Folk/Rock

Mary Black's success shows no signs of diminishing, which says more for her dogged persistence and obvious popularity than any radical (or indeed subtle) creative change in her choice of material. Her new album, Speaking With The Angel, is a glossy return to her folk roots albeit with each cover version smoothed out in the way we have come to expect from one of Ireland's most acclaimed interpretative singers. Her major-venue Irish tour, the first for two years, sees her visiting Cork's Opera House on Monday and Tuesday, Galway's Leisureland on Wednesday and Limerick's University Concert Hall on Friday. After these, Black travels to the US in October, Britain in November and Japan in December.