An Irish Celebration With Andy Cooney at The Rockaway Hotel

By Katie McFadden

From a multi-time sold out Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center, the National Concert Hall in Dublin and beyond, Irish America’s Favorite Son is coming to town for some pre-parade craic. Andy Cooney will perform on Friday, March 6, as part of a weekend full of activities celebrating Irish culture at The Rockaway Hotel.

To get Irish eyes smiling before the parade on Saturday, March 7, The Rockaway Hotel is hosting a dinner event next Friday from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., featuring Irish tenor Andy Cooney from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by the Feeney Brothers Band, playing Irish music and covers into the night. This ticketed event includes a festive buffet dinner featuring all your Emerald Isle favorites, including corned beef, shepherd’s pie, brick chicken, roasted red potatoes, cabbage, crispy Brussels sprouts, Irish soda bread, house salad, and homemade cookies and brownies for dessert, plus a cash bar and a 50/50 raffle.

Performing for more than 35 years, with more than 20 albums, his last being “Take Her In Your Arms,” released in 2022 and several singles since, the Irish American singer, songwriter and entertainer, Andy Cooney, is known for hits like “The Irish Wedding Song,” “Daughter of Mine,” “Rattlin’ Bog” and more. It’ll be Andy Cooney’s second visit to The Rockaway Hotel, having played at their post-parade event in 2023, but it’s certainly not one of his first few times playing on the peninsula. Although calling Massapequa Park on Long Island home, Cooney has become as much of a Rockaway staple as corned beef and cabbage on parade day.

Cooney was raised with Irish music in his blood. His grandmother from Monaghan, and his grandfather, from Dublin, settled in Flushing, Queens after immigrating to the States. “My grandfather, Andy Feehan, was an Irish tenor who sang with a band and toured, so I was around that growing up,” Cooney told The Rockaway Times. “Irish music and traditions were drilled into us.” After singing at family and church gatherings, Cooney launched his own professional music career at age 17, playing well-known Irish establishments around New York.

Of course, that led him to Rockaway. In the 1980s, Paddy Noonan took notice of Cooney’s talents and invited him to join the band. “I was with Paddy Noonan in the ‘80s and ‘90s and we played in Rockaway a lot,” Cooney said. “We used to play the Irish Circle and Mike Keller of the AOH would invite us to do a Christmas concert every year at St. Rose of Lima, and we’d also play at St. Camillus. We used to come down quite a lot.” He was also a familiar face at the old Rockaway Irish Festival near Beach 108th Street, played at a Rockaway Music and Arts Council Sunset Picnic Series concert in 2006, and has made appearances at the revived Irish Festival at St. Camillus at its inaugural event in 2013 and then again in 2016. But as the Irish Riviera has changed over time and Cooney takes stages across the country and on the sea for his Cruise of the Irish Stars, Cooney concerts in Rockaway have become more like finding a four-leaf clover.

“Things have changed in Rockaway. There’s not a lot of places to play anymore,” Cooney said, which is why he’s looking forward to the opportunity to play The Rockaway Hotel on March 6. “It’s great that the Hotel has come up with this fabulous weekend,” he said.

Cooney just returned from his 27th Cruise of Irish Stars on Sunday, with Ronan Tynan, the Kilkenny’s, The Screaming Orphans and other Irish performers, performing for 1,000 guests sailing around the eastern Caribbean. “We ran out of sunscreen before we ran out of booze,” Cooney joked. And continuing to soak in the sunshine, he’s playing a few venues in Florida before returning to New York on March 2 to get ready for a whirlwind tour around the tri-state area and the east coast for St. Patrick’s month, starting with the show at The Rockaway Hotel.

With his first time back to Rockaway since the 2023 show, Cooney is looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. “Rockaway is a great old Irish town and while it’s changed a lot, I’m looking forward to coming back and seeing friends I haven’t seen in a long time,” he said.

And whether he’s performing for familiar faces or new ones, Cooney says it’s going to be a good time. “Expect a good, fun night. Our band is always known for getting the crowd going,” he said. “We’ll be playing some new songs including my new single coming out ‘Everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,’ and songs everybody knows. I hope we get a great turnout and if we do, we’re gonna have a good night.”

Cooney encourages everyone to enjoy the night out to kick off parade weekend. “People should come out, especially after being cooped up in your house all winter,” Cooney said. “It’s going to be a wonderful weekend of music and I’m looking forward to it.”

In addition to Friday’s dinner event with Andy Cooney and The Feeney Brothers Band at 6 p.m., The Rockaway Hotel will be a one-stop shop for celebrating Irish culture during parade weekend. At 2 p.m. on Saturday, the main stage in the ballroom, sponsored by Shannon’s Florist, opens for their next big event featuring The Canny Brothers Band at 3 p.m., the O’Malley Irish Dance Academy at 5 p.m. and The Prodigals at 5:30 p.m. That event includes a cash bar and food for purchase like corned beef sandwiches, corned beef and cabbage dumplings, pretzel braids, hamburgers, chicken tenders and more.

Also on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m., Ray Coleman will play at Margie’s. On Saturday, March 7, Ray Coleman will play again at Margie’s at 2:30 p.m., followed by Sean Feeney at 6 p.m. And at 3 p.m. on Saturday, DJ Paddy Tubz will be spinning tunes at The Rooftop. Friday and Saturday’s events will include an Irish Village featuring vendors selling Irish goods, and a 50/50 raffle to help support the Francis Pope Memorial Foundation.

The weekend was curated by The Rockaway Hotel’s Director of Special Events, Maura Buckley, who has a deep appreciation for her Irish roots. “Our Irish heritage was always something our parents brought us up with. I used to Irish dance, play bagpipes, and my dad helped run Irish Festivals at Gateway, where he used to have Andy Cooney perform, and it got me into wanting to do events like this,” Buckley said. “It’s about carrying on our family tradition and heritage and it reminds me of my dad.”

The Rockaway Hotel is located at 108-10 Rockaway Beach Drive. Friday and Saturday’s main events require tickets, which can be purchased under the Happenings tab on www.therockawayhotel.com. Use code: RSPD25 for 25% off. Reservations are recommended for the events at Margie’s and The Rooftop.