Mec Lir with Astro Bloc

Following their euphoric Barrowlands debut in 2025, Mec Lir return to Celtic Connections to raise the roof once more - as only they can. 

From their debut gig at one of the largest Celtic music festivals anywhere in the world – Brittany’s famed Festival Interceltique de Lorient – the exhilarating, genre-busting quartet Mec Lir have been frenzying festival audiences for over a decade.

Well-known for their tight, lightning-fast playing and huge sound, fusing trad with unapologetically electro synths and drums – yet all the while with the fiddle melody at the forefront – the Isle of Man/Glasgow four-piece have brought their infectiously joyous energy to stages in many corners of the folk sphere; from Cape Breton to the Basque Country, Shetland to the USA, and countless more in between.

Fronted by virtuoso Manx fiddle player Tomas Callister (Ímar), and with fellow Manx musicians Adam Rhodes on bouzouki (Ímar) and David Kilgallon on keyboard (Neear Nesañ), expertly grounded by Scotland’s Greg Barry on drums (Elephant Sessions), the core quartet are once again joined by regular Glasgow-based collaborators, button accordion maestro Paddy Callaghan, and guitarist Lyle Watt. 

Whilst the groups' second album, Livewire, met critical acclaim upon its 2020 release, topping the iTunes World Music charts –it's Mec Lir’s live shows that are the stuff of legend – and not to be missed!