– Music Review –
by Damianista | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | October 27, 2025
Damian has recently taken to Instagram as above to reflect on his mini-tour of the Emerald Isle. And now that I reflect on my own week long trip to Ireland to follow Damian and the band from Cork to Dublin to Limerick, it was so many train rides, so many hotel rooms, so much gray skies, and so little sleep! And it was all WORTH IT for the fantastic music, fun chats, pints of beer and big laughs with people I adore! As I put in the title: Ireland, you were something else! Damian’s mini tour was packed with energy, good vibes, and those up-close moments that make live music so special.
Now that I’m back and have recovered from jet lag, I am ready to tell you all about how Damian ruled on stage and off – he made time for everyone, his guests and his fans, after the gig. He had pictures taken with them, gave autographs as well as bear hugs.
The smaller venues made it easy for Damian and the band to mingle with the crowd after each gig, rather than hosting guests backstage — which, I think, made the whole experience so much fun for the fans. I met so many wonderful people on the tour, and I have to say, the Irish are truly special — so friendly, so kind, and always ready with a smile. I don’t know how many times each person thanked me for the “I was there” magnet that I gave them.
So this post is my way of saying thank you to Damian and the band, my number one guy Lewisto, my dear friends Tsvete, Monique and Vincent and all the lovely Irish people I met on the tour for making it a fantastic trip! It was such a pleasure having a mini-vacation in Dublin followed by three evenings of brilliant music with my front row crowd! YOU GUYS ROCK! And I sure hope that we continue the tradition.
Now join me in living (or re-living) Damian’s mini Ireland Tour!
The gigs in Ireland were full of life, energy and charm. The audience was completely engaged from the start, responding to every song and story with enthusiasm. The Irish crowd is not shy, and there was plenty of playful banter, teasing, and cheeky back-and-forth between Damian and the fans. Oh, and some rugby talk too — a subject I’m completely clueless about! From what I gathered, the Irish team recently beat the Welsh team, and Damian… well, let’s just say he wasn’t exactly thrilled about that. Hahaha!
The result was a joyful mix of music, humour, and connection. Damian was his usual self on stage, confident, charming and relaxed. And the band supporting him is composed of ridiculously talented young musicians giving their all and more to the music: Dave Archer on guitar, Will Cleasby on drums, Pete Lee on keyboard, Una Palisser on the violin, tambourine and vocals, and Jack Tustin on the bass were simply brilliant!
The setlist for the Ireland tour was different than the one for last year’s UK shows. This time, they play 13 songs in total: all nine originals from Damian’s debut album Mission Creep, plus two new tunes we’d already heard on the UK tour, and two completely brand-new songs Damian’s written since then. In Cork, we even got the world premiere of those fresh tracks – an absolute thrill! Damian mentioned during the shows that his second album was expected to drop in March (though, as always, those dates can shift). My guess? The four new songs they played in Ireland are likely the first singles we’ll hear from that next record. I seriously can’t wait!
Here’s the set list that Lewisto heroically lifted from the stage at Cyprus Avenue for me — and got himself kicked out of the venue for it! Oh, yes, never a dull moment in our life. But more on that later…
So I start with the support act(s). Julia-Maria, a young irish singer-songwriter from Cork opened for Damian at Cyprus Avenue in her hometown Cork and at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick while it was Fingerz Kenny that warmed the crowd up for the main show at Whelan’s in Dublin.
Julia-Maria’s music draws deeply from the roots of Irish folk, her voice has a soothing quality. Her originals are beautiful, but probably because I am familiar with it, when she sang her cover of “Kathy’s Song” by Simon and Garfunkel, her delivery brought tears to my eyes. I’m a fan!
Fingerz Kenny, on the other hand, is a Dublin-based musician known for his eclectic blend of genres, including jazz, blues and hiphop, too. He is part of the band Bat Country with whom he opened for Damian at Whelan’s.
And on to the main act!
Since the set list is the same at all gigs, I will not talk about each gig separately but I will talk about particular moments worth mentioning from each gig… like Damian greeting the audience in every city with the slogan of that particular city.
“Hello Cork. Ireland’s real capital, right?”
Turns out, this is a local slogan in Cork — the residents love to joke that their city is actually the real capital of Ireland. And Damian, joining the fun, proudly declared that he and the band stand in solidarity with the people of Cork by drinking Murphy’s! So did Lewisto! But when the tour moved to Dublin, Damian switched allegiances — as any smart man would — and here he is showing off the custom-made Guinness glass I had engraved for him with “Damian’s very own pint” at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Cheers, mate!
The opening song was Down on the Bowery, Damian’s first single from Mission Creep. I recorded the following at Whelan’s in Dublin, and the red light was so intense that turned our guy into a true carrot head!
Damian then shared a story with the audience. Once, he says, he spent a whole evening trying to chat up a girl in Soho which went deep into the night. This is Soho Tango.
Time for a new song! Love Bomb, my absolute favorite new tune, is now titled No Man’s Land. And maybe because it is about some kind of war/love/defense song between two individuals (“My defenses were weak, you tore my armor apart”), in Limerick, Damian talked about the Latin Motto for the city: is Urbs Antiqua Fuit Studiisque Asperrima Belli translated to “an ancient city well studied in the arts of war.” And he added:
“We don’t want any trouble, we just came to play some music.”
In Dublin, he talked about a pub he visited with Patrick Kielty who hosted him on The Late Late Show the week before.
“Kavanagh’s The Gravediggers. What a pub. I went there last week with Paddy Kielty What a pub!”
And he thanked all who gave him a free pint 🙂
“This is Hole in My Roof.”
Damian did his homework about Cork:
“Cork — Titanic’s last port of call… I’m not sayin’ anything… but maybe they’d been on too many Murphys”
Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun With Damian Lewis