Gone are the days when Ireland's showbands had to leave our chaste shores during Lent, touring the libertine dance halls of Britain instead. A lot has changed, but judging by the turnout for Ireland's ...

Comic Ardal O'Hanlon drove around in a VW camper van, as many of the showbands did Showbands were distinct from the four-man beat combos elsewhere; they were larger for a start, typically numbering ...

It was shown for the first time recently on BBC4, and will be repeated tonight on BBC2 Northern Ireland, this documentary fronted by Ardal O'Hanlon called Showbands: How Ireland Learnt to Party. And I ...

SHOWBANDS may no longer be considered cool but the fact remains they spawned some of Ireland’s most legendary rock and roll stars. Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher both kickstarted their careers ...

Dickie Rock at the dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966 - Smith Archive/Alamy Dickie Rock, who has died aged 88, was a singer who became a huge favourite in Ireland with the Miami ...

When three young musicians lost their lives on 31 July 1975, the heart was torn out of Ireland's showband community. It also devastated the burgeoning live music scene in Northern Ireland. Forty years ...

THE big names of Ireland's showband era are to be honoured with a €100,000 Hollywood Boulevard-type "Walk of Fame". The term "showband" generally refers to a particular type of musical act popular in ...

Discover What’s Streaming On: On those occasions when music and murder cross paths, it tends to dominate headlines, especially when circumstances are still in dispute. Tupac and Biggie, Jam Master Jay ...

Butch Moore, who died on April 3rd aged 63, was a showband icon during the 1960s. He achieved celebrity status as Ireland's first contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 and attracted huge ...

The King of the Showband era, Brendan Bowyer has died. Mr Bowyer is being mourned across Ireland after his death, aged 81, in his adopted Las Vegas home. Country music icon Philomena Begley led ...