I think most people know that it's a modern song - certainly sounds modern. Nothing wrong with that,however. Not sure what you mean about "for torists to sing," but I know it pretty popular among the Irish themselves.

Since starting this thread a while back, I've had the good fortune to discover the band Drop Kick Murphys. A punk band from Boston that does Irish non-punk music in a punk style. They cover Athenry and it's pretty good. It fast and load, of couse, but it's not performed "upbeat" the message is still there and when I sing it along with them, I still feel the same way as I do when singing it in the "original" style.