Only two days out from the end of Electric Picnic, Ireland’s biggest music festival, attracting over 80,000 people to the small village of Stradbally in Laois, less than a fifteen minute drive from where I live (a drive turned into an hour long one over the course of the weekend), I instead chose to opt for a much, much smaller event. While Chappell Roan played her international hits on the biggest stage in the country, my mind was transfixed on this gig, of only over 500 people in Dublin.
There’s something to be said about the contrast between largest crowd in Electric Picnic history, gathering to watch a worldwide pop star, and me and two of my friends going to The Button Factory to see one of the actual best talents in what could be called pop music today, although her style does delve heavily into rock aswell.
Blondshell is an American pop-rock artist who has only really emerged into a spotlight over the last year or so, and who I imagine I will never see on such a small stage ever again.
In support of her newest album “If You Asked for a Picture”, she headlined The Button Factory in Temple Bar.
For her first ever gig in Ireland, she left very little on the table afterwards, everything was spent out at the crowd. From bigger songs like the social media made famous song “Olympus”, to cuts from her new album, to unreleased songs and even a cover of Addison Rae’s “Diet Pepsi”, a song which my friends assure me is a big hit. Blondshell shows why it should be her up on those main stages of festivals, and why I’m ever so glad it wasn’t 80,000 people screaming in a field.
Stage Setup: 6/10, A somewhat unfair category when it comes to smaller venues, as there isn’t really a lot of room for intricate and complex stage design as there would be in the likes of the 3Arena or bigger, the stage did what it was supposed to do and served well at it.
Band Performance: 10/10, it’s hard to score Blondshell any lower, she’s in the (current) peak of her performing journey and she held nothing back on her opening night of the European tour.
Support: 7/10, Westside Cowboy gave a very good support slot to Blondshell, a band I would find it hard to pin down to any one genre, with four members, all of which providing some sort of vocals on varying tracks, with nobody really being a lead singer overall, a very intriguing band who I’m interested to see where they go.
Merchandise: 6/10, A much smaller selection of merch over here than on the American leg of the tour, but still a decent variety for the gig size, three different t-shirts and a baseball cap, and very nicely designed too.
Crowd: 7/10, A very excited crowd, all singing along and jumping around, although there were a few outliers who didn’t look that bothered to be there, but you get that at most gigs, overall a good crowd with a decent amount of energy.
Overall: 8/10, A rising talent, in a small intimate venue, that I doubt they will ever be booked to play the small size of again, made for a great night and an amazing gig, excited to see the next steps in her career.
Next up: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 16/9/25
Jays Concert Blog 