The Saw Doctors Team Up with RTÉ Concert Orchestra on The Tommy Tiernan Show

April 2025

The Saw Doctors have teamed up with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for a new version of their hit song Same Oul’ Town.

Davy Carton and Leo Moran of the veteran Tuam act performed the number, the title track of the band’s 1996 album, with the RTÉ CO on last Saturday’s Tommy Tiernan Show on RTÉ One under the baton of conductor Gavin Murphy and will now release it as a single.

Murphy previously arranged Tolü Makay’s version of the Saw Doctor’s hit N17 with the orchestra in 2020.

Speaking about working with the RTÉ CO, Carton said, “It was an amazing experience to be backed by the RTE Concert Orchestra. Without a doubt, the highlight of my career.”

Behind the music: The Saw Doctors

Moran added, “I never imagined when we started out, we’d get a chance to play one of our songs with an orchestra. Gavin Murphy wrote a magical score for Same Oul’ Town.”

Since their performance on Saturday night, the song has gone viral on social media, with over 100,000 views on the RTÉ One Instagram account.

Speaking about on RTÉ Radio 1’s News at One, the band’s manager Ollie Jennings reckons it is all down to the arrangement by Murphy.

“He [Murphy] got on really well with Davy and Leo who co-wrote the song with Padraig Stevens.

“Funnily enough, the rock band and the Concert Orchestra worked really well.”

He also said he feels the song resonates with people because “most people have a memory of a funeral cortege going up the middle of the town. And everything is closed and blinds come down and the whole solemn nature of the funeral takes over the town”.

He added: “I can remember from the 80s… a lovely phrase of ‘Sunday night, it’s almost Monday morning again.’ The hopelessness of the 80s.”

The band’s label, Shamtown Records, will release the TV version of the track as a single this Friday on Spotify, iTunes and other digital platforms.

The Saw Doctors, who are celebrating their 35th anniversary, perform at Virgin Media Park, Cork on 14 June, Fairview Park, Dublin on 28 June, and the Letterkenny Summer Sessions on 16 August.

They also play shows in Berlin, Glasgow, Birmingham, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles this Summer.