Lunasa news

Lúnasa September 2023 Newsletter



Hello all! We've just had a nice break from the touring life. Joanie Madden's fantastic cruise to Nova Scotia and the amazing 50th anniversary of Wheatland Festival in Michigan were a great end to a summer where it finally felt that the festival season was back to normal. Our focus now turns to the winter, first of all Japan in late November and then our US Christmas tour with the great singer and guitarist Dave Curley from Galway.



As we mentioned last month, our major announcement for 2023 is that we’re going to Japan in November to record a live album in the historic city of Kyoto! We’ve always had a special connection with Japan since the earliest days of the band and with Yoko Nozaki and our Japanese record label Music Plant. We’re therefore very excited about this endeavour which coincides with 25 years on the road for Lúnasa. The time is drawing close so we've been rehearsing like mad recently to come up with new music, and our plan is to have the album released for our March 2024 US tour. We'll also be doing a series of concerts in Japan with our great friends Dervish and one of Ireland's greatest stepdancers, David Geaney. You can read more about our Japanese recording project here. After Japan, it's straight to the US and all of our December concerts are now on sale with details below. Most of our Feb/March tour is booked too so please check our website as we'll be adding gigs as they go on sale. Our Bandsintown page is a site that sends alerts when we're in your area.

Japan Nov 2024
Nov 26 Tokai City, Japan
Nov 27 Kyoto, Japan
Nov 28 Kyoto, Japan
Nov 29 Kyoto, Japan
Dec 1 Hyogo, Japan
Dec 2 Tokyo, Japan
Dec 3 Tokorozawa, Japan

US Christmas Tour w/Dave Curley

Dec 8 Cumberland, RI Blackstone River Theatre
Dec 9 Boothbay Harbor, ME The Opera House
Dec 10 Rockport, ME Shalin Liu Performance Center
Dec 12 Portland, ME One Longfellow Square
Dec 13 Boston, MA The Burren
Dec 14 New York City The Sheen Center
Dec 15 Hampton Falls, NH The Word Barn
Dec 16 Plymouth, MA The Spire Center
Dec 17 Northampton, MA Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity

In other news, our piper Cillian is about to release a new cd along with Co.Mayo fiddler David Doocey, member of the band Grada and brother of Patrick who will be on the Lunasa Christmas tour. The cd will be released in November but they are doing a number of US gigs in support of it.

Cillian Vallely & David Doocey Oct-Nov 2023

Oct 29 Alexandria, VA The Lyceum w/Dave Curley
Nov 1 Boston, MA The Burren w/Dave Curley
Nov 4 Charlottesville, VA BRIMS (plus workshops)
Nov 9 Portland, OR House Concert w/ Alan Murray
Nov 10 & 11 Yachats, OR Yachats Celtic Festival w/ Alan Murray

www.cillianvallely.com/




That’s our news for now but keep an eye on the website or follow us on Bandsintown which is the single best way to get updates on a show in your locality. Please also check our Facebook and Instagram pages with updates from the road, we'll be posting lots of photos and videos as we go along.

All the best, Lúnasa


The cd store on our new website remains open and big thanks to all of you who have been continuing to buy our recordings. Your support means a lot! https://www.lunasamusic.com/music

"superbly executed....truly one of the band’s finest albums" Irish Echo
"nothing short of dazzling" Songlines Magazine
"4 Stars" Irish Times