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Super Furry Animals Reunite for First Live Show in a Decade at Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre
Super Furry Animals played their first full live show in 10 years at Dublin's 3Olympia Theatre, delivering a 22-song set of early classics.
The Super Furry Animals returned to the stage last night for their first full live show in ten years, taking over the 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin and reminding a roomful of fans why their early records still feel alive.
After drifting into hiatus in 2010 and only briefly reconvening in 2015 and 2016, the Cardiff band have spent the past decade splintering into other projects — Gruff Rhys pursuing solo work while other members formed Das Koolies — before finally confirming a full reunion for the 2026 “Supracabra” tour last September. When they walked out on Wednesday May 6, they made a deliberate choice: the set leaned almost exclusively on material from the band’s formative years. Nothing from the last 23 years made the cut.
They opened with a burst of adrenaline: back-to-back renditions of “Wherever I Lay My Phone (That’s My Home)”, “(Drawing) Rings Around The World”, “Do Or Die” and “Golden Retriever”. From there the set cruised through a string of early favourites — “Hello Sunshine”, “Northern Lites”, “Play It Cool” among them — building an intimacy that felt equal parts reunion and homecoming. By the time they closed with the defiant 90s b-side “The Man Don’t Give A Fuck”, the crowd had been taken on a brisk, 22-song trip through the band’s most beloved era.
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Super Furry Animals setlist
- “Wherever I Lay My Phone (That’s My Home)”
- “(Drawing) Rings Around The World”
- “Do Or Die”
- “Golden Retriever”
- “Something 4 The Weekend”
- “Focus Pocus / Debiel”
- “If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You”
- “Ice Hockey Hair”
- “Hello Sunshine”
- “Northern Lites”
- “Ymaelodi â’r Ymylon”
- “Run! Christian, Run!”
- “Juxtapozed With U”
- “The Piccolo Snare”
- “Fire In My Heart”
- “Play It Cool”
- “Receptacle For The Respectable”
- “God! Show Me Magic”
- “Mountain People”
- “Slow Life”
- “Night Vision”
- “The Man Don’t Give A Fuck”
The run of dates continues with two nights at Glasgow’s Barrowlands on Friday May 8 and Saturday May 9, before the tour moves on to Llandudno, London, Manchester and Cardiff later in the month. There’s also a one-off in Bristol in late June, a slot at Alexandra Palace Park in London and a performance at the TK Maxx Presents Live at Llangollen Pavilion in July. Visit here for tickets.
Outside the reunion, the band have been quietly curating their archive. In October they reissued their seventh studio album, Love Kraft, on Cardiff’s Strangetown Records; the package paired the remastered original 12 tracks with rarities, including a lost cut called “Rock N Roll Flu” featuring drummer Daf Ieuan on lead vocal.
And for fans who have followed the band’s career decisions, none of this reads as inevitable. Over the years Super Furry Animals have turned down big opportunities — support slots with Oasis and U2, and even a Pyramid Stage booking at Glastonbury. They’ve also reflected on one famously prickly US TV moment when, as they recounted it, they “got into a row” with Max Weinberg on Late Night With David Letterman.
Last night in Dublin was less about rewriting history than reoccupying it: a chance for a band who helped define a moment in British indie to play those formative songs back to back, and to remind a new audience and old fans alike why those records still matter.
