Exclusive | Notorious Irish band nabs Guinness World Record for 30-year residency at NYC pub: Simply extraordinary
They’re the masters of shamrock-and-roll.Infamous Irish punk band The Prodigals tossed back a new type of Guinness Friday and partied at their equally famous home pub like it was 1997.Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar threw a Celtic celebration in honor of its homegrown musicians — who secured the World Record for “longest annual residency by a band” after 29 years of dedicated weekly shows at the Kips Bay landmark.The crowd roared when the band took the stage — and went even crazier when old members picked up their instruments in an ode to the nearly three-decade legacy they have etched into the Manhattan bar.“I am absolutely delighted,” Gregory Grene, The Prodigals’ lead singer, accordionist and only remaining original member, told The Post.“Bizarrely, it’s a wonderful feeling of time continuing and standing still at the same time.”The Prodigals were officially handed their Guinness World Record this week, but “The Open Reel” artists cemented their place in history on St.Patrick’s Day — the 29th anniversary of its first-ever show at Paddy Reilly’s that established its long-running partnership.The band, currently comprised of Grene, drummer Eamon Ellams, guitarist Colin Forhan and flautist Sean Tierney, 35, plays every Friday and Saturday night at the pub — when they’re not touring around the world.It took some time to muster up the pay stubs, newspaper articles and other documents that proved they had consistently played at the pub, a tedious process that offered its members a nostalgic trip down memory lane.The Prodigals got their start at the bar in 1997 after Grene pleaded with then-owner Steve Duggan to give a fellow “Cavan [County] lad” his career start — a chance that legendary flute and whistle player Joanie Madden ushered Duggan to take.
A few years later, Christy Turlington hired The Prodigals for a yacht party and then followed them back to the pub for a “wild night” of partying that became front-page news for Page...