A wonderful Easter was had by roughly a thousand people who descended upon Dublins historic 3Olympia Theatre for the Belle and Sebastian concert.
A tour that consists of two nights in each city, the first night playing their first album in its entirety, the second night playing their second album. I opted for the second album as it’s my preferred one, but part of me regrets not going to both.
Belle and Sebastian have a style of music that is hard to describe, but is very pleasant live, and puts the crowd in a great mood and in a very dancing swaying mood. It’s also a sound that doesent sound as good on video as it does in person, so it’s definetely one of those “you had to be there” gigs.
I forgot how cohesive their second album “If You’re Feeling Sinister” was, an end to end beautiful album with amazing soft rock riffs and just generally feel good music.
With a band that seemed to have more members everytime I looked, they played wonderfully together. Songs like “Like Dylan in the Movies” and “Boy with the Arab Strap” has the entire crowd pleasantly singing along and swaying to the music, with more emotional songs like “Fox in the Snow” having some of the crowd very teared up.
Stage Setup: 10/10, For the venue it was, with its small stage in comparison to venues like the 3Arena, I’m surprised how much they packed in, multiple layers of staging, along with beautiful visuals behind on the screen that were all artfully designed and song specific.
Band Performance: 10/10, For a band with so many members, it seemed as if I was listening to it straight off the record, a wonderfully put together band with some wonderfully put together songs, with a sound you just can’t quite capture on a phone.
Support: 7/10, The June Brides played support last night, their first concert in Ireland since supporting The Smiths in 1986. With a sound very clearly from that time and genre, they delivered a good support slot.
Merchandise: 5/10, Another concert of me not buying merchandise, which is remarkably uncommon, there was just nothing there that caught me eye, and most importantly, no t shirt with tour dates.
Crowd: 10/10, Other than one small issue with a person, the crowd was otherwise extremely pleasant, absolutely amazing vibes from the entire crowd, just a lovely, swaying and singing crowd.
Overall: 8/10, A great way to spend Easter Sunday, and just a feel good gig all around, a great band that I will be looking to catch again whenever they come around next.
Next up: PRESIDENT The Academy 12/3/26
Jays Concert Blog 