Author Archives: Jay Kenny

Fresh off of the hype of supporting Oasis in what was arguably the biggest moment/event in live music this century, Richard Ashcroft of The Verve has ridden this wave to its highest heights, with his last Irish headline show being at the Olympia Theatre, with a capacity of around a thousand, to now selling out the 3Arena in minutes, playing to 14,000+ people.

A concert I bought as a Christmas present for my mother, after bringing her to Oasis last year, and it was safe to say we were in for a great night after what we saw in Croke Park.

A setlist fusing his high charting hits with The Verve, and his solo work, he put on an amazing show, with incredibly high energy throughout, both in the slow songs and the energetic ones.

Ashcroft turned three minute songs into ten minute long epic performances of solos of all kinds, chanting choruses repeatedly and giving the crowd exactly what they want, I mean, if you wanted to improve the song “Bittersweet Symphony”, one of the only ways you can do it is just by making it longer.

Ashcroft has shown why he can still sell out arenas based on his name alone, no longer with The Verve, but with a set that incorporates all those hits from his time in the band, and a set that kind of relies on those songs for the crowd pleasers.

Stage Setup: 9/10, Stage setup was nicely done, with the highlight being the incredible job done by the lighting team, the timing of the lights along with the music, perfectly blending in with each song, and for the first time I’ve ever seen, a support act who also had a full light show programmed.

Band Performance: 9/10, Ashcroft is an incredible frontman, who knows exactly what is required to be up on that stage as the centre of attention, I often tell people that when he supported Oasis it seemed like nobody told him he was a support act, he put that much into it. The guitarist as-well was out of this world good, with some ethereal solos that made me wonder if what he was doing was even possible with a guitar.

Support: 10/10, The Royston Club on support, a band that seems to blend the nonchalant British indie rock of the Arctic Monkeys, with the belting vocals of a singer like Picture This’ Ryan Hennessy, along with mixing acoustic and heavily distorted sections wonderfully. There was also a DJ in between sets, but he was abysmal, and not technically listed as support so I’d rather pretend he wasn’t there.

Merchandise: 7/10, A very standard merch selection, posters, t-shirts, longsleeves, hoodies and the likes, also a jersey, which seems to be a trend among artist merchandise lately, all at a very standard price, personally, I bought a t shirt off of a seller outside, who hade exact recreations of the tour t shirts for half the price.

Crowd: 8/10, A crowd that loved and savoured every minute of the show, sang along and belted out every verse and chorus without fail, and who really seemed like they connected with the music, the crowd does lose a few points due to the amount of incidents I witnessed of hostility towards people and staff, mostly due to alcohol consumption.

Overall: 9/10, A show that cements Ashcroft’s place within the current Britpop revival that has swept these fair isles over the last few years, and an artist worth seeing just for his handful of hits alone, with all the other songs as amazing bonuses on top of it.

Next up: Sofia Isella 1/6/26

Up and coming Irish alt rock band Bleech 9:3 played their largest hometown headline show yet in Whelans on the first of May. They have also announced an even larger headline show for Dublin’s The Academy later this year.

A band with a lot of hype around them, a name that I kept hearing off alot of my friends, my tickets to them were bought more out of convenience than anything, I wanted to bring a friend to a concert and I had a limited time frame and this was the best I could find. Soon after I got them they had fully sold out after supporting Keo in The Academy.

I was incredibly lucky to be able to get tickets to this, because once people started hearing about them, tickets started flying out, with one of my friends looking for a ticket in the early hours of the morning after their support slot, with none to be found.

One of the most energetic and raw live bands I’ve seen in a while, Bleech 9:3 deliver a brand new sound and feel to what has felt like a worn out genre for the last couple of months. Their live sound is crisp and heavy, with an absolute insane amount of mosh pits going on, which I of course joined for the duration of the show.

I also ended up crowd surfing at one point, and I lost my inhaler during moshing at the first song, but thankfully I didn’t need it throughout the show, which was surprising giving the amount of physical exertion involved in that moshing.

Stage Setup: 6/10, Hard to rate it highly because it is an incredibly small stage with no room really for customisation, but I also can’t hold that against the band.

Band Performance: 10/10, This band is in their absolute prime, and I’m hoping it gets better, but it’ll be very hard to top what was a rip roaring passionate and loud, loud, loud set.

Support: 8/10, Another band of the genre, Black Nylon, were the support, once again, in a genre that has been overdone as of late, they bring in their own unique spin to it, at one point making me feel like they had fused Nirvana and David Bowie in one of their songs.

Merchandise: 5/10, Black and White logo t shirts, posters and pins, at a pretty standard price, nothing that was particularly nicely designed, and nothing I would pick up.

Crowd: 10/10, An absolutely stellar crowd, with more energy than I thought humanly possible, from the first song until the last there was non stop moshing, jumping and crowdsurfing, all of which I was more than happy to join.

Overall: 8/10, Bleech 9:3 are making a name for themselves and carving out a nice little spot in the new wave of Irish alt bands, like Wunderhorse and Keo (Who are British-Irish, but close enough), with their own blending of soft echoing guitar riffs, and heavy choruses that pack one hell of a punch.

Next up: Richard Ashcroft 16/5/26

Mystery masked band PRESIDENT played their long awaited sold out Irish debut at The Academy last night, with their political theming, the concert was technically called a rally.

Masked singer, known only as The President, but is long rumoured, and more or less confirmed to be Charlie Simpson from the band Busted.

PRESIDENT are a band that sprung up out of nowhere, appearing halfway up a festival lineup in the UK, and releasing their first single to huge acclaim. Their inaugural rally, also known as Download festival, with five times as many people showing up as their stage had capacity for.

There set, albeit short, was packed full of energy, and had the crowd jumping and moshing from the start to the end.

A concert that I went through a lot of hassle to attend, with the protests going on leaving me in Dublin that night, luckily with a friend whose floor I could sleep on., and there is little doubt in my mind that it was absolutely worth it.

Their energetic mix of clean vocals, mixed with screaming vocals and distorted heavy guitar riffs. Making an incredible fusion of the lighter elements and the heaviest elements of the genre.

Stage Setup: 10/10, Featuring a giant neon symbol behind the stage, a pulpit for the lead singer, and flashing light implements. For the small stage there is in The Academy, they made perfect use of what they had at their disposal.

Band Performance: 10/10, The lead singer, who remains nameless, has one of the best voices I have yet to hear live, with his amazing clean vocals and his rip roaring scream vocals. The rest of the band as well had such a great time on their instruments which blended perfectly with the vocals.

Support: 10/10, Support was from The Boy Shadow, certainly one of the stranger bands I have seen live, featuring two members wearing head designs that are very hard to describe but is something along the lines of a black and white monochrome cyclops, with pure screaming vocals most the way through and an amazing drummer with amazing rhythm.

Merchandise: 10/10, PRESIDENT, since their beginning have had amazing merch designs, with their selection on this tour featuring some wonderfully designed t shirts, long sleeves and a hoodie, I picked up a long sleeve, for a very good price, with some of the nicest quality and designs I’ve seen in a while.

Crowd: 10/10, One of the most energetic crowds I’ve been in, with some amazing moshing, with great moshing etiquette, and some of the nicest people that I had quite a few pleasant conversations with over the course of the night.

Overall: 10/10, PRESIDENT have proved why they deserved all the buzz that was around them when they first came out, delivering one of the best concerts I’ve seen yet, certainly a band I hope continue for a long time so I can catch them on many more tours to come.

Next up: Bleech 9:3 Whelan’s 1/5/26

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

A bit late writing this review, but this past sunday I went, for the first time, to The Academy for a concert, I have been to the other venues in the Academy but never the main room.

Choice of concert this time fell to a friend of mine, who is a very big fan of this band, but they are a band I knew not a single song from going into this concert.

The concert itself was crafted remarkably well, with the setlist being sectioned out into different acts, almost like a Shakespearean play, with each act having a different corresponding emotion.

A band that would lean on the pop side of the pop punk genre, they deliver a very good concert, with a very lively and engaging show, the particular act of the show I enjoyed most was anger.

The anger section saw constant mosh pits and constant crowdsurfing, both of which I was a part of. Opposite to my friend’s major aversion to these sort of things, I dove straight in. For the last 4 songs I did nothing but mosh, lift people up crowdsurfing, and go crowdsurfing myself, which did get me a disapproving look from the security at the show, but that’s to be expected.

Stage Setup: 9/10, Waterparks use of graphics and videos on the screens that spanned behind where they were staged, including song specific designs, fitting the mood greatly, like when they had a large fire on the screen during the anger section.

Band Performance: 8/10, A very good performance from the trio, very tight playing with incredibly timekeeping for the kind of music they were playing. Extra credit for the acoustic section in the middle of the show were the lead singer took requests of any of there songs to play.

Support: 7/10, Killarney band Greywind were on support, delivery a very 00s pop punk style. A mixture of the likes of Paramore and My Chemical Romance, had they have been around during that time period, would surely have been topping sales charts.

Merchandise: 7/10, A very colourful merchandise choice, all the usual suspects, t shirts, hoodies, hats, at more or less what is standard concert merch pricing.

Crowd: 10/10, One of the few crowds I have no complaints about, which is surprising as I always find something to complain about. The crowd was very interactive, very excited and had great etiquette in the mosh pits and with crowdsurfing.

Overall: 8/10, A very fun night, despite not knowing any of their songs I had an absolute blast. Surprised at how nice the crowd was and how much interaction there was with the band and the crowd.

Next up: Belle and Sebastian 3Olympia Theatre 5/4/26

Rising sensation Sombr was my gig of choice last night, although truthfully it was my girlfriends choice, but I was there nonetheless. A pop superstar that sprung up out of nowhere and took over charts in Ireland like it was nothing.

Sombr is a rare treat in today’s music landscape, praised by likes of Rick Beato for his songcraft, he is one of the only people in his genre who still writes their own songs themselves.

I went into the concert expecting a standard enough night of pop music, much like any other of the pop concerts I have been to, and I was very wrong in my expectation.

Sombr has one of the most natural stage presences I have ever seen, very akin to Robbie Williams, knowing how to occupy a stage fully, without taking himself too seriously, the perfect blend of performer and entertainer.

The vocals aswell were astonishing. Towards the end of the concert he announced he would bring out “Irish Music Legends”, and I sighed wondering how he would butcher that term by bringing out some recent pop artist, not expecting him to bring out Noel and Mike Hogan from The Cranberries to do a cover of “Linger”

Stage Setup: 10/10, A stage set up in the vein of a late night talk show, complete with desk, band section and a fake cityscape behind the windows. A well made stage that saw all parts of it used.

Band Performance: 9/10, Sombr himself was near perfect on vocals, a voice the likes of which you see very rarely. The rest of the band too were on top of their game, with very tight playing and a sort of pop funk style very reminiscent of Nile Rodgers.

Support: 8/10, Support on the night was from Charlotte Lawrence, an American singer songwriter, with an incredibly powerful voice and a great blend of clean pop sections, mixed with heavily distorted rock oriented sections.

Merchandise: 7/10, A mostly standard merch selection, with a nice design of t shirts and hoodies, including merch from the supporting band, all at the standard price you would expect from concert merch.

Crowd: 8/10, A very passionate, very energetic crowd who seemed to know all the words to absolutely everything, and also one of the fullest crowds I’ve seen for a support act too, a few points dropped for the absolutely huge amounts of phones in peoples hands for the majority of the concert, which I will not rant about for fear of sounding like an old man.

Overall: 8/10, Sombr cements his stop in the current pop landscape, showing why he has gone from venues of less than a thousand, to instantly selling out the 3Arena in a couple of months. One of the best live performers out there, this man just has something most musicians don’t have, something indescribable but unmissable.

Next up: Waterparks The Academy 22/3/26

Last night saw a concert that I would not have gone to if it was my own choice, but off I went anyways, and I’m glad I did.

90s Sacramento rock band Deftones took the stage to a sold out crowd in the 3Arena, a loud crowd full of singing, dancing and a lot of mosh pits, like seriously a lot of mosh pits.

With a lead singer that has enormous vocal talent, and a backing band that provided a thick , wall of sound that cast itself out onto the arena, and was given back in droves.

I certainly was not aware of the level of popularity that Deftones hold these days, with never having heard a single song, but they clearly have earned this fanbase over years of work for some, although, for a 90s band, the crowd had one of the lowest average ages I’ve seen in a while.

An absolutely wild show, with a lot of noise, a lot of action and a lot of fun. While not a concert I would’ve chosen, I had fun for the night that was in it. A very hectic and loud show, certainly one you’d need a bit to recover from, but in a good way of course.

Stage Setup: 10/10, Absolutely incredible stage design from Deftones, featuring amazing light work, including small pillars of light strips and hanging screens, along with visuals playing on the back screen unique to each song, with the band interspersed in the visuals.

Band Performance: 9/10, Chino Moreno, lead singer of Deftones, has an incredible voice that is able to switch between softer singing and loud screaming in an instant, which was complemented by the sound layer down by the rest of the bands.

Support: 7/10, Drug Church and Denzel Curry were on support, Drug Church did wonders for getting the crowd excited before the other two acts, including getting about fifty people to crowd-surf past the barrier into the security. Denzel Curry brought hardcore rap to a hard rock concert, which is certainly an interesting stylistic choice, while an incredibly talented rapper, I couldn’t help but feeling him a bit out of place.

Merchandise: 8/10, While I picked up an “official” tour t shirt outside for 15 whole euro,, the merch on-sale inside was of great quality and very good design, smaller selection but great merchandise, at a standard enough price.

Crowd: 9/10, A crowd that absolutely loved the music, and was into every second of it, including what is probably the biggest mosh pit I have seen in my concert going days so far. One point is deducted out of respect for the security guards, after the supporting band started a wave of people going over the barricades, which kept going the whole show.

Overall: 8/10, A night full of noise, lights and action. Deftones come back to Ireland later this year, and although I won’t be in attendance there, it is a great show for fans of the music. If you’re like me, make sure to bring some paracetamol or maybe something a little stronger.

Next up: Sombr 3Arena 16/3/26

A star studded, who’s who of Irish music was put on last night in the 3Arena in celebration of Hot Press’ 50th anniversary and it was an absolutely stacked night that went on for over five hours.

To structure this blog I will just be rating each individual acts performance, including special guests and comedians, rather than breaking it down as I usually do, as things like stage setup and the likes obviously wouldn’t be in much control with such a quick turnaround.

Clannad: 7/10, A very short set of one song from Clannad, very nice atmospheric music to open the show with, just wished they would’ve done a bit more.

Michael D Higgins and Myles O’Reilly: 9/10, Hard to score these men lowly, delivering a spoken word poetry reading of one of his own poems, backed with soothing tone-setting music by Myles O’Reilly.

Irish Women in Harmony: 8/10, Irish supergroup comprised of women, as the name would suggest, sang a medley of famous Irish songs, followed by covers of “Crazy World” and “Nothing Compares 2 U”, as tributes to Christy Dignam and Sinead O’Connor Respectively. Heartwarming and harmonic, they delivered an emotional and powerful set.

Gavin James: 8/10, After joining Irish Women in Harmony for the end of “Nothing Compares 2 U”, Gavin James came out and delivered an acoustic piano rendition of his song “Always”, and I always seem to forget just how powerful of a voice that man has.

Laura Murphy: 6/10, Another spoken word poetry piece delivered by Laura Murphy, Poet and self proclaimed healer, an intriguing poem but very strange stylistic delivery choices.

Van Morrison: 6/10, I love Van Morrison, but it didn’t really feel like he was there, standing on the stage in his hat and sunglasses, rarely glancing at the crowd, and walking off before the last song even finished. That being said, he delivered a performance with an absolutely powerful voice that seems to grow better with age.

Florence Road: 8/10, Up and coming Irish rock band Florence Road played on their biggest stage yet last night, after just being featured on the cover of Hot Press magazine, in their small time slot they put on a hell of a show, this is a band that, next time they come around, very well may be headlining that stage.

Emmet Kirwan: 8/10, Poet and Playwright, Emmet Kirwan performed a extract from one of his plays about Dublin, incredibly rhythmic, entertaining and quite funny, he has an incredibly control of his words and tempo.

Belters Only: 3/10, A very low energy set, the two lads from Belters Only hardly moved while standing behind their DJ mixing desk, while it certainly isn’t music I like, the least they could’ve done is put a bit of effort behind it.

Denise Chaila: 8/10, A very politically motivated, sensitive and defiant set of songs sang by Denise Chaila, who sang about trying to find cooperation between her Zambian and Irish heritage, and the challenges from society, sang with conviction and confidence, and an absolutely stunning voice.

Picture This: 8/10, Athy locals Picture This, who I had seen on their own one week earlier, took to the stage and delivered a fully acoustic set of songs, both old and new. In particular the song “Go Gently” is an absolutely beautiful song, that sounds even more vulnerable and powerful when done acoustically.

Tony Cantwell: 7/10, Our next comedian up, delivered a very witty set with a lot of societal commentary disguised within. Very good comedy and a very good personality to be doing it.

Damien Dempsey: 8/10, If Denise Chaila wasnt political enough for you, then Damien Dempsey might be what you’re looking for. From songs about online harassment, to global unity, and anti-racism, Damo as his fans call him, performed a very diverse set with a very rich sound to it.

Emma Doran: 6/10, Our next comedian, Emma Doran, who my mother is a big fan of, put on a comedy show that would seem to be mostly tailored towards those of the female gender, so a lot of it didn’t appeal to me, still, lots of funny parts in there, even for a man like me.

The Frames: 10/10, I very often overlook Glen Hansard’s voice, and I am absolutely floored when I hear it again. Back together with his band The Frames, they put on a high energy, powerful show, with one of the best voices in all of music, maybe ever.

Rachel Galvo: 4/10, Another comedian in the interval, she did not seem to appeal to the crowd at all, it would be one thing if I didn’t find her particularly funny, but that opinion seemed to be shared with most the audience judging by the lack of reaction.

Imelda May: 9/10, I am aware of Imelda May in name only, or at least I was, until last night. An incredible stage presence, one of the best and most unique voices I’ve ever heard, with a tight backing band that just came together perfectly.

Tommy Tiernan: 10/10, Irelands most popular comedian, Tommy Tiernan, treated us to a comedy set all about the madness inherent in the Irish people, referencing hurling as proof because no mentally stable nation would produce such a sport. Incredibly witty, incredible comedic timing, it’s easy to see why he’s so popular.

The Cranberries ft Dermot Kennedy: 8/10, I’m not as opposed to new singers in band when compared with others, and Dermot Kennedys voice, while certainly very different to Dolores O’Riordans hauntingly beautiful voice, his raspy tone gave a new feeling and life to the songs. While his voice didn’t suit the softer songs such as “Linger”, it worked wonderfully on “Zombie”, and most importantly to me, the two brothers from The Cranberries looked like they were having the time of their life, finally back on stage.

The Boomtown Rats: 9/10, Another band I saw just a week ago, The Boomtown Rats closed out the show, after five and a half hours of non stop music, they had a lot to live up to, and in my opinion, they certainly lived up to it, if not exceeded it. Starting with “Rat Trap”, which is a wonderful song to get a crowd going, but then ditching the traditional Rats setlists, and opting instead to do a cover of “The Boys are Back in Town”, as a tribute to Phil Lynnot, with Imelda May joining on vocals, and even Adam Clayton of U2 playing the bass, one of the best frontmen in the business, with an incredible backing band.

Punk legends and new wave pioneers The Boomtown Rats played their only headline show in Ireland on their 50 year anniversary tour last night in The Hub in Kilkenny.

A band fronted by a man who needs no introduction, Bob Geldof, whose personal fame has seemed to outgrow the bands fame many times over. The man behind the historic Live Aid charity and the world’s most watched music event in history, the Live Aid concerts of 1985.

The Rats themselves, however, are as instrumental to that success as Bob himself. A tight band with an insatiable groove about them, seeming to mix elements of punk, new wave, some classic rock and roll, and even hints of some R&B.

Self proclaimed, in their own witty style, as the biggest rock and roll band in the world… from Dun Laoghaire, The Rats put on an absolutely mega show, as they would call it, or as Bob himself said last night, fucking magnificent.

The band don’t seem to be showing a hint of their age, with a high energy set, lasting about an hour and forty five minutes, that was non stop, no breaks, no encores, no intervals, just pure energy all the way through.

An important element of every show Bob Geldof does, is of course, the political element. A man no stranger to speaking his mind, which ended up getting him effectively banned from playing in his home country for a number of years, he still has the youthful, rebellious streak to him. Calling out in support for the victims of shootings in Minneapolis, Palestine, Ukraine and Sudan, and included a segment of a song where he told every type of religious leader, from priests, to rabbis, to imams, to “Fuck off and leave us alone”.

An absolutely stellar show, from a band I will be seeing twice more this year, and I personally cannot wait for that concert.

Stage Setup: 10/10, The stage setup included a backing screen that was lush with visuals, particular to each songs and the themes of each song, with the song “Like Clockwork” having time-oriented symbolism on all the visuals, and the show included an approximately 15 minute documentary screening on the same screen before The Rats took the stage.

Band Performance: 9/10, Bob Geldof was never much of a powerful singer, preferring his more glib and half-talking half-singing style, which had lent itself very well to his age, not impacting his ability to sing the songs the exact same as he did all those years ago. The rest of the band too had an incredibly tight and flowing performance that never seemed to slip up in the slightest.

Support: 7/10, Support was from a three piece called The Savage Hearts, while I missed part of their set queueing for the cloakroom, I did enjoy the part I saw very much, a real good classic rock vibe, in the style of bands like The Knack or The Kinks.

Merchandise: 9/10, A massive merch selection, takes a single point of a hit due to no tour specific merch, but about ten different t shirt designs, a very nice hoodie, signed CDs, signed Vinyl Records, even selling the original plaques for their records gold certifications, and even a Boomtown Rats branded mirror, certainly something for everyone here.

Crowd: 8/10, A crowd I felt a bit out of place in due to my age, with many people I got talking to seeming very surprised that I was there out of my own love of The Rats, but which ended up being a very warm and welcoming crowd, one or two ignorant people here or there when I was trying to struggle my way back from the bathroom or bar, but other than that a very passionate crowd, who love their music.

Overall: 9/10, Another band that blew me away live for the second day in a row, The Boomtown Rats show why it’s they that should be remembered rather than just Bob, and it really showed that Bob doesent care much about the outside fame, but seemed truly in his element, and in a concert he dubbed “a safe space from the storm raging outside”, a magnificent live band that I’m excited to see twice more this year.

Next up: Hot Press: The Concert 6/02/26

After being away for almost ten years since their free concert at the Athy GAA grounds in late 2016, hometown band Picture This came back after amassing a worldwide following and performing a sold out tour across the country in major venues like Dublins 3Arena.

No stranger to their music, due mostly to the town I call home, a massive band, doing a small gig, around the corner from my house, is something I would never miss.

After purchasing my tickets in person, which was the only way to do so, after waiting in line for over five hours, this concert was well earned.

The stage packed into what is currently a sports hall, but was once a magnificent ballroom, or so I’m told. The stage, in its grandeur, obscuring one half of the scoreboard that is tacked up on the top left of the back wall, unintentionally, but charmingly leaving only the word “HOME” uncovered and visible.

This is not a band I would ever find myself seeking out, and had they not played nearby I doubt I would’ve ever sought tickets to see them, but I am so glad these circumstances all seemed to line up for what would prove to be one of the best concerts I’ve experienced.

A band whose talent I would have been semi-familiar with, I was not aware of the extent of it. Lead singer Ryan Hennessy has one of the most natural and effortless-looking stage presences I’ve ever seen in live music. His constant moving and singing and crowd interactions flowed through him as if second nature by now.

Stage Setup: 7/10, A great stage for the venue that was played, with multi-level platforms elevating the drummer and offering great moving space for the rest of the band too.

Band Performance: 10/10, Looking at live videos of the band from earlier gigs, both recent and many years ago, I’m not sure if they’ve ever been this good, I wonder if that’s the effect of a hometown crowd. The drummer especially seemed to run the entire show from his platform up the back. With multiple crescendo that left you in awe, I wasn’t aware of the talent we had made in our small town.

Support: N/A, No support, straight into the main act.

Merchandise: 6/10, Merchandise was available, and was very cheap in comparison to standard prices, but that is because it is merch from the tour they were just on, without this particular night listed on the back, which takes it down a few points.

Crowd: 10/10, A crowd of people from near, and a few from far, including one coming all the way from Belgium, it seemed a crowd that finally had the opportunity to share in the musical success Athy had produced, and with the feeling that the band hadn’t forgotten where they came from.

Overall: 9/10, A wonderful celebration of both the music, the success and, of course, the heritage of Picture This. A concert I did not expect myself to enjoy as much as I did, nearly convincing me to go see them next time they’re in Dublin, remains to be seen.

Next up: The Boomtown Rats 31/01/26