George Murphy & The Rising Sons

What to Expect

George Murphy, a folk performer with more than two decades of touring behind him, brings his eight-piece band The Rising Sons to TF Royal in Castlebar on Saturday 24 October 2026 for what the show calls “The Ultimate Session.” Formed in 2019, the band performs in a 360-degree configuration with the audience surrounding the stage, deliberately built to recreate the feel of a traditional pub session even though it is scaled up for a full theatre crowd. Murphy has shared stages over the years with The Dubliners and The Fureys, and the set blends classic Irish folk traditions with a more contemporary live energy rather than playing purely as a heritage act. It is a genuinely different staging format from most of TF Royal’s autumn concerts - the surround setup changes how the room feels compared with a standard front-facing stage - so expect a more communal, session-like atmosphere even in a large room. Doors open at 7pm for an 8pm start, with unreserved seating throughout. Murphy’s own history performing alongside The Dubliners and The Fureys places him firmly within the generation that carried Irish ballad and folk music onto international stages, and The Ultimate Session format is his own response to how that music is traditionally experienced, in a circle rather than facing a stage. The room itself is large enough to make the 360-degree format a genuine undertaking: TF Royal’s main theatre holds up to 2,200 seated or 4,000 standing across a 3,200-square-foot stage, the biggest venue of its kind outside Dublin. It grew from the Royal Ballroom, which opened in 1961 and switched to a dedicated concert-theatre format in 1999, and now has a 3-star hotel and its own multi-storey car park attached.

Good to Know

• Date: Saturday 24 October 2026
• Doors: 7:00pm | Show: 8:00pm
• Price: From €33 (plus booking fees)
• Format: 360-degree “session” staging with the audience surrounding the band
• Tickets: TF Royal box office or tfroyal.ie
• Seating: Unreserved
• Payment: Cashless venue, card only

Getting There

TF Royal is on the Old Westport Road on the edge of Castlebar, with on-site parking and a multi-storey car park nearby. Castlebar sits on the N5, roughly two and a half hours from Dublin and an hour from Galway, and is served by Bus Eireann from Dublin, Galway, Westport and Ballina.

While You’re in Castlebar

The Green Room Bar & Restaurant on site is a straightforward option before the show, or the town centre has its own spread of pubs and restaurants a short drive away. There is more to see in Castlebar and across Co. Mayo.