Schedule subject to change
Wire & Wood will kick off Friday night with a special performance from Wang Chung.
Wang Chung came out of the post-punk, New Wave scene in the UK, going on to achieve global success, selling millions of records. Throughout their 40 year career they have released 6 albums and 2 Greatest Hits compilations. They have had 6 US Top 40 hits including a number 1 and other international smash hits including ‘Dance Hall Days’ and ‘Let’s Go’, and achieved cult status with their soundtrack and score for legendary director of ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘French Connection’, William Friedkin’s movie ‘To Live and Die in LA’, as well as their original song contribution to John Hughes’ legendary movie, The Breakfast Club.
In the process of all of this (and somewhat unintentionally), Wang Chung became part of the contemporary culture of North America. Their huge smash ‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight’, with its now famous line ”Everybody Wang Chung Tonight” saw the invention of a new US verb: ”to Wang Chung”, the band being name-checked by everyone from Homer Simpson, Austin Powers, Two and a Half Men’s Char-lie and Alan Harper, Top Gear’s James May and Richard Hammond, to Frasier Crane to name just a few.
More recently, their music has also featured in TV shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, South Park, Glee, This is Us, SNL, and The Goldbergs, amongst many others…as well as in movies like Bumblebee, Deadpool, and The Fighter. They have also appeared in numerous prominent video game titles, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and numerous major commercials.
On the live front, they have toured extensively to great acclaim and continue to successfully ‘Wang Chung’ audiences all over the world.
In 2012, they ventured back into the studio to record an album of new material, called ’Tazer Up!’ In 2019, they released an album featuring orchestral reinterpretations of their biggest songs performed with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. It is called ‘Orchesography’ and is on August Day Records.
In July 2020, they re-recorded a special version of their number 1 US smash ‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight’, renaming it ‘Everybody Stay Safe Tonight’ in aid of the Covid-19 charity, Direct Relief.
The band’s most recent 2024 release is a deluxe anthology including their greatest hits and rare unreleased tracks called ‘Clear Light, Dark Matter.’
On Saturday night, the festival will showcase Gaelic Storm!
It’s hard to imagine a band just coming into its own after 20 years of success, but that’s exactly what makes it a true anomaly. Gaelic Storm, a multi-national, Celtic juggernaut, grows stronger with each live performance, and after two decades and over 2000 shows, they are a true force to be reckoned with.
The band attributes their continued success to their fanatic audience, and it’s a well-diversified crowd for sure – attracting fans of every genre with their rich storytelling, energetic instrumentals, devotion to Celtic traditions, and passion for their stagecraft. They are as loyal to their fans as the fans are to them, as frontman Patrick Murphy states, “The fans are the ones that have given us this life. We’re here for them.”
Gaelic Storm takes a true blue-collar, hard-nose approach to touring, consistently traveling the US and internationally, forging a unique path in the Celtic music world. “You have to see us live. We are the true working-man’s band,” says longtime member Ryan Lacey. “We still, and most likely always will, tour most of the year, and that’s how we constantly hone our craft.”
This dedication to their live show dates all the way back to the mid-1990s, when Gaelic Storm kicked off its career as a pub band in Santa Monica, California. One performance led to their discovery, which ultimately found the band appearing in the blockbuster film, Titanic (where they performed “Irish Party in Third Class”). This laid the groundwork for a career that would eventually find them topping the Billboard World Chart six times, making appearances at mainstream music festivals, and regularly headlining the largest Irish Festivals across the country, all while gaining a reputation as a genre-bending Irish rock band whose songs mix Celtic traditions with something uniquely creative.
Recent years have seen the addition of Natalya Kay on fiddle and Parker Hastings on guitar, who both bring their own energy, musicianship, and spirit to Gaelic Storm.
