Irish favourites Foster and Allen coming to Wanganui Opera House

Tony Allen (left) and Mick Foster will play in Whanganui next month.

Foster and Allen are touring New Zealand and they are coming to play at the Royal Wanganui Opera House next month.

The legendary Irish folk music duo began in 1975 when Mick Foster and Tony Allen formed their duo, Foster and Allen.

For three years they toured cabaret venues in Ireland and the UK.

Their big break came in 1978 when they released the single A Bunch of Thyme in Ireland which stayed in the Irish charts for 53 weeks.

However, at this stage their success was only in Ireland and it was not until 1982 that A Bunch of Thyme was released in the UK.

It was played by all the UK radio stations and was soon in the pop charts, becoming their first top-selling No 1 single.

This increased their popularity and demand for Foster and Allen is now immense all over Ireland and the UK.

They released another single Old Flames which made its way into the UK charts and along with their mega-hit single Maggie.

These three hit songs became their signature tunes at sellout concerts.

Foster and Allen are now an international act playing sell-out concerts in the UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The duo has achieved album and video sales in excess of 20 million worldwide.

To coincide with their first national tour of New Zealand for many years, Foster and Allen will release two new albums through Sony BMG.

Gold & Silver Days features all new material and After All These Years is specially released for Mother's Day.

Foster and Allen will appear in the following venues and cities and will be accompanied by Moyra Fraser on keyboards, Ollie Kennedy on bass guitar and Bryan Megahey on lead guitar.

Foster & Allen: Royal Wanganui Opera House, Friday, May 4 at 7pm. Tickets $75 Group 8+ $70 each.