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Festival Performer Highlight: Black 47 (IrishCentral)

Wed, 15 May 2013 05:48:52 PDT

If you were at the first-ever Boston Irish Festival—during the days when it was held on the grounds of Stonehill College—you may remember Black 47 as one of the festival’s stand-out acts Since then, Black 47 has graced the entertainment roster at our festival several times, and returns to the stage at this year’s Boston Irish Festival on Saturday night, June 8thLed by Irish author, playwright, and songwriter Larry Kirwan, Black 47 espouses a thoroughly Irish form of rock ‘n’ roll, with raucous, heartfelt, and intelligent performances of songs covering topics from the Northern Ireland conflict to civil rights and urban unrest in contemporary New York Black 47 earned their chops playing the pub scene in Manhattan and self-producing their first indie record,Black 47, before converting The Cars’ Ric Ocasek to the cause and gaining mainstream attention with their second album, Fire of Freedom READ MORE

Who Speaks for Ireland? Rebel voices in “Blood” & “Dancing at Lunacy” (IrishCentral)

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:00:14 PDT

The sign at The Cell Theater entrance warns “TONIGHT’S PERFORMANCE OF ‘BLOOD’ AND ‘DANCING AT LUNACY’ CONTAINS THE SOUNDS OF GUNFIRE”Take that as a sign that there’ll be none of the season’s shamrock and leprechaun sentimentality, so brace yourself for a riveting duet of dramas on rebellious Ireland, each built around a trio of all-too-human, and in one case, quite inhuman, revolutionaries “Blood” by rocking Renaissance man Larry Kirwan, conjures a likely scenario for a mystery of the history in the run-up to the 1916 Easter Rising, while the aptly named “Dancing at Lunacy” tells of a helter-skelter clash of IRA operatives in an illegal drinking club in Belfast of 1984The opener, “Blood,” is a story of three key historical figures of the Easter Rising told in three scenes, the first brief vignette set in 1916 in Kilmainham Jail where, bound to a chair, is James Connolly (Ciaran Byrne)--common man, communist, head of the Irish Citizen Army—ruing the day he allied with his co-conspirators in the failed Easter Rising, cursing the Irish people who failed to rally to the cause:“Shower of bastards - spittin' at us and spatterin' us with horseshite as we were frog-marched out of the GPO and into this hellhole!”Scene Two goes the heart of the drama, a flashback to 1913 when Connolly disappeared, held in secret for three days by the rival Irish Republic Brotherhood READ MORE

Black 47’s Larry Kirwan explores in his new play 'Rebel in the Soul' (IrishCentral)

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 05:15:27 PDT

Larry KirwanBlack 47’s Larry Kirwan is internationally known as a rock ‘n’ roll rebel, but he is no stranger to the theater as wellHis play, 'Liverpool Fantasy,' a humorous take on the Beatles if they had broken up immediately and tried to reunite, was a hit in DublinNow he returns with a play of a different sort 'Rebel in the Soul' deals with the confrontation in 1951 between Dr READ MORE

Black 47’s tribute to New York punk rocker Joey Ramone (IrishCentral)

Fri, 27 May 2011 07:10:08 PDT

I’m still reeling over the blistering sets of songs offered up at Irving Plaza in celebration of New York punk rocker Joey Ramone of the legendary RamonesThe VIP balcony was like a CBGB punk pioneer reunion, with rock and roll hall of famers like Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz of Talking Heads catching up with old friends like Richard Hell of the Voidoids, the Stranglers, and Bebe Buell (model and mom to Liv Tyler, one of Steven’s kids) In the middle of it all was Larry Kirwan and the lads from Black 47, who played a blistering set of old and new songs to honor their old friend “Joey Ramone was one of the most gentle men I have ever met,” Kirwan recalls READ MORE

Getting funky With Black 47 - SEE VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:55:03 PST

Black 47 have certainly revolutionized Irish American rock with their political anthems, but I’ve always liked the more playful side of the bandA Funky Ceili gathers 18 party songs from all stages of their raucous career ranging from MTV favorites “Maria's Wedding” and “Funky Ceili” to such hidden gems as “Oh Maureen” and the autobiographical “Uncle Jim”"Fans have long been demanding an all out party album but the idea took hold when, driving home from Boston, I couldn’t find a CD to keep me awake but thought of over 30 Black 47 songs that could do the trick,” explains lead singer Larry Kirwan “And so -- A Funky Ceili READ MORE

New York Rock Band Black 47 and the Irish Famine Legacy (IrishCentral)

Mon, 10 May 2010 09:41:44 PDT

By: Aliah O'Neill

Think of any major event in Irish history and a song or two will spring to mind that describes the emotions of a people. Except, that is, for the Great Famine, which left its sufferers at a loss for words to describe their anguish and devastation. With the exception of “Skibbereen,” the musical dialogue between father and son about the 1848 Rebellion, until recently few Irish spoke of the Famine let alone wrote music about it. “‘Skibbereen’ is one of the few songs, and I think that was because they were such believers in God that when this devastation came, they just couldn’t believe it,” says Larry Kirwan, frontman for New York rock band Black 47. “It changed Ireland. It changed the Irish character, and part of that is reflected in the fact that there are no songs.”

Black 47: 20 and Still Going Strong (IrishCentral)

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:05:29 PDT

The French poet Jean Cocteau said, “Americans are funny people First you shock them, then they put you in a museum”Nowadays, you can’t swing a cat at an Irish festival without hearing some band doing their best to blend traditional Irish melodies with bone crunching power chords nowadaysFor some of our younger readers the idea of mixing traditional Irish melodies with rock and rap would be considered dangerous, but I really thought the world was coming to an end when I first saw Black 47 in the Village almost two decades ago READ MORE

Black 47 in rocking form with "Bankers and Gangsters" (IrishCentral)

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:00:40 PST

“I always resisted being pigeonholed and limited to this genre But what the hell, it just won’t go away and I suppose we have a lot to be responsible for in popularizing it Like every other original idea it inevitably becomes a victim of its own clichés This is what it looks like from the stage with a couple of shots aboard; now let’s take it to the cleaners READ MORE

IrishCentral voters name best Irish-American and Best Irish albums of decade (IrishCentral)

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:48:56 PST

By: KENNETH HAYNES

Read all about them! / Stories and videos on all the contenders / Click here

Legendary NYC Irish band Black 47 celebrates 20 years (IrishCentral)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:41:22 PST

By: IRISH VOICE NEWSPAPER

Legendary band Black 47’s New York City shows have been described as “a rite of passage for all New Yorkers.”

Black 47 Takes on the War (IrishCentral)

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:00:23 PDT

By: Mike Farragher

MARCH is the biggest month of the year for our bloodline. Everything Irish is hot for the party that starts now and ends sometime later this month. For one band, this month will be about telling stories from the front lines of the war. READ MORE