Alf McCreary: Tommy Fleming plays packed-out concert at the Ulster Hall

Tommy Fleming is always welcome to Belfast and his packed-out concert at the Ulster Hall on Friday was proof of that.

However it was more than a concert, and in reality it was a musical autobiography of the 35-year career of one of the most talented performers on this island.

Tommy has been to Belfast numerous times, and I recall a concert in the Elmwood Hall where he talked about an American lady who asked him to sing “At Henry” and not the “Athenry” which we all know. Tommy slots together the musical dimension with anecdotes which he recalls with flair. On Friday he told us about a disgruntled Dundalk concert-goer who told him that he and his wife and her sister did not like him, for no apparent reason. However the man also asked Tommy for a picture, just in case his wife changed her mind about him!

Tommy Fleming took us on a tour of his career from auditioning unsuccessfully for RTE as a raw teenager but later touring Australia with the likes of Elaine Page and the Sydney Symphony. With a typical aside he asked rhetorically who needs the Sydney Symphony when he has such a brilliant backing band on tour. Indeed.

There were few of the standards in this programme like Athenry or Danny Boy which some fans may have hoped for, but Tommy Fleming is not to be pigeon-holed. His musical canvas here ranged widely from “The Contender” to Les Miserables and Leonard Cohen’s iconic “Hallelujah’, when we all joined him to great effect in the chorus. One of the most memorable moments of the evening was his reflection on his anger and grief after the death of loved ones, and he finished this with the beautiful song Goodbye My Old Friend which he co-wrote with Gerry Carney and Susan Ryan. This also touched me as I remembered old friends I have lost in recent years.

Tommy took off his jacket near the end and launched with gusto into a couple songs including his personal anthem “Hard Times”, and he finished with a roof-raising rendition of “The Auld Triangle” to a standing ovation.

Clearly, he has a strong affection for his Belfast audiences which they also have for him.

Here’s to his next Belfast concert which scheduled for February 13, 2026.