The Glide Ensemble and Change band performed at the 2024 St Patrick’s Day Celebration at City Hall

I was a beautiful sunny day at Civic Center Plaza when the Glide Ensemble and Change Band sang festive songs in celebration of St Patrick’s Day on March 16th.  This year’s theme was Unite SF, with the goal of bringing San Franciscans together in the midst of political disagreements and public battles about the state of the city. The festivities began with over 100 floats and thousands gathered for the annual parade down Market Street.  Throughout the day, vendors, community groups and artists continued to cultivate community.  The event was the first time since COVID that the Glide Ensemble has performed with the full Change Band at a community event.

Eamonn Flynn, an Irish keyboardist for the Change Band, is well known in the Irish music scene.  He played keyboards on the 14 million selling soundtrack of The Commitments moti0n picture.  Eamonn wrote the original song, St. Brigid’s Day, that the Ensemble performed at the event.

On Sunday, March 17th, Eamonn and musicians from Dublinesque played traditional Irish music at our Sunday Celebrations.  These amazing performances are one of the many ways that Glide Memorial Church lifts up the diverse sounds, voices and cultures of San Franciscans.

You can watch additional performances from the weekend here: Love Train, Don’t Wait Until the Battle is Over and O Happy Day.