When Saw Doctors’ frontman Davy Carton describes it as the highlight of his career, it had to be something special – and it was … a haunting version of their classic Same Oul’ Town with the 45-piece RTÉ Concert Orchestra to end last Saturday night’s Tommy Tiernan Show.

And on foot of an avalanche of admiration, the Tuam rockers – with the agreement of RTÉ – are launching that performance as their new single this Friday.

By Monday morning, the video had already been viewed over half a million times, with almost 220,000 views on Instagram.

Coincidentally this orchestral version of the title track of the band’s UK top ten album from 1996 was arranged by RTÉ Concert Orchestra conductor Gavin Murphy, who previously arranged N17 for Tolü Makay’s acclaimed 2020 performance with the same orchestra.

“It was an amazing experience to be backed by the RTE Concert Orchestra – without a doubt, the highlight of my career,” said Davy Carton.

“I never imagined when we started out, we’d get a chance to play one of our songs with an orchestra. Gavin Murphy wrote a magical score for Same Oul’ Town,” added Leo Moran.

The two Saw Docs founders were also the opening guests on the chat show where Tommy asked them about the phenomenon of fame second time around after a five- or six-year hiatus, apart from occasional gigs.

“It’s mad; we’re very lucky that people stayed with us and wanted to see us after the break,” replied Leo.

Davy admitted he was nervous starting back – until he actually hit the stage. “I didn’t want to be a percentage down on the old Saw Docs, but once we started playing I was grand,” he said.

The duo performed a stripped-down version of Red Cortina – before the big finale which drew applause from the orchestra as well!

Shamtown Records will now release that TV version of Same Oul’ Town as a single this Friday on Spotify, iTunes and other digital platforms, marking another milestone in The Saw Doctors’ 35-year career.

And it triggers another busy summer for the band as they tour the US and Europe, taking in Berlin, Glasgow, Birmingham, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Closer to home, it now looks almost certain that there will be no appearance locally this time, but there will be a mass Galway exodus to Cork’s Virgin Media Park – or Musgrave Park – on Saturday, June 14, for a gig well on its way to selling out.

The Saw Doctors also return to Fairview Park in Dublin on Saturday, June 28. They played to a full house there last summer – and again with a huge Galway contingent, in Dublin for the Galway/Dublin All-Ireland Football quarter-final.

They’re also at the Letterkenny Summer Sessions on Saturday, August 16.

■ Tickets for all Irish gigs are on ticketmaster.ie – and you can view Same Oul’ Town on the RTE Player https://www.rte.ie/player/ or download from the usual streaming sites.

Pictured: The Saw Doctors joined by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra on the Tommy Tiernan Show.