They’re funny. They’re musical. They’re mad for the craic They’re heading for Killarney. And they can hardly wait.
Tickets for the 2 Johnnies at the Gleneagle INEC Arena went on sale this Friday and, such was the demand, an extra show had to be added straight away.
They have played to massive audiences in New York, Sydney, London and Dublin’s 3Arena but Johnny “Smacks” McMahon and Johnny B O’Brien reckon there is no point in doing it at all unless they can do it in the Kingdom.
The initial schedule was a for a strictly over 18 performance on Sunday, October 26 and an all-ages show at noon on the bank holiday Monday but the demand has been so brisk that an extra show has now been added for Saturday, October 25.
“Killarney is one of the best towns in Ireland for the craic. We’ve been down on about 20 stags over the years,” said Johnny B O’Brien, one of the dynamic duo from Cahir in Co Tipperary.
“It’s a dream come true. It’s the place you want to play,” he told KillarneyToday.com during their advance promotional visit to the town.
“Everything is aligned. The craic will be good. Killarney is easy to get to, they have the hotel rooms, they have the pubs. The fans will be close to us and if they’re not happy with something they’ll be letting us know,” he said.
“We’re bringing the full band with us so it’ll be fairly rock and roll. It’s a great opportunity for us to perform on one of the best stages at one of the best venues in one of the best towns in Ireland”.
Johnny B said everybody that likes the 2 Johnnies will be delighted that Killarney is happening, particularly on the October bank holiday weekend.
His partner in fun, Johnny “Smacks” McMahon, recalled that they played “in a smaller room” at the Gleneagle when they were on the road with their first show, Let Loose, in 2018.
“Ever since we’ve always said we’d love to get back and get into the arena and have a proper go at it but it never happened until now,” he said.
“The fact that it’s the bank holiday makes it all the sweeter because we’ll be saying ‘we’ll make a right weekend of this now’.
“If somebody else announced a gig we’d be thinking, right, a bank holiday Sunday in Killarney, we’ll go down Saturday and get a good run at it, we’ll get another good run at it on Sunday and then we can lick our wounds and have a chicken roll on the way back up the Macroom bypass,” Johnny Smacks laughed.
Johnny B said it’s getting to play Killarney is akin to lining out on an All-Ireland final day.
“You’re not worried – you’re excited. This is what you do the training for”.
Johnny Smacks added: “These are the ones you want to be playing. We’re lucky that we’ve played the 3Arena in Dublin numerous times and we’ve done St Anne’s Park, Musgrave Park and The Marquee but the INEC is one we wanted to tick off the list and there’s no better place and no better time to do that”.
The 2 Johnnies are living the dream and thoroughly enjoying their hectic schedule.
“We’re busy but when you love what you do it doesn’t feel like work. We wake up and we get to write things, funny things, we get to create things, have the craic and record podcasts,” Johnny B chipped in.
“I get people texting me saying ‘you told me you were at work, you’re only acting the maggot – I can see it on Instagram,’”.
They are particularly chuffed with the huge listenership their podcast attracts and they are not slow to point out that it was the most listened to podcast in Ireland last year.
“It’s great to be able to communicate with people and the great thing about our fans is that you get immediate feedback so if you do something they like they’ll tell you but if you do something they don’t like, they’ll tell you as well, just as loudly. It keeps us grounded,” Johnny Smacks mused.
They do just one show a year for all ages – with content more adapted for children – and that event attracted 8,500 people to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick last year. This year it’s the turn of the younger generation in Killarney to see the 2 Johnnies doing what they do best.
“We have kids who are mad into the sketches and mad into the music. At least we have something for them now – they can go on the bank holiday Monday with mammy and daddy and they can make a right day of it”.
When their shows are finished Johnny B and Johnny Smacks plan to “head down the town for a bit of craic and a bit of a tour” and to see what the atmosphere is like.
Not that Johnny Smacks needs any introduction to what Killarney has to offer: “I used to come here on my holidays when I was a young fella. I’ve played pitch and putt in the Gleneagle, I’ve got the jarveys, I went to Muckross House and, as I graduated through the ages, it went from family holidays down here to stags.
“My wife had her hen down here as well so she’s fairly familiar with the surroundings of all the pubs in Killarney,” he said.
“A fair scattering of them anyway,” Johnny B concurred.
- Tickets for the 2 Johnnies and The Junior B All-Stars, from €59.50 plus fees for the evening shows and €39.50 plus fees for the all ages matinee are mow on sale from www.inec.ie.
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