Art is protest. It can also a family affair.
Chasing Abbey toured the United States through the first half of Fall, bringing their blend of electronic, Irish traditional folk and punk rock to Chicago on Oct. 8 at Bottom Lounge. The trio from Tullamore, Co. Offaly, Ireland, formed a decade ago but just recently released their debut full-length record Cyber Celt in September. Childhood friends Ronan Bell, Jonathan Byrne and Ted Conway make up Chasing Abbey.
I discovered Chasing Abbey through social media. Leading up to and then long after a summertime trip to Dublin (to see Metallica), Chasing Abbey has appeared regularly on my FYP. The trio blends English with the traditional Irish (Gaeilge) language through many of their songs as Chasing Abbey highlights the historical difficulties the Irish people have faced, largely under British occupation. With posts regularly stating “Art is protest,” the messages in the lyrics still holds true as global politics and capitalism strangle everyday people everywhere.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
But as a band, Chasing Abbey is more than just the trio performing on stage. Byrne’s father was helping at the merch table and while his brother was filming the performance. And recording Cyber Celt was done in a family shed. Touring the US with the family involved must have been a great experience.
And the show itself was fantastic.
@thepitmedia We’re still editing photos from the @Chasing Abbey performance at @Bottom Lounge last week, but here’s video of their song “Seachain” from that performance to hold you over 😅 via @Damien Dennis #chasingabbey #ireland #irish #concert #tpm ♬ original sound – The Pit Media
The show opened with Blood, a one-man musician who’s performance was clunky in ways but a lot of fun. He set the tone with his own blend of electronic music paired with live guitar and vocals. He struggled with his guitar strap for half his set, as it snapped and he was trying to hold it together with duct tape. For example, he had thought he fixed it and set up his phone to record for his son, just for the strap to break again as he tried to play. Blood powered through it and got the crowd warmed up.
Chasing Abbey was a ton of fun live. Social media did not do these guys justice as they played with passion and grit on the small Bottom Lounge stage in front of a packed crowd.
They performed every song off Cyber Celt as well as earlier work, beginning with “Gorta,” “Coffin Ships” “Arís Is Arís.”
Between songs, they told stories about recording music in the shed, family run pubs in Ireland and, most importantly, shared the history of Ireland. With so much of their music containing lyrics in Gaeilge, Chasing Abbey enjoys teaching people the language and history through song. At one point, they asked if anyone in the crowd knew how to dance like the Irish, with a Chicago-area dance teacher volunteering. The crowd opened up a pit as she held an impromptu performance while the band played on stage.
Chasing Abbey also appeased the Irish fae with costumes and respect.
A few favorites live were “Greedy Pigs,” “Seachain” and “Íorónta.” I also enjoyed the song “Culchie,” which the band equated the song name to the American term red neck.
If there’s any knock on the night, it’s that the merch table ran out of vinyl and CDs early, forcing me to purchase Cyber Celt digitally.
Because we’ve been busy, it’s taken nearly a month to write this review. Chasing Abbey’s fall tour of the US is over now, but they will return in Spring 2027 with stops in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Ann Arbor, Mich.
See photos from Chasing Abbey’s stop in Chicago below!
