The Riptide Movement

So the December Riptide Movement show was my first time formally reviewing them, which proved much more tricky than I expected. While this show was great, and the crowd loved it, it’s hard not to remember their more raw, less slick shows of old with nostalgia. I think this inevitably happens with an act you’ve seen a lot and doesn’t detract from the show that TRM put on. It’s hard to review people that you know without letting that impact, but I think I did the show justice.

This gig was originally reviewed for Ceol Collective which has now ceased operations. The review that was published is preserved for posterity here!

Making a triumphant return for their third show in Vicar Street, The Riptide Movement were determined to show how far they’d come since their days of busking on Grafton Street.

If 2013 was a big year for the Lucan quartet, with the signing of their Universal deal, then 2014 has been even bigger. Announcing at the Vicar Street show that their most recent album, “Getting Through” had just gone gold, the entire show seemed to be a celebration of all they’d achieved.

Slamming through a set-list with old favourites like “Shake Shake” and “Tip Jars” along with new classics like “All Works Out”, TRM never fail to entertain, and to make the most of additional musical punch provided by the brass section and backing singers, who are now an almost permanent fixture.

Having been to the other Vicar Street shows this year, it was a risk that it would all just start to sound the same, but in fairness to the lads, their encore set proved they are not resting on their laurels. From the encore opener played acoustically at the back of a packed Vicar Street, to the brass section interspersed through the crowd, and even lead singer Mal Tuohy’s impromptu appearance on the balcony (which appeared to be to the surprise even of the other bandmates!), it was clear that they were having a ball, and sounding as good as they ever have.

With shows as enjoyable as this and the fact that 2014 brought great things for them at home and further afield, I think 2015 is going to be a big year for The Riptide Movement.

 An explosive Happy Christmas from The Riptide Movement!

Support act Willie Nile – didn’t think much of him to be honest, not remotely to my taste.

Hot Press Jagermeister Freezer Sessions

 The Academic

The Hot Press Jagermeister Freezer Sessions always bring together an eclectic but talented bunch, and are growing in size each year. This year’s line-up were disgustingly talented youngsters The Academic, Jagermeister Freezer Sessions Live Band of the Year Rackhouse Pilfer, Booka Brass Band and The Minutes.

Highlight for me were Booka Brass Band, who I somehow had never seen live before. These lads are fantastic – I mean, who doesn’t love synchronised brass brilliance?!

Rackhouse Pilfer

Booka Brass Band The Minutes

Columbia Mills

Columbia Mills (called Empire Saints in a previous life) debuted their first EP upstairs in Whelans and I went along for Ceol Collective. Really impressive opening – dying to see them again to be honest. And their support act Dear Desert are definitely ones to watch as well.

This gig was originally reviewed for Ceol Collective which has now ceased operations. The review that was published is preserved for posterity here!

Columbia Mills started as they mean to go on by selling out their debut headline gig in Dublin, upstairs in Whelans, where they launched their new EP “Factory Settings”, with support from the exciting Dear Desert. Watching Columbia Mills smash out one song after another to a packed room, it seems like they have been around forever. This is likely helped by their indietronic sound which is a delicious melting pot of 80s and 90s influences and manages to sound both completely new and utterly familiar.

Support act Dear Desert opened the night with an explosion of synths, deep rhythms and soaring falsettos, impressing the growing crowd. Having recently launched their own EP “Give it Up”, Dear Desert almost stole the show from the headliners with their accomplished sound which hints at impressive things to come. I highly recommend checking them out (here https://soundcloud.com/dear-desert).

But Columbia Mills were never going to allow themselves to be surpassed by their brilliant support act. Opening with the distorted vocals and heavy beats of “The Perfect Day”, they clearly stated their intent to be recognised as an exciting new addition to the live music scene. It is apparent that they are not an act who have rushed their EP release – apart from their cover of The National’s “Sorrow” which did the original justice while making it their own, the set consisted of original songs. These Bray natives seem to have far more tracks ready to go than just the four included on Factory Settings, so it is likely that we’ll be getting another release in 2015.

Standout tracks on the night were the encore set of “Bass Soup” followed by current single “Never Gonna Look at You the Same” which highlights the band’s ability to resist relying on the more electronic influences of the rest of the set and to produce a radio-friendly single while maintaining their distinctive sound. A brilliant debut, it seems likely that this is only the beginning for Columbia Mills.

“Factory Settings” is available here http://itunes.apple.com/album/id933980247  

Columbia Mills

Dear Desert

Ceol Collective Launch gig

Ray Scully

 November 2014 brought an exciting new development for me, when I joined Ceol Collective, a new collaborative website bringing the best of music and culture in Ireland to a wider audience. The team consists of a group of passionate music lovers, poets, musicians, videographers and photographers – and little old me! The launch gig in Abner Browns marked a few firsts for me – first time seeing Marcas Carcas and the rather brilliant Ray Scully, first time at a gig in the awesome Abner Browns and my first time writing what I would call a “proper” gig review.

Gigaholic has always just been my ramblings about gigs I’ve gone to, so to write reviews that would actually be out there in the world was a bit intimidating, but it was also an exciting opportunity to see acts that I might not get to see otherwise, and to review new albums. A lot of my Gigaholic posts from now on will include a link to the review I’ve written for Ceol Collective, just so that all my scribblings are kept together!

This gig was originally reviewed for Ceol Collective which has now ceased operations. The review that was published is preserved for posterity here!

Ceol Collective celebrated the launch of www.ceolcollective.com with an intimate gig in Abner Brown’s Barbership on Saturday 22nd November. Ceol Collective’s collaborative website will be a platform showcasing new and exciting musicians, poets, performers and writers, so Ailie Blunnie’s, Markas Carcas’ and Ray Scully’s performances to a packed out venue were the perfect way to mark its launch. While life got in the way of me arriving in time for Ailie Blunny’s set (which I’m assured was great), Markas Carcas and Ray Scully were definitely impressive and launched the site with style.

Markas Carcas and band gave a  foot-stomping performance, veering from traditional rhythm/roots to blues, and hitting most genres in between! While at times I felt that the songs were a little too crammed with influences, it was a finessed performance showcasing the significant skills of the musicians involved. “Mississippi Wine” was a personal favourite and makes me intrigued to hear the album they’re in the process of recording.

The highlight of the night was Ray Scully who followed Marcus Carcas with an endearingly charming performance. Having launched his album “Let’s Blow This Town Tonight” the previous weekend, Ray showcased his beautifully crafted music to a thrilled crowd. From “I Found a Dollar Bill” to “Let’s Blow This Town Tonight”, Ray’s blues/rock sound is deceptively polished for someone who has just released their debut album! The highlight for me was “I Won’t Let You Fade”, dedicated to his grandfather. Ray Scully is definitely one to watch – check out his album here (https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/lets-blow-this-town-tonight/id928545216).

A small word of mention has to go to Abner Brown’s Barbershop for being the perfect venue for the gig – it really is an amazing, alternative venue for live music that allows the crowd to get up close and personal with the acts that are performing.

This gig highlighted the fortuitous range of music that is on offer in Ireland at the moment, and was an exciting harbinger of what Anto, Peter and all at the Ceol Collective are going to have coming up for their readers in the coming weeks and months.

Markas Carcas

Speech Development Records Tour

Excitement would have been an understatement for how I felt about this show. Still mourning the end of Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip as a duo, the opportunity to see some of the finest acts signed to Scroob’s Speech Development Records label was too good to resist. I’m so glad I didn’t because this gig was simply amazing – packed, loud, and sweaty, this was gigging at its best.

Star of the show B Dolan is a real showman, with dance offs and banter with the crowd doing little to distract from his full-on live show. He has a unique brand of angry music that often makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The fact that Scroobius Pip made a brief guest appearance was the icing on the cake. This gig also gave me my first chance to see Scroobius Pip doing spoken word, an opportunity that I hope will be repeated in the not too distant future.

 The Amazing B Dolan, with Scroobius Pip

Warren Peace

The Viking Project

A chance to see The Viking Project on their home turf was a big draw, so the night after Halloween was spent in The Harbour Bar in Bray – an impressive little venue! The Viking Project are consistently brilliant, and are another act that I’ve spoken about at length in other posts. You all know that I seriously rate them at this stage, so no need for me go on about them again!

Lingo Festival

 Last up for October was the opening night of Lingo Festival, a new spoken word festival – the first of its type in Ireland (which as they say, is pretty amazing, given how much we all love talking!). I typically wouldn’t include spoken word (or theatre, or dance for that matter) on Gigaholic because I try to keep it exclusive to music, but there was a bit of music at this event, so it snuck in!

Spoken word poet (and Poetry Slam Ireland winner) John Cummins brought together a group of talented musicians to form John Cummins and the Inkloosifs. His performance was inspiring, but Melissa Chouikrat of the Sacreblues band stole the show!

Join Me In The Pines

 

Whelans had some amazing acts as part of their 25th anniversary celebrations, and Join Me In The Pines was one of my favourites. David Geraghty’s solo project had been on my hit-list since I missed his first tour, and didn’t disappoint. The strength of his lyrics and musicianship made this a magical night – which made it all the more surprising that it didn’t pull a bigger crowd.

 

Finishing up with a few Bell X1 favourites did no harm and were a treat, but to be honest, were unnecessary. His solo work stands for itself (not that I was complaining about the chance to hear the others!).

 

A (to quote the man himself) “naked” David Geraghty sans guitar

 

Wild Promises

Kormac’s Big Band

 

This gig was my first chance to see Kormac with a full band in an indoor venue, and I loved it. Their new material is a bit of a departure from the Big Band sound of old, but highly enjoyable.

Kormac’s Big Band are one of those unique acts that are almost impossible to explain to people, as I found to my detriment that night. Bringing a friend who I really thought would enjoy the show, but who really didn’t, did take a bit of the gloss off the evening, but sure what can you do?

The Riptide Movement

 

 

I’ve written about The Riptide Movement numerous times – they’re probably the act that I have seen most frequently. There is something lovely about seeing a group like TRM, who have worked their asses off to get to where they are today, sell out a venue like Vicar Street. Their excitement came off the stage in waves and was lapped up by the crowd who were raring to go. The musical highlight of the night was the acoustic encore set, but the overall highlight was seeing these lads do so well.

However, there comes a point where you know an act so well that it is really difficult to comment on their shows – and I think I might be reaching that point with TRM. I’ll still go to see them to lend my support, but I might just post the photos here, rather than writing about them – there’s only so much I can say about an act I’ve seen so often without repeating myself!

 

Rainy Boy Sleep – a vast improvement on previous support act Dakota 66.