Una Healy and Loah team up for new Saturday night Irish music show

RTÉ One has announced a new star-studded music series as part of their summer line-up of programmes. Celebrating some of the country’s finest artists, singers and performers, the show will be fronted by Una Healy and Loah who will welcome guests to the stage for an evening of live music. 

Set to run for six weeks, the action will take place in the beautiful surrounds of the Round Room at Dublin’s Mansion House. Hoping to cater to all musical tastes, RTÉ confirmed that there will be a wide variety of different genres covered including pop, folk, rock, classical and traditional. 

Each episode will also feature a special segment paying tribute to an artist no longer with us with those set to be honoured ranging from Phil Lynott to Dolores O’Riordan, Shay Healy, Ronnie Drew and John Prine. 

Sharing her excitement at being involved in the project, Loah said that she is “over the moon to be the proud co-presenter” of the show. Posting a beautiful photo of herself on the set – alongside one of her with Una in full interviewer mode – she later went on to say that “the lineup is so gorgeous!”

“I am over the moon to be the proud co-presenter of a new music show, The Heart of Saturday Night alongside the stunner that is @unahealy. It starts Saturday 24th July at 9.30 pm on @rteone and runs for 6 weeks only!!”

Also hinting that she and Una will take to the stage for a song or two themselves, the singer finished by encouraging people to “tune in!”. 

Mirroring her new co-host’s enthusiasm, Healy echoed her thoughts saying that they have some “incredible talent” in-store for the show and adding that she “can’t wait” for people to see what they’ve been working on.

Public reaction to the news has been overwhelmingly positive since the duo announced their new presenting gig with several famous friends passing on their congratulations in the comments. Una’s former Saturday’s bandmember Mollie King responded with “Amazing!!!!”, while Laura Whitmore opted for three clapping emojis. 

Several big names have been revealed as part of the lineup so far including Imelda May, Irish Women in Harmony (a project on which Loah and Una worked together previously), James Vincent McMorrow, Lyra, Saint Sister, Damien Dempsey, Bell X1, Villagers, Kodaline,  Tolü Makay and Declan O’Rourke amongst them. 

Viewers will also be treated to two special duets from the show’s presenters. Loah will team up with Gavin James for her performance while Una will sing with Derek Ryan. 

Kicking off on Saturday, July 24, you can tune into The Heart of Saturday Night on RTÉ One at 9:30 pm. 

Feature image via @unahealy