So it was pissing down a couple of hours before the gig, and we thought, “Oh no, it’s going to be a mud fest like Laneway,”—remember that fateful Jan 29 music festival earlier this year? Thankfully, when we rocked up at about 7:30pm, the rain had tricked to a slight drizzle. But what greeted us was a queue that snaked such a long way back from the entrance; it was quite a while before we could see the end. When we were finally inside the venue, the ground wasn’t as bad as we expected. It was muddy, yes, but not nigh-on quicksand-like as it was at Laneway.
The pre-gig atmosphere was just great and a harbinger of even better things to come, with a pre-concert DJ revving the crowd, which seemed to consist mostly of under-18s. Just to give you an idea of how young this indie crowd was: When Muse’s “Starlight” came on, only a few sang along. We winced when we heard a girl say, “Eh, what song is this, ar?”
But never mind that. With fluorescent adolescence come unabashed sing-alongs and deafening shrieks, which ensued when the Irish lads came on. “You Won’t Feel a Thing” was up first, a song they’ve been starting their gigs with. “Talk You Down” followed, where they cheekily inserted Singapore into their lines. As it is with a Singapore audience, every mention of our little red dot got us wild.
Being such a young band with just two studio albums to their name, we were surprised by their impressive stage setting. The visuals were a mix of tasteful graphics, music videos and live video streaming of the audience.
Showmanship from every member of the band gets a f**king A. They had the crowd going berserk at their stage banter, whether it was broadcasting that two of them were single, or praising the crowd’s singing talent. Then there was the endearing confession of what Twitter geeks they were, which prompted the lanky lad standing next to us to leap up his friends’ shoulders in an attempt to get himself a spot in the band’s Twitpic. Vocalist Danny O’Donoghue went into the audience twice, thrusting the mic on unsuspecting front row audience.
O’Donoghue was in top form for the entire show. Spinning and leaping, so much energy exuded from him even while he was shackled at the keyboard as he sang. And he raised his arms to the crowd so much, we thought maybe that was some way he thought he could air his armpits in our humid tropical weather. That aside, his voice was pitch-perfect, not once wavering despite running around the stage so much. Indeed, performance from the entire band was stellar, and this whole live experience was much, much better than listening to them on CD.
Chart-toppers “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” and “Breakeven” sent the crowd into a frenzy, and we couldn’t help screaming we were “falling into pieces” to the latter. “We’re so far away and it’s great that you in Singapore are singing along to our songs, we feel right at home!” yelled the band. Sure, but we bet Dublin won’t get your armpits as wet as we can.
