Irish folk singer whips out fiddle on flight, entertains passengers: video

Ben Cost, Taylor Knight
·2 min read
7
It was a first class flight to funkytown. A Ryanair flight resembled a folk concert at 30,000 feet after an Irish musician whipped out his fiddle and started playing to the delight of fellow passengers.
It was a first class flight to funkytown. A Ryanair flight resembled a folk concert at 30,000 feet after an Irish musician whipped out his fiddle and started playing to the delight of fellow passengers.

He turned back the clock on inflight entertainment.

A Ryanair flight resembled a folk concert at 30,000 feet after an Irish musician whipped out his fiddle and started playing to the delight of fellow passengers as seen in a viral video.

“We just decided to have a bit laugh on the plane and played a Donegal song ‘Hills of Donegal’ and I played a trad fiddle tune with my wife Irish dancing along with me!” musician Seán Magee told The Post.

Cameraman Danny Walters had noticed that the musician had bought an extra seat for his fiddle so he wouldn’t have to put it in the cargo hold, South West News reported.

“Ryanair told me the fiddle [could have] its own window seat for safety reasons, so it was actually sitting 2 rows behind me,” Magee chuckled.

However, Walter didn’t think much of it until an hour into the flight — when he “heard someone say, ‘Guys, give us me fiddle over!'”

“I think it really shortened the flight for us all,” said Walters of the spontaneous performance, which occurred on a flight from Belfast, Ireland, to the Canary Islands.

At that moment, Walters realized that an epic solo was about to ensue.

Irish folk performer Sean Magee performed for passengers while flying to the Canary Islands. Danny Walters / SWNS
Irish folk performer Sean Magee performed for passengers while flying to the Canary Islands. Danny Walters / SWNS
Magee whipped out his fiddle and played an upbeat tune alongside his seatmates. Danny Walters / SWNS
Magee whipped out his fiddle and played an upbeat tune alongside his seatmates. Danny Walters / SWNS

“I just happened to be sitting in front — so once I saw the fiddle come out, I brought out my camera,” he told SWNS.

Accompanying footage shows Magee and his seatmates, Nathan Carter and Matthew Crampsey, performing a lively rendition of “Las Vegas (In the Hills of Donegal),” a song popularized in the 1990s by folk group Goats Don’t Shave.

All the while, flyers are seen enthusiastically singing and clapping along to the ditty like a scene from the steerage section of a 19th-century cruise liner.

A passenger dances a jig in the aisle of a Ryanair flight Danny Walters / SWNS
A passenger dances a jig in the aisle of a Ryanair flight Danny Walters / SWNS

The good time didn’t end there: Walters and his wife stopped by one of Magee’s gigs on the island.

“While we were in Lanzarote [located in the Canary Islands], a couple of the boys from the plane got gigs, so we went down there for the craic and they were very good!” he gushed.