Paul Brady at Wexford Spiegeltent Festival

What to Expect

Paul Brady is one of Ireland’s most respected folk and roots musicians, a songwriter and guitarist whose career runs from his early days with Planxty and The Johnstons through a solo catalogue that has influenced generations of Irish singer-songwriters and been covered by artists as varied as Tina Turner and Bonnie Raitt. His Wexford Spiegeltent Festival date brings that decades-deep back catalogue to the tent’s intimate, mirrored setting on the closing stretch of the festival’s run, in the same fortnight that Wexford Festival Opera fills the National Opera House up the street. Expect a set built on musicianship and songcraft rather than production spectacle, drawing on both his traditional roots and the more contemporary singer-songwriter material that made his name from the 1980s onward. It is one of the more song-focused bookings in a Spiegeltent programme that otherwise leans toward younger pop and rock acts.

Brady’s move from purely traditional music into songwriting in the 1980s was itself an influential shift in Irish music, opening a path that later singer-songwriters followed, and a live set from him typically covers both sides of that career rather than favouring one over the other. A Thursday date this late in the festival’s run tends to draw a slightly older, more dedicated audience than the weekend shows, people who have specifically planned their trip around this act rather than picking up a ticket on a whim while in town for something else.

Good to Know

• Thursday 29 October 2026, evening show, Fortuna Spiegeltent, Wexford quayfront
• Tickets sold per show through wexfordspiegeltent.com
• Falls in the closing week of the Wexford Spiegeltent Festival, alongside the final week of Wexford Festival Opera at the National Opera House
• Organised by Lantern, contactable on info@lantern.ie or 086 609 4984
• Check the individual listing for age restriction and seating format before booking

Getting There

The Spiegeltent is set up on Wexford’s quayfront in the town centre, close to O’Hanrahan train station and within walking distance of the National Opera House and the main car parks. Wexford is about 1 hour 40 minutes from Dublin on the N11/M11, with Irish Rail and Bus Éireann both serving the town directly.