Following the Wolfe Tones’ retirement announcement, Brian Warfield has said rehearsals for his musical start in January.

The band announced today they would retire after their 60th anniversary shows in the SSE Arena in Belfast and Dublin's 3Arena next October.

“All great things must come to an end, but we plan to celebrate The Wolfe Tones’ amazing 60-year career with a fitting tribute in 2024,” they said in a statement online.

Speaking on The Hard Shoulder today, vocalist and banjo player Brian Warfield said the band’s retirement doesn’t mean he plans on hanging up his instruments.

“I have other things in the pipeline,” he said.

“I've written a musical, and we’re going into rehearsal in January.

“I hope to put it on starting in May and then we're going to test it out and we’re going to take her around for a small tour for two weeks after the 3Arena.”

He described the musical as a “love story that cracks into the so-called Famine”.

“It’s a struggle to get through the evictions and to get away to America, which they do by all devious means,” he said.

60 years of The Wolfe Tones

Mr Warfield said fellow Wolfe Tones member Tommy Byrne always planned on retiring at 80.

“He’s 80 next year and I can’t force him to go on,” he said.

“The Wolfe Tones have been my life for 60 years now, and Tommy joined the band on October 12th, 1964.”

The Wolfe Tones’ final concert will take place on October 12th, 2024.

“It’s genuinely 60 years after the three of us got together,” Mr Warfield said.

Crowds at the Electric Arena for the Wolfe Tones at Electric Picnic. (Photo by Electric Picnic)

As their long career comes to a close, The Wolfe Tones have seen a resurgence in popularity recently – that also came with some criticism for their songs.

Mr Warfield thinks the attention has been “fantastic”.

“From the girls who were put under the bus when they got to the World Cup for singing ‘Celtic Symphony’, going on to all the various things that happened – the rugby, and this, and the other,” he said.

“But a lot of people will know the Wolfe Tones were very popular before that, and we’ve always had a young following throughout the ages.

“We must have brought on every generation as we went through life.”

'The storytellers of Ireland'

The band was also at the centre of controversy when they performed for the biggest ever crowd in Electric Picnic’s Electric Arena.

Young people in particular were criticised for “romanticising” the Troubles when singing 'Oh, ah, up the Ra' to the band's song 'Celtic Symphony'.

Mr Warfield said The Wolfe Tones have been “the storytellers of Ireland” across its 60-year history.

“We tell the story and the history through music, a song for the diaspora across the world,” he said.

“We’re to have brought a little bit of Ireland to many people around the world, whether it be in Australia or America or England or Scotland.”

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