The richness provided by the accordion, powerful rhythm guitar and bodhran give a fullness of sound that belies the number of people on stage and with a repertoire encompassing fast and furious Celtic songs and tunes, gentle ballads and quality contemporary numbers by the likes of Christy Moore, Eric Bogle and Ewan MacColl as well as some original material, this East Midlands based band are one of the most sought after on the circuit.
The band was formed in 1983 with our vocalist, Tony, being one of the original line-up. Since then, Kellys Heroes have played to audiences including 40,000 people at the Glasgow Mayfest, 25,000 at the Heineken Big Top with The Pogues, a Chateau in France for a very exclusive birthday party and to 6 people in a kitchen for a family celebration as well as just about every other type of event you can imagine in between!
Some of the more memorable venues Kellys Heroes have played include The Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, The Alexandra Palace, London, Stowe School, Buckingham, Camden Irish Centre, London, Kilburn Irish Centre, London, Rock City, Nottingham, Celtic Supporters Club, Glasgow, Leicester Tigers Stadium, Leicester, The Hammersmith Apollo, London.
We have also played the end of tour parties for the Threepenny Opera and Reasons To Be Cheerful theatre productions and the end of shoot parties for a couple of ITV series as well as being filmed as part of the story lines!
Kellys Heroes have recorded 12 albums as well as individual band members appearing on many, many more.
Bookings are undertaken with a flexible line-up from a three-piece band up to a five-piece band. Instrumentation includes Vocals, Guitar, Button Accordion, Melodeon, Bodhran, Fiddle, Whistles, Banjo and Mandolin depending on the line-up booked. In addition, when playing for Ceilidhs and Barn Dances, Kellys always bring along a caller who works wonders at getting people involved in fun, easy traditional dances.
Kellys Heroes are available for festivals, folk clubs, pubs and clubs as well as all types of private functions, including weddings!
Kelly’s Heroes came to play at my Dad’s wake and made it such a special event. Helen dealt with the admin ahead of the event and was absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much to the whole band and you were absolutely amazing. Aisling and family xx
Incredible band and absolutely made the Wake of my father-in-law perfect. Cannot recommend it more highly. Superb musicians and lovely people. Really can't thank them enough.
Kelly's hero's were absolutely brilliant, they made our night. Everyone was asking how I had found them, I will definitely book them again. Thank you lads. Fantastic.
Amazing! I had about 80 people at my birthday party and the majority had never been to a Ceilidh before. Everyone got involved and loved it! It was a great atmosphere, thank you guys!
Kelly's Heros were absolutely spot on. Really got the party going and although we were all new to Ceilidh the caller kept us all right! They arrived an hour early to set up and were flexible to any requests, they even played 'one more tune' at the end. I would highly recommend for any event!
A great atmosphere on Sunday as we turned the Café Bar into an Irish pub with live music from Kellys Heroes for Martin McDonagh's THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN 🇮🇪 🍀
Kelly's Heroes were booked to play at my father in law's wake. We wanted a celebration of this man's life and wow did we get one. The Wake was more than we ever hoped for and that was very much due to the wonderful music and energy Helen, Tony , Steve and Patrick brought to the day. I can't speak more highly of you all. It was perfect. Thank you so much.
Thank you again so much you are strangers that are now part of our collective memory of Micky's send off. Priceless! Cannot recommend highly enough!!
Great night! Great songs by a great band-and love my new cd's!!
I'm just emailing to say thank you to you and all of Kelly's Heros for your fantastic performance at our wedding on Saturday. Everyone loved you guys and had a great time. The Cèilidh dance was incredibly popular (even though most of us weren't that good at it!) and we've had comments from our guests time and time again about how much they loved 'the band'. Thanks again for helping make our day so special.
James and I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and the rest of Kelly's Heroes for such an amazing evening. Everyone absolutely loved your ceilidh and it was so much fun. We'll definitely be recommending you! Many thanks again, Zoe & James
We just wanted to say thank you to yourself and the band for being part of our big day. You were absolutely superb from start to finish and as you could probably tell from all the dancing, our guests absolutely loved all your music too! You got people up there dancing who I've never seen on a dance floor before. We've had nothing but compliments about what a great idea it was to have you perform at the wedding. Thank you again, we will never forget it! Kind Regards Rob & Jade Clarke
Kellys Heroes, I cannot thank you enough for the most fantastic night I think I might have had in all my fifty years! I have not stopped smiling since. A dream come true for me to have Kellys playing in my garden and as the song goes- You couldn't have come at a better time!!
Awesome set at the Causeway Foot this afternoon guys! Thank you for the great music! Me and my family loved it and we will definitely be keeping an eye out for when you're back in the area! ☘️
Wow, what a sound you have! We thoroughly enjoyed having you perform at our wedding last week and all our guests had a great time. So much dancing and fun was had by all, and literally everyone commented on what a wonderful choice we made in inviting you as our guest band. Weddings don't always go to plan and in our case a crucial lead broke on our ipad for the party music, and Kellys Heroes came to the rescue and very kindly donated their lead so we could finish off the party. Such talented lovely people so I very much recommend Kellys Heroes and we are looking forward to seeing you perform at another event in the future!!
Dear Kellys Heroes, Thank you so much for playing at our wedding. You were brilliant and so patient with us! So many of our guests have remarked how much they loved it- from the 20 year olds to the 70 year olds, all loved it and joined in, which is exactly what we wanted. Even the hip-hop fans who normally grumble at anything else were up having a whale of a time. We appreciated you expertise and advice and would recommend you to others. We hope you enjoyed playing and we're sorry the rugby score was not better!
Hi, Hope you're all well! Just a quick email to let you know my appreciation for both your music and your passion shown at the weekend. You played at my partners grandparents party on Saturday evening and I must say both I and everyone attending was absolutely blown away by you guys! I will definitely be contacting you in the future to book again. All the best for the new year!
Kelly’s heroes arrived on time, did sound check and was ready to entertain our guests.
We had given them our choice of preferred songs and they worked with that. They accommodated request to teach guests siege of Ennis dance, which have lots of people on the floor giving it a go.
By the second set the band know how to keep people on the floor with lively songs.
Given I booked the band with less than a week before the event, the communication was great and the band were kind enough to allow my nephew to do some Irish dancing as well as play the boron drum with the band.
Everyone has been saying what a great day it was and how they enjoyed the band and music. Glad i booked this band for my daughters wedding.
Anything and everything! We've been doing this for a long time so if we haven't exactly done your type of event you can pretty much guarantee we've done something similar :)
Our PA will cover venues with a capacity of up to 250 people and we carry two floor spotlights as standard.
Yes, we have full Public Liability Insurance and all of our electrical eqipment is PAT tested annually. All certificates can be emailed on confirmation of a booking if required.
A minimum of 10ft wide by 7ft deep
We don't learn specific numbers for specific gigs but it's always worth asking if we can do a request that's not on our current list!
For 2x45 mins sets, one break 20-30 mins For ceilidhs of up to 3 hour time slot, usually one break of approx 30 mins.
All For Me Grog
Arthur McBride
Ballad of Cable Street
Banks Of Red Roses
Banks Of The Roses
Blacksmith
Black Velvet Band
Black Is The Colour
Blarney Roses
Boston Burglar
Both Sides The Tweed
Carnlough Bay
Carrick Fergus
Clare To Here
Cliffs Of Dooneen
Cocky Farmer
Couldn't Have Come At A Better Time
Cunla
Danny Boy
Devil Is Dead
Dirty Old Town
Don't Come Again
Dublin's Fair City
Farewell To The Gold
Fields Of Athenry
Flower Of Scotland
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Foggy Dew
Follow Me Up To Carlow
Galway Girl
Galway Shawl
Green Fields Of France
Goodbye Muirsheen Dirkin
Hard Life
Home, Boys, Home
Horo, Johhny
I Know My Love
I'll Tell Me Ma
I'm A Rover
James Connolly
Johnny Come Lately
Leaving Of Liverpool
Little Beggarman
Liverpool Lou
Mountain Dew
Move Along
Mull River Shuffle
My Young Man
Nancy Spain
Newry Highwayman
New York Girls
Nothing To Show For It All
Old Maid In The Garrett
Only Our Rivers Run Free
Raggle Taggle Gypsies
Rambling Irishman
Rattling Bog
Ride On
Sam Hall
Seven Days Are In The Week
Seven Drunken Nights
Seventeen On Sunday
Shamrock Shore
She Moves Through The Fair
Sober Men
Soldier Boy
Sonny's Dream
Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
Star Of The County Down
Step It Out Mary
The Nightingale
The Town I Love So Well
Waltzing Mathilda
Westering Home
Whiskey In The Jar
Wild Rover
Wild Colonial Boy
Wish I Was Back In Liverpool
Wish I Was In England