Editing Planxty (section)

===Reunion and second run (1978–1983)===

After the break-up, Moynihan retreated into obscurity, continuing to perform occasionally, but rarely recorded.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|254}} Irvine and Brady toured together as a duo and, in August 1976 recorded an album at the [[Rockfield Studios]], ''[[Andy Irvine/Paul Brady (album)|Andy Irvine/Paul Brady]]'',<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|243–247}} produced by Lunny who also plays on most tracks, and with [[Kevin Burke (musician)|Kevin Burke]] on fiddle. For a while, Irvine continued to tour with Brady in Ireland and in the UK, and also with Mick Hanly, predominantly in Europe. In 1978, Brady released a solo album (''[[Welcome Here Kind Stranger]]'') including Irvine, [[Tommy Peoples]] and Lunny who also produced it.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|247}}

The original four members of Planxty, however, continued to encounter each other socially, on the stage, and in the studio.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|253}} It eventually led to a reunion encouraged by music promoter Kevin Flynn,<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|254–256}} who would become their manager. They were joined this time by [[Matt Molloy]], who had been a member of [[The Bothy Band]] with Lunny and was also a close friend of O'Flynn's.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|256–257}} Beginning rehearsals at Molloy's home on Tuesday, 19 September 1978,<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|259}} the line-up went on a mammoth European tour the following year, from 15 April to 11 June 1979, during which the band played forty-seven concerts in fifty-eight days, in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Ireland.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|259–262}}

From 18 to 30 June 1979, Planxty recorded their fourth album, ''[[After the Break]]'', at the [[Windmill Lane Studios]] in Dublin; it was produced by Lunny and released on the [[Tara Music|Tara Records]] label.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|262–267}} Molloy left the group to join [[The Chieftains]] shortly after the album was recorded;<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|268}} he remains with them to this day.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.thechieftains.com/main/ | work= The Chieftains| title= USA &mdash; 2015 | date= 8 October 2014 | access-date= 31 October 2015}}</ref> In between the Planxty activity, Irvine squeezed in tours in Europe with Lunny, Mick Hanly and Gerry O'Beirne. He also recorded his first solo album, ''[[Rainy Sundays... Windy Dreams (album)|Rainy Sundays... Windy Dreams]]'', at Windmill Lane Studios in late 1979, produced by Lunny and released on [[Tara Music|Tara Records]] in 1980.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|273–274}}

On 28 February 1980, Planxty headlined the Sense of Ireland concert at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in London. When they returned to Ireland, they recorded two programmes for RTÉ at the [[Pavilion Theatre (Dún Laoghaire)|Pavilion Theatre]] in [[Dún Laoghaire]], then started rehearsals at [[Kilkea Castle]] in [[Castledermot]], [[County Kildare]] with two musicians from [[County Clare]]: [[concertina]] player [[Noel Hill (musician)|Noel Hill]] and fiddler Tony Linnane. The six-member lineup of  Moore, Irvine, Lunny, O’Flynn, Hill, and Linnane were joined by Molloy and keyboardist [[Bill Whelan]], to record the band's fifth album, ''[[The Woman I Loved So Well]]'', at Windmill Lane Studios for two sessions: 23–29 April and 16–19 May.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|275–281}} The album was wrapped up with a reception at Windmill Lane Studios on 9 June 1980.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|280}}

The band began touring as a four-piece during the summer of 1980, playing a tour of Italian castles in July and returning to The Boys of Ballisodare Festival on 9 August, joined by Whelan and a young [[Cork (city)|Cork]] fiddler, [[Nollaig Casey]].<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|281–282}} Shows around this time would feature the four-piece band for the first set, with Whelan and Casey joining in for the second set. This line-up played a week of shows at the [[Olympia Theatre, Dublin|Olympia Theatre]] in Dublin on 18–23 August 1980,<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|283}} taped for a potential live album, which eventually emerged in 1987 as the unlicensed release ''The Best of Planxty Live''.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|283–285}} The line-up, augmented by a full orchestra and rhythm section, also recorded "Timedance" in 1981 as part of the [[Eurovision Song Contest]]; "Timedance" was the genesis for what Whelan later developed into ''[[Riverdance]]''.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|296–299}}

The six-piece Planxty continued to tour but began to drift apart. O’Flynn took on a project with [[Shaun Davey]], ''[[The Brendan Voyage]]''.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|287}} Moore & Lunny, eager to experiment with a rhythm section and a different, more political, song set, formed [[Moving Hearts]].<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|290}} Lunny also kept busy producing albums by other artists. The original four-piece line-up played their last show together on 24 August 1982, at the [[National Stadium (Ireland)|National Stadium]] in Dublin.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|301}} Nevertheless, the band (with Whelan and Casey still on board) recorded one final album at Windmill Lane Studios for the WEA label in late October and early November 1982, ''[[Words & Music (Planxty album)|Words & Music]]'',<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|301–304}} which also featured contributions from fiddler James Kelly and Moving Hearts bass guitarist Eoghan O’Neill.

The divided attention of two bands proved too much and in early 1983, Lunny and Moore left to concentrate on Moving Hearts.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|304}} Irvine, O’Flynn, and Whelan decided to continue as Planxty, retaining fiddler James Kelly and recruiting [[Arty McGlynn]] of [[County Tyrone]] on guitar, plus [[Galway]]’s [[Dolores Keane]] on vocals and a plethora of traditional instruments.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|304}} Irvine would later dub this line-up "Planxty-Too-Far", as the personnel and musical focus, now more dominated by Whelan, was far removed from the original Planxty.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|304}}

A tour of [[Ireland]] in the spring of 1983, including the [[National Stadium (Ireland)|National Stadium]] in [[Dublin]] on 27 April, was the end of the group.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|306}} In the words of Andy Irvine:

{{quote box|border=none|fontsize=90%|quote=
I left on a long tour and travelled to the Balkans two days later and was in contact with Bill by phone once or twice. We had agreed to do more gigs in the autumn. I didn't get back till the middle of June and I found, to my surprise, that the band hadn't exactly split up, it had just fallen asunder. An unfortunate ending to the second coming...
|salign=right|source=—Leagues O'Toole, ''The Humours of Planxty''.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|306}}}}

Although Moore, Irvine, Lunny, and O'Flynn continued to meet from time to time and perform occasionally in various combinations during professional engagements&mdash;and even play together as a foursome in the privacy of Moore's house at least once&mdash;rumours of putative reunions circulated for over two decades.<ref name="O'Toole"/>{{rp|314–315}}