Review:
'WHITTY, IAN & THE EXCHANGE/BLEK, JOHN & THE RATS'
'Schull,'Livestock' @ The Courtyard,3 July 2010'
- Genre: 'Rock'
|
Our Rating:
|
|
The evening session of the inaugural 'Livestock' Festival finds three of Ireland's finest alternative outfits gathered together under the one awning, so to speak.
Waterford quintet O EMPEROR take the stand with the feel of dusk just beginning to creep in. With an EP ('Reverie') currently doing the rounds, slots at numerous Irish festivals and dates in Germany and the UK proudly displayed on their Myspace page (O Emperor online) it's clear this super-tight, professional outfit are here to stay.
We may be in the west of Ireland, but O Emperor's polished, four-way harmonies are a lot more reminiscent of the Californian west coast and they caress songs like 'Don't Mind Me' and the subtle, autumnal rush of 'December'. To these ears they are reminiscent of The Beechwood Sparks or a fully-realised version of what The Thrills could have been if they'd ever lived up to the hype. They are largely mellow, but never toothless and are already winning over significant numbers of fans. No surprise in that on this showing.
What IS a major surprise is that JOHN BLEK & THE RATS (John Blek & The Rats on Myspace) are still unsigned at the time of writing. With darkness beginning to kick in, they are the perfect band to take a Festival crowd by the scruff of the neck and their tuneful, punky brand of Americana soon curries favour with this gathering.
Unfeasibly tall and sporting a pudding basin haircut, Blek is an enormously charismatic frontman, though he has a torrid time during the set. After three songs, he's gashed a finger on his strumming hand deeply and the time between numbers is taken up with him repeatedly changing plasters. However, even a blood-soaked scratch-plate can't derail The Rats and their spirited hoe-downs are ideal in a situation like this. 'Lord, Don't Leave Me' brings on a rousing audience sing-along, while the brilliant 'Trying Times', with its' spot-on lyrical content (“there's more to life than money, you got your family”) and defiant chorus everyone can relate to (“we will survive these trying times!”) could just be the song of the day. Magnificent stuff.
|
Lesser bands would be daunted by the prospect of following such a charged set, but IAN WHITTY & THE EXCHANGE (Ian Whitty on Myspace) are a consummate unit these days. Not only have they recorded one of the finest Irish independent albums of recent years with 'The Lucky Caller Number Nine', but they have developed into a live band of real class as this festival-closing set demonstrates in spades.
Let's face it, not many bands have the audacity to open their headlining set with an unrecorded track in such conditions. 'Prettiest Dress', though, is an absolute killer of a song and the crowd have taken its' “whoa-oh-oh” refrain to heart within seconds. It's got 'hit' running through it like a stick of rock and it's the prelude to a punchy and perfectly-weighted set taking in the cream of 'The Lucky Caller Number Nine' (a sturdy 'While the Drunken Jailer Sleeps', a show-stopping 'Walking To Meet You') and several other great new tracks like 'Rodeo' and a confident 'Bottom Line'. The whole band play up a storm and by the time their set climaxes with a charged version of 'Houndstooth Shirt', the crowd have more than taken the song's message of enjoying yourself on a Saturday night to heart.
It's a suitably euphoric ending to a what has been a consistently impressive day for both Schull and independent music in general. 'Livestock' has done both its' organisers and its' public proud and we can only hope it will be the first of many such gatherings in this picturesque corner of West Cork.
Livestock Festival on Facebook
Livestock Festival on Myspace
|
| |
author: Tim Peacock / Photos: Kate Fox
|
[Show all reviews for this Artist]
|
READERS COMMENTS
10 comments still available (max 10)
[Click here to add your own comments]
There are currently no comments...
----------
|
|
IAN WHITTY & THE EXCHANGE
JOHN BLEK & THE RATS
O EMPEROR
|
 |
