You probably know you are getting old when you look back at the concerts you enjoyed most over the last year and realise they all involved exceptional talents who, while still going strong, are now either approaching or have passed the eight-decade mark.

Paul Brady turned 79 last month, Neil Young and Van Morrison both celebrated their 80th birthdays in the second half of 2025, and the outstanding performance among the mature quartet came from 84-year-old Paul Simon a couple of weeks ago.

I’m not deliberately avoiding acts who are some distance from collecting their pensions, and there may well be a basic sense of comfort in the familiar, but the contributions of the veterans were still by any standards uplifting.

When Brady played at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast last November, and demonstrated how to consider the events of our past with insight and dignity, you had to hope that our elected representatives on all sides were listening.

Tom Kelly: We will forever be in debt to selfless men like Desmond Rea

Noel Doran: Still crazy about Paul Brady, Paul Simon and those golden oldies after all these years

Brady was less seriously able to mention that he initially objected robustly when Tina Turner wanted to introduce minor changes to his lyrics during her version of Steel Claw, only to relax........

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