Saturday February 20 2010 8:30 PM
From their modest beginnings as a local school choir in Dublin’s inner city 13 years ago, the Dublin Gospel Choir have become a household name in Ireland, playing a host of concerts each year, plus a large number of corporate and charity events. Add to that their annual slot at Ireland’s internationally-acclaimed boutique festival Electric Picnic (at which they played the Main Stage again in 2009) and a performance to a sell-out 82,000 crowd at Croke Park in 2008, and you have a group of people who are really going places. Not too many Irish acts, let alone international ones, can boast of sharing the stage with music industry heavyweights such as Rod Stewart, John Legend, Damien Rice, and The Chieftains. But that is exactly what the Dublin Gospel Choir has achieved over the last few years.
The choir also featured along with Chris de Burgh on a special New Year’s Day BBC Songs of Praise programme which was broadcast to over 35million viewers worldwide. Whereas the religious audience is one target market for them, the Dublin Gospel Choir seems to have broad appeal. Collaborations with people like Damien Rice and Paddy Casey have also won them a much younger audience and one that remains a large part of their audience at shows right across Ireland. They were also invited by Rod Stewart to join him for two great nights at the RDS.