Keywest - The Button Factory, Dublin

Published: 2nd December, 2012 - http://www.meg.ie/keywest-at-the-button-factory/

Keywest

From busking on the streets of Dublin and Galway to headlining a sold-out show at The Button Factory last night, Irish/UK band, Keywest are moving up.


The Dublin-based quintet, led by singer, Andrew Kavanagh, first began their foray in music by busking on the streets of Galway (and later, Dublin) until one day their golden ticket approached them in the form of Grammy nominated engineer, Mark Needham. In true fairy-tale style, the band set out across the pond in 2011 to record their album, The Message (it peaked at #15 in the Irish charts). Since then, they've played numerous gigs around Ireland and recently went back to their roots busking on Grafton Street to promote their Button Factory gig.


This promotion busk seemed to have proven very successful with the show selling-out. The largely female-led crowd relished in the band's crowd interaction with lead singer, Kav, take up-close videos of himself and the band with various cameras being waved from the audience.


Keywest are pop music, a la The Script, there's no denying it and there's no denying there's an audience for it. At one point they transitioned into a group drumming instrumental, showing the crowd further reaches of their musical abilities. The band have chosen to remain 'independent' artists in Ireland, but, are currently in negotiations in the UK and US. The only way is up for these five young musicians.

The Temper Trap - The Academy, Dublin

Published: 5th October 2012 - http://www.meg.ie/the-temper-trap-at-the-academy/

The Temper Trap

Formed back in 2005 Australian indie-rock band, The Temper Trap, have more than made their mark on the music scene. In Ireland alone, their single, Sweet Disposition, (most well-known from it's use in the O2 Treats adverts and also as the soundtrack for the indie movie 500 Days Of Summer) peaked at #6 on the charts here.


Opening the show with first single from their latest self-titled album, Need Your Love, the BRIT award nominated, multi-instrumentalist, quintet sprung onto stage and begun to played an hour-long set consisting of (mostly) new album material and a sprinkle of first-album, Conditions, fan favourites. Lead singer, Dougy Mandagi, received the loudest cheer from the crowd on his arrival on stage just after 9pm. Sporting a leopard print over-sized shirt and skinny jeans, it was obvious that he was ready to make a mark on the sold-out Dublin venue.


The stage production was really incredible. The use of various coloured lights and, what seemed to be, a never-ending cloud of smoke rising from behind the stage, helped to set the atmosphere and create, what seemed to be, an almost dream-like image of the band on stage.


The band were quite surprised by the very enthusiastic crowd who happily sang along and danced around causing Mandagi to exclaim ''Wow! Thank you very much!! You're a very responsive crowd, Dublin!…you keep enjoying the music and we’ll keep coming back.''


Mandagi's incredibly high vocal range didn't go without notice from the sold-out crowd in The Academy with one gig-goer eliciting a gasp at one stage and stating ''Jesus! He sure hits some high notes!''.


The band finished up with an encore of Soldier On and, of course, Sweet Disposition and left the crowd more than anticipating their next Irish gig.


The Temper Trap was released on 18 May 2012 and peaked at #25 on the Irish charts.

Heathers - The Academy, Dublin

Published: 30th September 2012 - http://www.meg.ie/heathers-at-the-academy/

29 September 2012

Having just released their second album, Kingdom, in early September,Heathers duo, Louise and Ellie MacNamara, embarked on a 7-date tour (their first tour dates in well-over a year) around Ireland to promote it. The girls only recently signed a global deal with Universal Music Publishing UK, so, the year ahead is certainly set to be a big one for this Dublin-based duo.


Last night they played a packed-out venue in The Academy, Dublin with great support from 4-piece band Raglans and dance music duo, Last Days Of 1984. Unsurprisingly enough, their set mostly consisted of their new album material including, a few personal favourites, Waiter, Find A Way, and Listen Don’t Speak. The new material is most definitely a step above their first album (they worked with White Lies producer, Max Dingle) and sees the girls experiment away from guitar based songs and focus more on an electronic, matured sound. Happily their vocal harmonies remain as flawless and brilliant as ever. Heathers are one of a handful of bands who manage to sound exactly as they do on their album tracks as they do in a live concert setting.


It would be a terrible injustice not to mention their terrific cover of Lana Del Rey’s Summertime Sadness which had the crowd singing along in no time. They also managed to slip in some old favourites from debut album Here Not There: Reading In The Dark, Slices Of Palama and, of course, fan favourite and the Discover Ireland soundtrack, Remember When.


The Heathers continue their tour of Ireland with a gig in Cyprus Avenue, Cork on 04 October 2012.

Randy Newman - Vicar Street, Dublin

Published: March 2nd 2012 - http://www.meg.ie/randy-newman-at-vicar-street/


Randy Newman’s career has spanned almost 40 years, so it’s hardly surprising he performed thirty songs (with an additional three in his encore) over a 2 hour show in Vicar Street last night. The piano-rock icon has scored six Disney/Pixar movies and won two Oscars, three Emmys and six Grammys during his career.


Despite suffering from what seemed to be a nasty cough, Newman performed each song with the same passion and comedic wit his audience know and love. Vicar Street was filled to the brim with loyal fans who showed their admiration after every song. Never one to hold back on his witticisms, he shared a story about how he was inspired to write The World Isn’t Fair when he looked at his two sons, whom he joked were 64 and 71 respectively, and thought of their future.


He ended his 30-song set with Harps and Angels and was hailed with a standing ovation. After a 30-minute break Newman played an encore of Rain On Me, Lonely At The Top and Feels Like Home. During his encore Newman joked, “Jeeze, you wouldn’t even know I was drunk”.


Newman plays a second night in Vicar Street tonight (02 March 2012)

The Maine - The Academy 2, Dublin

11th January, 2012


Arizona-based band The Maine brought their catchy form of pop rock to the Academy 2 on Wednesday night. It was their second outing in Dublin having played in the Academy main room just last March when they were joined by Never Shout Never. The band, which formed back in 2007, have just released their third album Pioneer and are currently on a promotional tour around the UK and Ireland.

Having really only ever listened to their 2010 album, Black & White, I was pleasantly surprised to see that their set-list not only consisted of material from the new album but that it also featured a mixture of songs from all three albums.

It's safe to say that the band have a legion of fans who will no doubt buy a ticket any time the quintet announce a date in Dublin. I can also confirm that this legion of fans were out in full in the Academy 2 last night jumping around and mimicking lead singer, John O' Callaghan's every movement. The band created a great atmosphere, which was definitely helped by the small space of the Academy 2.

Any fans who arrived late to the concert were in for a treat as the band decided to play an 'extra-long' due to the fact that they had 'a lot of extra-time left'. The band's interaction with the crowd was fantastic and lead singer, John O', even managed to charm one of the crowd into hosting an after-party.

Favourites from the night were without a doubt the band's rendition of Inside Of You (which the band performed at a much slower tempo than the album version), Into Your Arms and I Must Be Dreaming which featured some wonderful of 'oohs' and 'ahs' from the crowd. Overall, I was very impressed with the band's stage presence and I left the gig knowing that I'd find myself downloading the band's new album as soon as I got home.

Kate Voegele - The Academy, Dublin

9th September, 2011

Kate Voegele first came to my attention playing the timid and lovable Mia on popular teen-drama, One Tree Hill. Voegele won the role of Mia shortly after the release of her first album, Don't Look Away, in 2007. Since then, she has released two more albums (she's currently touring with her latest, Gravity Happens) and is still a regular feature on One Tree Hill.

This was only her second time performing in Ireland (she played The Academy 2 last year) and it was definitely a case of practise makes perfect for Voegele. Having witnessed her début Irish performance, I was more than impressed to find that her vocals sounded even better the second-time round and in the bigger of the two venues.

Kate performed a 14-song acoustic set including a more than incredible performance of Britney Spears' Till The World Ends and a selection of some of her best tracks from the three albums. Her performance of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah was simply breath-taking and instantly brought the crowd to a standstill.

Voegele's crowd interaction was simply terrific, making sure to acknowledge those with banners while also managing to maintain eye contact with what seemed like every member of the crowd throughout the night. Voegele received a huge cheer of approval when she substituted the word 'Darlin' with 'Dublin' during her rendition of one of her newest songs, Say You're Mine. The singing and songwriting actress mentioned that she very much hopes to play a show in Ireland again very soon!

Planet Parade - Whelans, Dublin

Published: 15th March, 2011 - http://www.meg.ie/planet-parade-at-whelans-2/

Opening with, what has undoubtedly been their ground-breaking hit, Zulu Sound, this three piece band from Kildare stormed onto the stage at Whelans to a more than excited full house. It didn't take long for the rather large crowd to start swaying away to the sounds of this rock/pop/indie three-piece.

Making their debut, as the band we know today, at the 2009 Hard Working Class heroes festival the band have only gone from strength to strength. I am delighted to have been able to witness the rise and rise of this band over the past two years. Having played support slots for the likes of The Go! Team, Passion Pit and Ellie Goulding, it's great to see such a fresh Irish talent getting the recognition they truly deserve. Hailing from Kildare, the trio have been in bands together since childhood and have more than worked hard for the attention and recognition they are now receiving.

Playing for just under an hour, and with no encore, the crowd were left wanting more but, just like myself, they'll have to keep a keen eye on their facebook page for the announcement of more dates!

They released their first EP Ghosts To People at the end of 2009 and have since played live sessions for RTÉ 2XM, the prestigious Other Voices and were just recently billed on State magazine's 'Faces of 2011' special alongside the likes of The Minutes and The Danger Is. Having already played at the 2010 Oxegen festival, it's safe to say that we’ll definitely be hearing a lot more from these guys.

The band released their second EP Zulu Sound in October of 2010.

By Lynne Swan

The Go! Team - The Academy, Dublin

Published: 8th March, 2011 - http://www.meg.ie/the-go-team-at-the-academy/

Having been a fan of the band since I first discovered their music about 6 years ago whilst watching US teen drama One Tree Hill (who says these shows don’t give back!), I was more than a little bit excited when it was announced that The Go! Team would, once again, be playing a show in Dublin.However, despite my near decade-long membership of the fandom, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the gig as I'd been told their live gigs were completely different from their recorded material. As soon as Ninja (lead singer) bounced (literally) out onto the stage any and all doubts I had about these guys not living up to the hype completely evaporated. To say that they have a great stage presence feels like grossly underestimating their sheer stage-power.

The show was a mixture of jumping around, crowd-interaction, sing-a-longs and just pure, pure energy filled goodness. Managing to switch around who played what instrument (and, at times, who sung lead vocals) numerous times in the most flawless way possible, it was hard to single out which song was the best of the night although a special mention has to go to Huddle Formation as it was the song that first got me interested in the band. The set-list was the perfect mixture of both old and brand-new songs even managing to incorporate using a typewriter on stage as an instrument and a set of steel-drums. Formed way back in 2000, even without knowing this, it's quite evident that this Brighton-based sextet are veterans of the stage and will continue to make great energy-filled music for many years to come.

Florrie - The Academy 2, Dublin

Published: 28th February, 2011 - http://www.meg.ie/florrie-at-academy-2/

To label Bristol born Florrie as a ''newcomer'' would be an insult in itself. The 22-year-old has been on the music scene since 2008, learning to play the drums at the early age of 6 whilst on a family holiday in Greece. She can now boast drumming credentials alongside the likes of Pet Shop Boys, Girls Aloud and Kylie Minogue as well as handful of acts under the Xenomania label.

Playing her first gig on Irish soil but the last of a 14-date month long tour, you could tell that Florrie was born for the stage. Switching it up between a combination of singing, dancing, drumming and playing the guitar, it was more than obvious that she was made for a career as a musician. Her natural charm, charisma and striking Grace Kelly-esque looks are something that would be envied by even the most talented musicians today (and haven’t gone un-noticed by the likes of Fashion giants Karl Lagerfeld and Nina Ricci). Having already received attention from a wide variety of music blogs and influential music titles such as Pitchfork, NME and The Fader, it's safe to say that from here the sky certainly is the limit for Florrie.

Florrie managed to capture the attention of today's modern music lover by releasing her debut EP online and for free in December of 2010. She has also utilized social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to her advantage and manages to maintain a close relationship with her fans through the use of both these and her website . With more than a handful of songs under her belt and an impressive knack for performing live, her choice to end the set on You Wanna Start Something has really stuck in my mind. Not only has Florrie managed to start something, she’s damn well left Ireland, and thus finished her tour, on the best note possible having satisfied the eager young crowd of music lovers in The Academy 2 and left them wanting more.

By Lynne Swan

You Me At Six - The Olympia, Dublin

Published: 30th December 2010 - http://www.meg.ie/you-me-at-six/

UK based pop-punk band You Me At Six brought their tales of woe and lost-love based songs to the Olympia last week. It was quite evident from the moment I set foot into the theatre that the crowd gathered were most certainly die-hard fans and, unlike myself, this was definitely not their first time seeing the band live. Seeing as it was the band’s fifth time playing Dublin, this was not something I hadn't anticipated.

The band burst onto stage just after 9pm not wanting to keep the now thawing crowd waiting any longer. Kicking things off with Finders Keepers, the enthusiastic, and predominantly female, audience showed their appreciation by moshing along and pointing to their lyric emblazoned t-shirts as soon as the song started.

It was quite obvious that lead singer, Josh Franceschi, had this legion of adoring fans as his feet as they shrieked with excitement at his mere uttering of the word ''Dublin''.

The introduction of a You Me At Six banner to the back of the stage about 15minutes into the gig was a little bit pointless as, I can assure you that, anyone who was at the gig certainly knows quite a bit more than just the name of the band.

Taking time out in between songs to read out as many banners as he could Josh's interaction with the crowd throughout the show was definitely something he and the rest of the band should be proud of and it was definitely something that the crowd was very much appreciative of.

Not long into the band's fourth song it was hard see past Franceschi's obvious arrogance and smug behaviour. To an outsider, such as myself ,his behaviour on stage simply came across as boisterous and totally unnecessary.

During one of his many interludes during songs Franceschi admitted that Irish band, The Script, were one of his top favourite bands yet surprisingly enough he had no idea they were Irish and only found out from the crowd that night that they were in fact Irish. Much to the crowds delight the boys managed to include one of their early songs The Rumour in the set-list.

Maybe I'm getting old but I fear my sentiments at this point of the gig were much the same as the bespectacled 40-something year old mother nervously attempting to sway along to this unusual form of music.

The inclusion of the band's more popular songs (such as Liquid Confidence and Stay With Me) towards the end of the gig was quite a clever decision by the band and it managed to inject a new burst of energy into the unflagging young crowd.

Franceshi ended the gig by more or less confirming, ''but not officially'', that the band would be returning to Ireland to play Oxegen in the summer of 2011.

By Lynne Swan

Heathers - Whelans, Dublin

Published: 11th December, 2011 - http://www.meg.ie/heathers-review/

Most of us find out about new music via our friends, a blog recommendation and at times, even in this new digital-based age we live in, the radio. For relative newcomers Heathers their breakthrough moment in the Irish music charts was, without a doubt, getting their song featured in the Failté Ireland (Irish tourism) advert this past summer. The ad, which promoted tourism in Ireland and holidaying at home, featured the girls' very catchy song: Remember When. The song was the definition of perfection for the ad as it boasted such lyrics such as: ''I need to go, I need to get away from everything, just for a while…''. Just what any advert for a break away the fast-paced lives we lead aims to offer. The song peaked at number one on the Irish charts.

So now you may ask just who are Heathers. Well, the band consists of twenty-year-old Dublin based twin sisters, Ellie and Louise Macnamara, who decided to form a band together in 2007 after Louise’s guitar playing lead her to seeking some help from Ellie with lyrics to guitar chords she had composed. Their début album Here Not There managed to garner quite a lot of praise from both fans and media alike, and following a very successful Irish début, the album will be released in the UK and further European countries from October 2010.

Ellie and Louise played a handful of festivals during the summer including both Oxegen and Electric Picnic. They have even managed to already have played dates in various parts of America. Despite all of this the girls still somehow found time to fit in a support slot for Kimya Dawson in London, Paolo Nutini in Belfast, a gig during the infamous Arthurs day festival back in September, a performance at the Special Olympics ceremony and were invited to perform at a festival in New York and at Canadian Music Week in Toronto. And you think you have it bad!

They kicked off the gig in Whelans on Saturday with just a simple hello from Louise and went straight into Fire Ants. A fast-paced (much like the rest of the songs on the album) and darn catchy little number with haunting and powerful harmonies that got the eager crowd going in no time. They went straight into their second song of the night, which is listed as a bonus track on the album but is better known as Margie, (a personal favourite of mine from the album) which is often sang in Irish and English.

The girls then introduce two extra band members (a cellist whom the crowd seem to have a lot of affection for even going so far as to chant his name numerous times. And a bodhrán/guitar player) whom they've ''been doing an awful lot of practice with over the past 4/5 months''. This is very evident in the way they all play together so comfortably.

One of the first things I jotted down in my notepad was: ''First thoughts: Very reminiscent of Tegan and Sara''. However, one member of the crowd saw me scribbling this and was quick to chime in and say ”When I first heard them I thought: Right, Tegan and Sara knock-off, that's great. But after just hearing these two songs, I'm converted. It's crazy, they're just so powerful live, I love them!'' And I have to admit, even though I had only meant well whilst noting my observation, I immediately felt a pang of guilt for not seeing the girls in their own light, which they have well and truly earned by now.

The rest of the girls' set consists mainly of tracks from Here Not There but the girls were kind enough to play four new songs for us, which was just enough to give us a taste of what’s to be expected for the next album. Catchy fast-paced lyrics once again seem to be the focal point of the next album and having received such rave-reviews over their debut, which was full of these, why would they need to do anything different.

High-lights of the gig are hands-down their cover of Beyoncé's Halo, which they managed to put their own spin on, the crowd sing-a-long during Slices Of Palama, a festive little number called Carol of The Belles (at this time of year you simply can’t go wrong with one of these) and a brilliant cover of Heretic Pride (originally by The Mountain Goats), hearing the new songs for the first time, And of course, it wouldn't quite be a Heathers gig if the always wonderful Remember When wasn't included in the set, even if it wasn't the encore as I had expected it to be.

Despite having bought their album way back when it was first released, this was only my first time seeing Ellie and Louise live but I can say without hesitation that it certainly won’t be my last. 2011 can only mean bigger and better things for the girls who never seem to stop working.

By: Lynne Swan

Ellie Goulding - Tripod, Dublin

Published: 3rd December, 2010 - http://www.meg.ie/ellie-goulding-review/

Ellie Goulding has the world at her feet. A 2010 Brit-award winner, she recently returned from the USA after being asked to perform at the prestigious Roxy theatre in LA and the Hiro ballroom in New York. It was the first time Ellie had ever performed in the US and both shows were packed to the brim with fans and curious music lovers alike.

Ellie's gig in Tripod on Tuesday this week was not, in fact, her first time playing in Ireland. As a matter of fact she had just played to a sold out show in Belfast the previous week, an intimate hotel gig in the Radisson Galway the previous night, a sold-out concert in The Academy last March and supported the mighty Passion Pit in the Olympia the night before her own gig in the Academy. Not bad for a 24 year old from a small town in Hereford whose own mother suggested she should not follow the path of music.

Irish newcomer Niamh Danger, musically known as The Danger Is, opened the show with an electric set buzzing with energy and most certainly did what support acts are supposed to do and warmed the crowd up to a temperature just right for Ms. Goulding's stage arrival.

Opening the show with Under The Sheets Goulding emerged from the back of the stage demonstrating her musical versatility by performing a pounding, and ridiculously catchy, drum solo which left me, and I'm sure many others, wishing they could play the drums too… It's evident from the second she steps on stage that drumming is a real passion for Ellie and the crowd couldn't get enough of it, especially the drum solo at the end of Salt Skin which was met by squeals and shouts of delight.

Ellie's stage presence is certainly something that could, and should, put many veteran performers to shame and have new artists upping their game to try to compete with her. The middle of the gig consisted of a warmly welcomed acoustic set during which Ellie showcased her skilful guitar playing and proved her vocals could stand the test even without a live band behind her.

Her rendition of the Elton John's' Your Song is something that could make even the coldest of hearts feel emotion. Showing her own love for the song by having it as the second last song on her set, only losing out to the much-loved and always crowd-pleasing Starry Eyed.

Speaking to me about the song the previous day Ellie revealed that it was in fact UK retail giant, John Lewis (who feature Ellie's version of the song in their Christmas ad campaign) who chose the song and carefully selected Ellie as the voice behind the campaign.

Ellie also made no hesitation in proclaiming that Human (which is heavily rumoured to be her next single) is without a doubt her favourite from her latest album Bright Lights.

The whole concert definitely went down a treat with the music hungry crowd and Ellie and the band finished their second full tour on what they described as being ''...definitely one of our favourite nights of the entire tour.''

The only critique I have about the night was the fact that unfortunately none of the new songs from Bright Lights (which essentially is a re-release of her first album Lights with the added bonus of six new songs) were included in the set-list, bar Human and of course Your Song. However, this small oversight only just fuels my yearning to see her live again.

By: Lynne Swan