ANNA’S Anchor (aka Limerick songwriter Marty Ryan) has announced a trio of intimate acoustic shows featuring Marty and Clare O’Brien on piano. The shows in Dublin, Limerick & Galway are all limited to 50 tickets each and can be accessed at www.annasanchor.com/tour
The shows are at Little Whelans, Dublin Saturday 20 September; Melody, Limerick on Tuesday September 23 and De Burgos, Galway on Friday October 3..
Marty says, “While these shows will be really small, Clare and I have a really special set planned for it, old songs, some reworked favourites and a few covers you’ve never heard before from us.”
These may be the last Anna’s Anchor shows for quite a while as Marty will be giving the project at the centre of his song writing a break to pursue other ambitions.
“For ten years I’ve pushed this project relentlessly and a momentary step back is required, at least in the live sense.
“A lot has changed over this time, and even more so in the last 12 months. While the majority of this change has been for the good, It’s difficult to put into words the physical exhaustion this has taken. This on top of the internal drive to constantly change and challenge myself, means I think it’s time to take a break from playing headline gigs with AA for a while. How long? I’ve no idea, but one thing I do know, is that I have a lot of different projects that I want to put my time into right now as well as figure out what I want AA to be going forward. I have one clear and exciting idea but I’m not sure yet if I’m able to do it, so I want to take sometime to myself to figure that out.”
Since the project’s inception in 2014, Anna’s Anchor has amassed a loyal audience from playing over 350 shows all around the world in a DIY fashion. 2021’s A Glorious Ruction showed the creative potential of the band with a concept album about the River Shannon that led the group to critical acclaim in the U.K. In revisiting his past, Ryan and his band discovered a new artistic freedom in 2023’s The Merries.
Last summer saw Marty play a full band show to a packed house at Peoples Museum of Limerick which included an exhibition of work from Marty, Grace Coakley, Laura O’Loughlin and Keith Kelly.
