Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ragin’ over Raglan
Viewers say Ed murdered Irish classic but Jools better than RTE’s countdown
and KAYLA WALSH ED Sheeran has come under fire from New Year’s Eve TV viewers who accused him of “murdering” a popular Irish folk song.
The “Perfect” singer, 30 appeared on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on the BBC on Friday to perform Raglan Road.
But a wave of Hootenanny fans were disappointed and lambasted his performance on social media.
One viewer accused the singing sensation of “murdering” the song.
Twitter user Seamus said: “Love Jools Holland and his New Year Show, but for duck sake, if 2021 wasn’t bad enough he started 2022 with Vic Reeves singing out of tune and Ed Sheeran murdering Raglan Road...” Another user added: “Don’t ever touch Raglan Road again.”Overheard in Dublin tweeted: “The butchering of Raglan Road on Jools Holland makes Gomorrah feel like a comedy!”
Patrick O’Donnell added: “He’s a very talented guy BUT after that version of Raglan Road on Jools Holland he should be waterboarded.” Sean O’Donnghaile said: “Hoping The Queen of England makes an apology to the people of Ireland today for Ed Sheeran signing ‘Raglan Road’ on #JoolsHolland.” Meanwhile, RTE viewers slammed the New Year’s Eve Countdown show and said host Una Healy had “nothing to work with”.
The show was originally meant to be presented by the 2 Johnnies, but singer and broadcaster Una stepped in after government restrictions forced a change of plans.
Many viewers said they felt for Una. One wrote on Twitter: “Sorry @ UnaHealy. It seems RTE left you on a rock tonight.
“I needed to tune into BBC2 with Joels Holland after 5 mins. Ireland really needs to up its game.” “God bless Una Healy for doing her best to make something out of absolutely nothing,” another said.
However, others complained that RTE were “late” with the countdown.
One tweet read: “Countdown went into extra time. U had just one simple job @UnaHealy.”