Onóir

Onóir play the Jim Marshall Auditorium at The Stables on Wednesday 22 September 2027. They're a contemporary Irish folk group, and the set is built around two things: four-part harmonies and modern arrangements of Irish classics. If you're familiar with the tradition, that's the core of it — old songs given a new shape, with the vocal blend taking centre stage.

It's the harmonies that define their sound. Four voices singing in part, rather than a single lead with backing, changes how a folk song lands; it gives the melodies a weight and a richness that a solo voice can't quite reach. When they bring that to Irish classics, the songs you might recognise from a record or a family gathering come back in a different light. The arrangements are modern, so they aren't just playing the tunes as they've always been done — they're reworking them, letting the vocal layers do a lot of the heavy lifting.

That's the whole of it: the old songs, the four-part singing, and the new arrangements. It's a straightforward folk night, with the focus on the voices and the tradition they're drawing from. If that's your thing, it's a good one to keep on the radar.

They'll be at The Stables in Milton Keynes on Wednesday 22 September 2027, playing the Jim Marshall Auditorium.