John Conneely Inc at Roisin Dubh

What to Expect

John Conneely Inc bring a late night jazz set to Roisin Dubh, working through a songbook that spans gypsy jazz guitar in the style of Django Reinhardt, torch songs associated with Nina Simone, and big band swing from the Cab Calloway era, alongside a run of contemporary material from the 1980s and 1990s reworked into a jazz idiom. Django Reinhardt was the guitarist who effectively invented the gypsy jazz style in 1930s Paris despite an injury to his fretting hand, and his influence still shows up wherever a guitarist plays fast swing runs on an acoustic archtop. Nina Simone’s catalogue swings between protest songs and slow, aching torch numbers, and Cab Calloway was the bandleader whose scat singing defined a whole era of Harlem swing, so pulling from all three gives this band a wide net to work with over a single set. It is a small ensemble show built around musicianship rather than spectacle, more suited to close listening than a singalong, though the late slot, doors just before midnight, tends to draw a crowd who have already been out earlier in the evening.

Good to Know

• Date and time: Sunday 9 August 2026, doors just before midnight (11:59pm)
• Venue: Roisin Dubh, Upper Dominick Street, Galway City
• Price: see roisindubh.net for ticket price and availability
• Late start, better suited to a night out than an early evening booking
• Standing venue, arrive in good time as the room is compact
• Part of Roisin Dubh’s regular late night live music programme

Getting There

Roisin Dubh is on Upper Dominick Street in Galway’s West End, about a 10 to 15 minute walk from Eyre Square and the train and bus station on Station Road. Taxis are readily available from the West End for the trip home given the late finish, and the surrounding streets have a strong choice of bars to start the night in before doors open.