Darren Kiely(IRL) (16+)

www.livenation.ch
www.darrenkiely.com

Darren Kiely comes from County Cork in Ireland and combines his deeply rooted love of traditional Irish music with modern influences from The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons and Noah Kahan to create a unique, folk-influenced sound. The 26-year-old Darren Kiely has so far expressed this style on two EPs and several singles, and his talent already places him alongside great Irish songwriters such as Hozier and Glen Hansard. At the heart of his work are above all songs he truly believes in: “Songs where people can feel that I mean them and that what I sing is genuinely authentic and honest.” With his THE SPACE BETWEEN DREAMS TOUR, Darren Kiely comes to Cologne, Berlin and Munich in October for three concerts in Germany, and a concert in Switzerland is also planned in Zurich.

At just five years old, Darren Kiely learned to play the tin whistle, followed three years later by the fiddle. It wasn’t long before he also taught himself to play the guitar. However, the young musician only began singing in 2019, after discovering his raw, impassioned voice and his emotional expressiveness. After attracting attention at home with traditional Irish music, he moved to New York City in 2022. In search of his own sound, he eventually continued on to Nashville, where he became part of the songwriting hub and released his first singles.

After signing with Free Flight Records, Darren Kiely released his debut EP “Lost” in 2023 — an impressive collection of folk-inspired melodies with rich storytelling that reflects the Irish landscapes where the singer-songwriter grew up. Across the EP’s seven tracks, Kiely deals with overcoming self-doubt, self-discovery and the search for answers. The single “Mom & Dad” taken from it took him into the Irish singles Top 40 as well as the Homegrown Charts Top 5, where his clear fan favourite and, to date, most-streamed song “Sunrise” entered at No. 1. Darren Kiely’s second EP, “From The Dark”, which was released in 2024, followed a similarly introspective approach and focused on the harsh reality of growing up and the personal progress that comes with it. On that record, the driving folk song “Ocean” became the next crowd favourite. In 2025, the emotionally charged single “Weight” followed and, with Kiely’s equally powerful and fragile voice and dreamy indie guitars, became his new top track. Since then, he has released further songs such as “Bound”, “Fade” and “Hidden Away”, which may hint at a possible debut album.