IN TUA NUA

2023 will be In Tua Nua’s 40^th anniversary year and plans are afoot to celebrate with their fans.

Formed in 1983, In Tua Nua were an experimental band formed in a cottage in Howth. The first lineup included Leslie Dowdall (vocals), Martin Clancy (keys & Gtr), Ivan O’Shea (Gtr), Paul Byrne (drums), Jack Dublin (bass), Steve Wickham (Violin) and Vinny Kilduff (Tin Whistles and electric Uilleann Pipes). While the lineup has evolved the band’s very identifiable Irish sound has never changed.

With a total of 10 hit singles in Ireland during the 80s, In Tua Nua were one of Ireland’s premier bands, playing with Bob Dylan at Slane Castle, with U2 on the European leg of their Joshua Tree Tour and going on to share the stage with, Fleetwood Mac, Simple Minds and Eurythmics, among many others. They toured constantly around Ireland, UK and Europe building up a strong a loyal following but also toured in the US where they were arguably the second most popular Irish PopRock band of the 80s.

In Tua Nua broke onto the scene in 1984 when their debut single ‘Coming Thru’ (the first ever release on U2’s Mother Records) hit the Irish charts. This was followed up with ‘Take My Hand’ on Island Records (Co-written with Sinead O’Connor) which was single of the week in Melody Maker and then ‘Somebody To Love’ which was a massive summer hit at home in 1985. The band then signed for Virgin Records in 1986 and had a huge hit across Europe with ‘Seven Into The Sea’. They went on to release 2 albums – Vaudeville 1987 which produced another euro hit with ‘Heaven Can Wait’.  Their best known album ‘The Long Acre’ (1988) produced the single ‘All I Wanted’ which cracked the UK singles charts. The album spent 5 months in the US college charts and paved the way for a US tour. The band broke up in September 1989 having just completed their third album for Virgin. For the whole story see http://www.intuanua.com/timeline/

Since then, the band (with founder members Leslie Dowdall, Paul Byrne and Jack Dublin) have reunited on various occasions, notably for tours in 2004, 2012 (including) Electric Picnic , 2017 and in 2018 they did the Long Acre tour, celebrating 30 years since their US breakthrough album. They also played at the yearly ‘A Night For’ series of charity concerts organised by drummer Paul to a packed out Olympia Theatre in 2015, ‘16, ‘18 and ’19. Jack and Paul have been playing together as a rhythm section since 1980, a partnership second only to U2’s Larry and Adam for longevity.

In 2022 In Tua Nua performed at Forever Young Festival and for many were the hit of the weekend. The show featured their new Spanish fiddle player Jaime Lapena Del Rio who lit up the stage with his energy and wild fiddle playing.