Into Music Live Review: The Mary Wallopers

Concert: The Mary Wallopers 
Venue: Brixton Academy
Dates: 29 March 2025

The sense of anticipation as I and many others felt as we climbed the steps out of Brixton Tube Station was palpable. Exit stage right and then walk a couple of hundred yards to the (in)famous Brixton Academy where Dundalk’s finest, The Mary Wallopers were primed to play their biggest show to date. It literally was a cracking gig, (more of which later) but as I alighted the Victoria Line at London’s most vibrant terminus, my head was awash with a myriad of thoughts. How many people had walked those same steps to see an act at The Academy or to make a new life, filled with hopes and dreams? Friends, lovers, poets and perhaps some dirty louts. The laughter and wails of ghosts seemed to permeate through the thick walls. No doubt some of them fell into heaven and some of them fell into hell.

If you’ve read any of my reviews before you will know that I rate Glasgow’s Barrowland as the best venue in the world (and it is), but I’ll tell you what, Brixton Academy is right up there. I’ve been a few times including The Cramps and The Stray Cats, both of whom were amazing but it’s not often you go to an Irish hooley attended by around five thousand people, up for a party. Left, right, front and behind, everyone in attendance had a smile on their face, dancing, pogoing and holding on for dear life. I’m not one for a spin class or a gym bootcamp but ninety minutes or so in the company of The Mary Wallopers is akin to that, a proper work out.

Snaking our way down from the back, we found ourselves at the front of the stage. A gentle guitar intro and Charles Hendy’s lone vocal for thirty seconds or so before all hell broke loose as the band, driven by Ken’s drums, thumped and lashed to the heavens. When they broke into Bould O’Donghue. the feeling was what I imagine being inside a washing machine on full cycle to be like. And it was fucking magnificent.

Vocals were shared between the Hendy brothers, Andrew taking on Turfman From Ardee, a track where the sound was more expansive and the uilleann pipes provided a haunting sound that seemed to swirl in the air. Ever seen a duel without pistols? The Holy Ground was a bit like that, the band versus the crowd to see who could be heard the loudest and I’m not sure who won that playful bout but it was great fun all the same.

A few songs later and three special guests were introduced to the stage. Spider Stacy, Jem Finer and James Fearnley of The Pogues. I knew this was coming as I bumped into James in the foyer (as I had at their Finsbury Park gig in 1987, a gentleman then and a gentleman now) but that didn’t stop the sheer emotion of it all overtaking me as members of my favourite ever band were right in front of me, a special moment and a tear or two shed. However, what I hadn’t reckoned for was the crowd surge behind me as the trio came on. With nowhere else to go, I was slammed into the barrier and the wind momentarily taken from my sails. The adrenaline kept me going but I realised a couple of days later I now had cracked ribs – as I said at the start, it literally was a cracking gig!!! Greenland Whale Fisheries was a treat (with Spider’s command “fast as fuck lads“) as was Streams Of Whiskey and if you are lucky enough, you’ll have a ticket to see The Pogues and friends tour soon in celebration of their eponymous album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash.

Cod Liver Oil & The Orange Juice – a firm live favourite, went down well and their barnstorming take on The Merry Ploughboy was rumbustious fun before the set closing All For The Grog seemed to take the noise to a new level.

The Mary Wallopers live experience, the best workout you can have while having the best time with the best people. What a night!!!

………Oh we’re all off to Brixton in the green……………..

John Welsh

@welshjb

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