Exclusive Q&A by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor
This Thursday, September 10, 2026 at 8 pm, An Evening with Celtic Thunder takes place at Flagstar in Westbury Music Fair. This unique production brings to audiences a celebration of the group’s most beloved songs while reuniting past and present members for an evening of music, memories, and camaraderie.
An Evening with Celtic Thunder is both a concert and journey through the group’s legacy. Featuring a carefully curated setlist of their greatest hits, it showcases powerful harmonies, soaring ballads, and electrifying performances that have made the quartet internationally appreciated. From classic Irish folk songs to contemporary favorites, audiences can hear the anthems that have defined Celtic Thunder’s illustrious career.
Says Damian McGinty, longtime Celtic Thunder principal, “We wanted to create something truly special for our fans, something that feels personal and celebratory. This show is about reconnecting: with the music, with each other, and with the people who have supported us throughout the years. It’s a chance to relive the magic of Celtic Thunder in a more intimate way, and we couldn’t be more excited to share this experience with our audience.”
For New York’s Irish-American community, one of the largest in the country, the Westbury date is a homecoming. Staged in the half round with every seat close to the stage, this performance makes it one of the most personal ways to experience Celtic Thunder live.
Since its inception, Celtic Thunder has captivated global audiences with its dynamic performances and rich musical heritage. Known for their forceful stage presence and ability to blend traditional Irish music with contemporary sounds, the group has sold millions of albums and performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages.
Conceived by producer Sharon Browne (Celtic Collections), the group debuted in August 2007 at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland. They were accompanied by the Celtic Concert Orchestra under the direction of Phil Coulter, then musical director of the group.
Known for its eclectic, theatrical style show, the group is now backed by the Celtic Thunder Band on their concert tours. The live shows are known for the use of dramatic set pieces (often invoking symbols of ancient Celtic mythology), visual effects, and highly choreographed staging. Since the group’s formation, Celtic Thunder has released 12 albums as well as 10 live performances on DVD, three of which were split into two releases.
In December 2008, 2009 and 2011, Billboard magazine named Celtic Thunder Top World Album Artist. Their first three albums also placed in the top 10 for World Albums. In March 2009, Celtic Thunder opened the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City. On 28 November 2010, Celtic Thunder member Paul Byrom announced his resignation from the group to begin a solo career. He left the group when the 2010 concert tour was over.
From Derry, Northern Ireland, McGinty now calls Nashville home. The multi-genre singer/songwriter currently splits his time between being an independent solo artist and a principal performer for Celtic Thunder, with occasional acting jobs and other pursuits sprinkled throughout.
Over the years, McGinty’s career has taken him around the world on nearly two dozen tours through the United States and more, including nine with Celtic Thunder and five self-managed solo tours. He’s a featured performer in eight Celtic Thunder PBS specials, a highlighted performer in two additional PBS specials, and has appeared on eight Celtic Thunder DVDs and a dozen Celtic Thunder CDs.
In 2011, McGinty (the group’s youngest member) entered and won the Oxygen reality show “The Glee Project.” In August, 2011, McGinty announced on “The Glee Project’s Live Viewing Party,” that he would be stepping down from Celtic Thunder due to his new role on “Glee.” McGinty returned to the group in 2015, and has been on subsequent albums.
As a solo artist, McGinty blends his Irish roots with pop, folk, adult alternative contemporary, and country influences and a lyrical storytelling style to create a sound that’s both familiar and unique. His original songs range from bright summer bops to deeply intimate ballads, capturing moments that are specific yet timeless; individual yet universal. As an independent recording artist, Damian has released three full-length CDs, four EPs, and multiple singles. His voice is featured in the Circle Round storytelling podcast “The Piper and The Pooka.” Additionally, McGinty was featured as Elvis Duran’s Artist of the Month on The Today Show.
In advance of the show, McGinty and I spoke on the phone discussing this event and the group’s revitalization. Tickets for An Evening with Celtic Thunder at Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair are on sale now, starting at $67. For more information on the tour, visit www.celticthunder.com.
Q: We spoke before in 2018. How have things changed since then for you, your relationship to the group and to the venues you’ve played? How have they been different or alike? How much do you like things to stay the same? How much do you like things to change?
Damian McGinty: Brad, I would say since 2018, arguably in my personal life, on my professional life, things probably couldn’t have changed more. since we last spoke, we’ve gone through COVID, obviously. Celtic Thunder has really gone through a huge evolution since then. As artists and singers now, we have much more creative control, which feels very liberating, very fulfilling. We’ve been doing this for 18 years. We know our audience very well. We know ourselves, the current lineup, the current four. We know what we want to represent. We know what sound we want to bring out. We know where we want to go creatively whereas, in those first 10 years, we were less experienced. We just knew a lot less. We were always taking a lot more direction and didn’t really have a say.
Now, I suppose it’s the pattern of life, the longer you do it, the slightly older you get, the more knowledge you have, the more experience you get, and the more you’re able and capable to understand how to move forward yourself creatively. That’s where we’re at. And then since I spoke to you, in my personal life, I’m married and have two kids. There’s a lot that’s happened.
Q: Do you find the stability of being in the same group for 18 years a good thing? What keeps you fresh and sustained that way? You’ve toured on your own. That was probably an enhancement. You write your own material. Talk about what you do to keep fresh when you’re in something for 18 years. I guess there’s the incredible advantage of stability, but there’s also the concern of becoming stagnant.
Damian McGinty: First of all, one thing is that there’s solo careers outside of the group. That’s something so that we can experience life and experience our own careers, projects, styles, and then bring it back to the Celtic Thunder fold. We’re only ever better for those experiences and we’re only ever enhanced to bring that back to the table here. that’s something that we’ve always encouraged.
Then, in terms of not feeling stagnant, though I think consistency is a very good thing, but you’re right. It will be easy to get into a movement of feeling like you’re doing the same thing. I think in the last number of years, the lineup in Celtic Thunder has changed. That always keeps things fresh. This current four feels like the best that we’ve ever had artistically, I would say. We’re bringing whatever Celtic Thunder looks like in 2026, 2027, that’s what we want to do now.
We are very different than what we were in 2007 in good ways, like not necessarily, I think there’s pros and cons. In 2007, Celtic Thunder was more of a show. Whereas now, we lean into and focus more on the art itself, the music, the arrangements, singing and the vocals and music is our primary focus. for example, we’re making a new record for 2027 and we’re almost finished. It’s about to go into being mastered.
Brad, I think it stands very tall alongside anything Celtic Thunder’s ever made. It’s very different than anything we’ve ever made, but I think it’s going to stand alongside other albums and projects being released in 2027. It’s very current without losing what we are, what we have been. it’s a bit of all that, really And It’s just important to keep moving forward. we always wanna be challenged. We always want to be driven. And that’s how we fit at the moment.This is a very exciting time to be in our band, you know, it really is.
Q: How do you decide on what song? I guess you write some of the songs as well as obviously singing them. Do you work with the musicians to write or do you write on your own? How does that work?
Damian McGinty: There’s times we’ve come together and written together. For example, there’s a song, I don’t know if it’s an original, written by our musical director. He brought it to the table and unanimously, across the board, we loved it. We think our audience are really, really going to like it. It can be different every time. That’s the truth. It’s never really a straight line. How do you find your audience to have changed or stayed the same? IObviously because you’re identifying with an Irish experience, you immediately draw an audience, but you also want to be able to pull in people beyond that core audience.
Q: What do you think you do to bring that in?
Damian McGinty: As I said, the music is the first thing. I think for us, where we’re at, what’s really important for us at this stage of our game and brand, first and foremost, is to take care of our own audience. The existing audience, the people that have been with us, the people that care, the people that follow our careers, the people that really support us, the people that we’ve got to know.
Every time we sit down and speak about a new project, that’s the first thing we speak about, How do we take care of these people? what do these people want? that’s our bread and butter. The people that absolutely matter the most is the core audience that have been there arguably from the start, or been there for 10 years or even five years, whatever it might be.
Q: And outside of that, you’re like, “Okay, that’s them taken care of. What can we do now?”
Damian McGinty: As you say, that will bring in new people. It’s will bring in somebody who finds Celtic Thunder for the first time. I’ll give you an example. We released an album in 2023 called “Odyssey.” It had a sea shanty on there called The Weathermen.” In 2023, post-COVID, it was a really interesting time for us because to be quite frank with you, I think post-COVID and everything considered it would have been an easy time to say, let’s just let Celtic Thunder breathe for a minute. we haven’t toured in years anyway. Because of COVID, we couldn’t. I think it would have been easy to get into a rhythm of just continuing to not tour as a group.
Fortunately, we decided to come together and make this record. We made it and the sea shanty “The Weathermen” was on there. It’s been streamed and viewed and watched almost half a billion times. And that’s “The Weathermen.” That’s not what you would associate with a Celtic Thunder song, certainly back in 2007. It’s not something that we would have attempted 10 or 15 years ago, but in 2023, it was all right. it felt like the right creative move, like the right challenge.
We were like, “Yeah, this is a bit of a gamble because it’s not necessarily what people are used to, but it works.” There’s gambles you take in the industry that don’t work, but that one works. that’s an example of taking care of your own audience, having a gamble, knowing that a man at work.
Q: When it comes to material, how much do you balance the traditional with your own written material, the band’s written material, and writing with others. When I say musicians, I mean instrument players versus other singers. What is the balance struck between those four categories?
Damian McGinty: First and foremost, we’re an Irish group which is really something that we focused on for the new record in 2027, and for this upcoming tour that starts tonight — that’s something that we’re very heavily focused on. We always lead with that. Then the original songs come into play whenever, really, if a song’s good enough, you can make it sound and have the production shape it into whatever it needs to be, whatever you need it to be and whatever you want it to be. An original song, I always believe and my band members believe, if it’s good enough, the production only helps it. I often think if you’re pointing on production to help an original song, that’s not where you want to be.
Where you want to be is an original song, the production doesn’t matter. it’s not as important. You have to get it right, of course, but the original song will stand alongside any sort of side of production that you do. It will fit into Celtic music if you go for that angle. That’s always how we start off anything, anyway.
Q: You’re Northern Irish. Other members are from different counties. Do you find that people from different regions adds or enhances, or you bring something in that’s special from that, or does it really doesn’t matter?
Damian McGinty: It definitely enhances and brings something different. As you say, we have members from all across Ireland, I’m from the North. Our friend, Neil Byrne, who’s been with us from the very start, he’s written a few songs about Irish history that have been in our show that are absolutely brilliant. There’s a song called Hear Our Die in this current show that is a phenomenal song that he wrote by himself. And only Neil could write.
Neil’s a wonderful, old-time Irish musical mystery storyteller. none of the other band members could ever write what Neil brings to the table. It’s a very specific style. that’s an example as to how, being from different parts of Ireland, can bring different ingredients to the table.
Q: Do you find there’s other Irish groups that focus on vocals. How do you find them to be like or different than you guys? And do you feel you’ve influenced them?
Damian McGinty: I’ve been standing there since 2007. We’ve been in the game now for a long time. I love seeing a new generation of Irish vocal folk groups come through. There’s some great examples at the moment. There’s some beautiful music out there. in March, we were in Australia with Kingfisher and were chatting with those lads. We’ve seen them in Sydney on Paddy’s Day and they’re doing so well at the moment. We love seeing that, because we think that this style of music has such a huge place and has such an important place in people’s lives, hearts and souls. There’s a lot of story telling and long may it continue.
Q: Do you have meet and greets with some of the fans? What do you find you get when you get the chance to meet fans?
Damian McGinty: We love meeting our fans, Brad. We’re so fortunate to have so many fans that have been with us for a long time. I now love meeting fans and hearing their stories about watching me grow up. There’s a lot of that.I see people that I met in 2009 or hear stories about people watching our show in 2008 and how we influenced them and how their daughter was born in 2008 and she’s at the meet and greet and she’s meeting me.
It’s become this very cool full circle experience, where I’m still very young. I’m only 33 and I feel, in some ways, like I’m only starting my career, even though I’ve been fortunate to be doing this for 18, 19 years. This feels like a very exciting career point for me. I feel very driven, but also I’m raising a young family. It’s about getting the balance right. But it’s at the meet and greets it can come full circle when you’re meeting people and hear about people that have grown up with me.
Q: It’s always very nice to hear that. How old are your kids now?
Damian McGinty: My daughter’s two and a half and my son’s seven months.
Q: I guess they’re not hitting the stage yet.
Damian McGinty: They’re not, but let me tell you, my daughter doesn’t stop singing. I don’t really know, I’m not really sure where that’s going to go. It’s going to be interesting to watch.
Q: So with the TV experience, you obviously got a chance to do a little more than just singing. How was that and how did that inform you and make you better or different? Would you like to do more?
Damian McGinty: it definitely made me better. let’s say an experience of different projects, new projects, learning skill sets, working with fantastic people, from the likes of Jane Lynch to Ricky Martin to Matt Bolton to, across the board, just so many fantastic people, obviously Ryan Murphy who created Glee. You learn from these people and I often think that when you’re around them, don’t talk, be a sponge. That’s what I try and do their wisdom and picks a little part of each of them and to take it with me on my own journey. I really loved that experience.
In a weird way and in a healthy way, it also told me what I don’t like, which is good because I think you need to try things in order to be like, that might not be for me. I will do more TV and film and all that stuff, but what I learned throughout the experience is my true love is music and touring and performing and that’s my number one and always will be. So other projects outside of that, like I did Dancing with the Stars, for example, and loved Dancing with the Stars, which was really surprising. I became runner up on that show, I did the whole experience for four months and it was fantastic.
Q: Such a great lesson in challenging yourself as a performer and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
Damian McGinty: My love is touring and performing. At the moment, I do feel very passionate about Celtic Thunder and very passionate about where we’re going and our direction and our music, it feels like a very nice place to be, brother. I’m in a very nice place.
Q: It’s interesting that you’ve grown up in this group. Not everybody can say that. Do you feel that you’re able to look back and see where you would have made other decisions had you come into the group at a different point or are you glad that you were able to grow up through it?
Damian McGinty: I’m glad now that I’m out the other side. I think there were definitely moments in the early days where it was a struggle. There was moments in the early days where there was some major teething issues for myself, some experiences that weren’t so great.
But that’s part of growing up. I just happened to grow up on the road. I also grew up with people, the original members that looked after me, but also at the same time, they were very young as well. They made their own mistakes and weren’t necessarily fit for raising a 15-year-old on the road all the time. They did their very best and I was appreciative, but there was definitely moments that were very challenging and I felt incredibly homesick.
But, those moments that aren’t on social media or aren’t really spoken about, they definitely exist. It hasn’t always been easy sailing. I always say I’m very [thankful] to my own parents that they raised me to have the thought process that I have and be able to make the right choices that I made.
I can say that, but I didn’t always make the right choices.I Mostly did because I’m here today and love what I do. I feel like I’ve got a great purpose. So yeah, there was experiences that were challenging, but there was also wonderful experiences. I wouldn’t change it. I would not change it.
Q: Now that you’ve established your track record, are there people you’d like to collaborate with? Singers you’d like to sing with or join you in the Celtic Thunder experience? Moving forward, who would you have in mind?
Damian McGinty: I think all these wonderful artists, we’ve worked with people over the last couple of years. Like we’ve worked with Daniel O’Donnell, for example, which is not necessarily a collaboration you would have thought of it. We’ve worked with Nathan Carter and we really enjoyed that. There’s always this mention of when the Celtic Thunder and the Celtic Woman collaboration would ever take place for example. That’s always been something that’s spoken about. I think a couple of years ago, it got closer than it’s ever been but it never quite happened. It’s just hard to know what that would be like, I suppose. But I think, moving forward, collaborations are definitely something that we’re open to and would be excited about.
Q: Ireland has this traditional singing style, Seannos. Some of your songs are very pop-oriented others have more of the traditional style. How do you feel about singing in that style versus the more pop style?
Damian McGinty: My solo stuff. leaned towards the more family friendly, left of center pop stuff. But, over the years, Celtic Thunder has definitely touched on that world. We’ve done a lot in that world. But now, as I say, we have creative control. We don’t really lean into pop that often. We’re very much Irish folk, Celtic world music. That’s where we think our band belongs, what we think our audience want to hear. That’s where we are currently sitting and feel very comfortable and happy.
Q: How do you manage the dynamic with the instrumentation? The interplay between you and the instruments, how do you balance, what do you do to strike that balance?
Damian McGinty: We got a new musical director a couple of years ago. He’s also one of the principal singers, Ronan Scolard. We’ve been so fortunate and proud to have incredible musical directors. We started with Phil Coulter, who did the original days. then we moved on to David Monroe, and David did such a wonderful job for over a period of a decade. He was working with us for 10 years. We love David and we miss him.
But Ronan has come in and brought something I believe so original and so fresh. It’s really his job to figure out exactly what you’re talking about there, the balance of the instruments, of a capella numbers, the balance of upbeat tempo songs, mid-tempo ballads, whatever it might be. He’s done a brilliant job. And this is the first album that he’s in charge of that we’re releasing next year. He’s the musical director. He’s brought in something fresh. I really think he’s brilliant. And I think people at Westbury will love this show.