmatthews.com.