Author Archives: Jay Kenny

My first ever festival day and with it my first ever festival blog review.

Forest Fest in the scenic Emo Village of County Laois is a now three year running festival, billed as an alternative to the Electric Picnic.

A festival I’ve always wanted to go to, and which I finally attended this Saturday for one of the three days of the festival.

As a way of structuring this review considering how different it is to the standard I’m used to I will name and rate each act I saw and give a description of what I thought, and some overall opinions on the festival at the end.

The Coathanger Solution, 8/10: The first band I saw was more a band I happened to stumble upon, a new enough band with members mostly around the ages of 45, and they play pure raw punk music, it felt like I was back in the days of Rancid and The Ramones, a surprisingly energetic set for 12pm on a Saturday.

These Charming Men, 7/10: Next up was a tribute band of The Smiths, now my personal bias is creeping in here as I do quite dislike Morrissey, and much prefer the music when sung by Johnny Marr, but for fans of The Smiths it seemed to be a really good show.

Therapy?, 8/10: The first act I saw on the main stage itself were the Northern Irish rock band Therapy? performing there hit album “Troublegum” in full, a classic album, now thirty years old, Therapy? proved they still have what it takes to occupy a stage that size.

Peter Hook & The Light, 9/10: Next up on the main stage was Peter Hook & The Light, a name who, if not familiar to you, would be familiar to you in the bands he was a member of, Joy Division and New Order. Peter Hook now tours with his own band and plays exclusively Joy Division and New Order songs and deliver a great set, with absolutely amazing bass lines and bass tone.

The Stranglers, 4/10: Was sadly disappointed with The Stranglers, a classic band with some great hits, I ended up leaving about halfway through after they played “Golden Brown”, not a band suited for such a big festival stage.

Kerbdog, 8/10: Irish grunge band from Kilkenny, Kerbdog, were up next. Honestly one of the best bands that never made it big both in Ireland and worldwide, a band ahead of their time, playing a fusion of grunge and alt rock that would’ve topped charts if released five years later. A powerful live band that was really suited to the small intimate tent they played, although they could’ve filled the main stage by the looks of it.

Manic Street Preachers, 10/10: The Welsh rock giants were up next, headlong the main stage as one of the best live acts to ever do it, delivering hit after hit of pure 90s-00s rock, insightful lyrics topped with masterful guitar work, and they gave a heartstring tugging tribute to their guitarist Richey Edwards who disappeared many years ago. The Manics show why they are a juggernaut of live shows, especially when ending with their biggest song “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next”, a song that left me stunned staring in awe at the end of it as they walked off the stage.

The Riptide Movement, 7/10: A more local band next, hailing from Lucan, The Riptide Movement are a great indie guitar pop band from the 2010s, who deliver cheerful and infectious songs one after another, a great way to spend the last hour at the concert at one o’clock in the morning.

Overall a very good festival, with some very well set up stages, only a few gripes here and there, the lack of multiple bathroom sites, making it a small pilgrimage to get to from most stages, and the issue of the main stage running ahead of schedule, which did actually turn out in my favour allowing me to get up to the barrier for Peter Hook and for The Manics. A great festival with a great vibe to it, and just my kind of music. Me and one of the people I went with are already organising to do all three days of it next year together, should be a great time for all.

Train are an interesting band, never one you hear much of, but a band that always seems to be around. They would never have albums that would top the charts, and would never sell out major headline gigs, but they always seem to have a song in the charts, and three more playing in every shopping centre and movie around the world.

Their early hit “Drops of Jupiter” then onto “Hey, Soul Sister” nearly a decade later, then “Drive By” another half decade later, three number one hits separated by fifteen years nearly, they’re a band that seem to always be there in that sweet spot between outright success and one-hit wonder status.

In a spectacular venue, one that would fit more of a heavy metal concert rather than trains pop-rock music, Train delivered a surprisingly energetic and powerful performance inside the courtyard of a centuries old medieval castle in Limerick.

Hit song after hit song played, with some lesser known (although I absolutely knew them) songs sprinkled throughout, and a surprising selection of covers and snippets of other songs such as full covers of “Over the Hills and far Away” by Led Zeppelin (which was sung half by the lead singer, and the other half by his 13 year old son, who also is an incredible singer), and “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, with snippets of “Hey Jude” and even Hozier’s “Too Sweet” thrown into a song.

An intensely lively and uplifting concert, with full sing-along potential throughout, Train somehow have released the world catchiest songs for the last 25 years.

An incredible show by a surprisingly talented band, with every member taking a small part of singing somewhere throughout the concert, showing that the lead singer is not the only one with an incredible voice, but that every member of that band could be a frontman in his own right.

Stage Setup: 6/10, A simple stage setup, a far cry from the stage setups they had over in America, but considering this was a significantly smaller venue than the play over there it’s permissible to me.

Band performance: 10/10, Not a band with any particularly hard songs to play, most of which I can play on guitar, and the rest I could pick up with a few minutes practice, the band delivered a perfect performance, with some solos and vocal runs throughout showing each members surprising level of talent.

Support: 7/10, Matt Hansen provided the support for us, a very talented singer, who does a great cover of “Iris” by The Goo Goo Dolls, one of the greatest songs of all time (in my objectively correct opinion), he did a serviceable job for the support slot.

Merchandise: 7/10, Pretty normal selection of merch, at pretty reasonable prices for concert merch, I picked up a tour t shirt, other designs of non-tour t shirts and hoodies were available too, bonus if you were one of the people in the crowd who caught one of the many free t shirts he threw out (I was not one of these people).

Crowd: 6:10, This crowd was very half and half for me, some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, including a man who works developing the video game Fortnite, and who probably has more money in his pocket than I’ll ever see in my life, but also some less nice people, including a man who caught onto a drumstick thrown into the crowd that a young woman had already caught and promptly yanked it off her to give to his mother (not all bad ending although, me and my girlfriend both caught a guitar pick thrown into the crowd and I gave the young woman who got her drumstick taken my pick)

Overall: 7/10, a very lively concert and a great show by a band that has no right being that talented, bonus points for the lead singer taking my phone, taking a selfie and throwing it back to me.

Next up: Forest Fest 26/7/25

What do you get when you cross the greatest blues guitarist alive, with the songbook and the immense legacy of the greatest blues guitarist no longer with us, you get American blues legend Joe Bonamassa playing 3 nights at the Marquee in Cork, the hometown of the aforementioned blues guitarist no longer with us, Rory Gallagher.

Rory Gallagher is a legend within music, he seemed to somewhat always avoid mainstream popularity with precision, carving out his own space in the musical landscape of the 70s blues scene. Even having an offer to join The Rolling Stones, and turning it down, not many musicians can hold that acclaim.

Rory is a musicians musician, relatively unknown to the wider population outside of Ireland, but known by each and every guitar legend of this day and age, from Clapton, to Marr, and of course, Bonamassa.

I never had the chance to see Rory live, as his death and my birth are separated by nearly a decade, but I truly felt I got as close to the real thing as I could that night, even if it was just a tenth of the true Rory Gallagher, that’s a far cry above what anyone else these days can claim.

The opening riff to “Cradle Rock”, a Rory song Bonamassa has released as a cover in the past, tore through the crowd, the raw and rough noise of the guitar, and that amazing intro and it’s masterful guitar work.

Performing the entire “Irish Tour 74’” album, and then some, songs like “Bad Penny” and “I Fall Apart” featuring alongside songs from that album.

Included in this show for a few songs was the bassist who accompanied Rory Gallagher for the majority of his solo career, Gerry McAvoy, and another special guest, not a human one this time, was a Rory Gallagher owned acoustic guitar which Bonamassa brought out and played.

A string of concerts that may never happen again, celebrating the greatest guitarist in Irish, and maybe even world, history. Bonamassa stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park, or marquee if you will, there was no better man for the job and it is one of those concerts I will never forget.

Stage Setup: 8/10, a simple stage setup, but exactly what is needed for a blues show, Bonamassa’s band and Rory’s songs don’t need an elaborate stage setup so unleash their true power.

Band performance: 11/10, I’m allowing myself to go slightly above my standard rating system, Joe Bonamassa is a man who does things with guitars I cannot believe are possible in this world, during the concert I saw him retune a string mid solo as it appeared he noticed it was slightly off pitch, the other members of the band were phenomenal aswell, especially the keyboard player, the speed and precision with which he struck those keys is next to none, I’m not sure if I have, or ever will again, see so much talent contained on one stage.

Support: N/A, no support at the gig, just straight into the main act.

Merchandise: 9/10, merch at a tribute/celebration show is a thin line to toe, you want to give people the opportunity to get something to commemorate the gig, but don’t want to try and profit off the legacy of another musician, and I think the merchandise was just the right kind, half of the merch was just Rory Gallagher merch, and the other half was merch of those specific gigs, with Rory Gallagher being the title part of it all. Along with very nice quality posters, it was a lovely set of merch and was very reasonably priced by concert standards.

Crowd: 9/10, I was seated so I didn’t have much interaction with the crowd, the entire crowd seemed to inhabit the same state of mind I did for most the show, a state of pure awe and amazement at what was unfolding before me.

Overall: 10/10, this is a gig that may never be repeated after these three nights, three nights of legendary, mind blowing, roof raising, crowd pleasing, soul shaking blues. A night to remember for all fortunate enough to be there.

Next up: Train 7/7/25

One of metals eternal bands that never quite seem to fade away like other bands, Iron Maiden deliver a killer set tonight in Malahide.

I am still astounded at how well Bruce Dickinson’s voice has held up through 45 years of being with the band and of constant shows as a metal frontman and icon.

A lovely venue with a great setup, I was quite pleased with Malahide Castle, and a venue that Iron Maiden tore the non-existent hypothetical roof off of.

With pyrotechnic mastery, special effects unrivalled in the live music industry, including a giant version of their mascot “Eddie” on the back screen with 3D effects that made it seem as if he was actually taking over the stage.

Iron Maiden prove every night why they’re held in such high regard within the metal scene, and why after 50 years they still sell out venues worldwide.

With absolute rippers of songs like “Run to the Hills” and “The Trooper”, Iron Maiden know how to please a crowd.

And with longer ballads like “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, they deliver extended solos and powerful stories in their music.

Stage Setup: 10/10, Iron Maiden know how to set up a stage, with a two tiered stage, and special effects on the back screens, pyrotechnics and 3D mascots on the back screens and real life mascots patrolling the stage.

Band performance: 10/10, Bruce Dickinsons voice is something that scientists should try and study in the future, how someone can hold up so flawlessly, such a powerful voice that never seems to fade with time.

Support: 7/10, Good support, that I missed half of because of the awful lines at nearly everything, between merch, food and toilets. the Raven Age and Halestorm delivered great sets and got the crowd going for the main act.

Merchandise: 10/10, Three things in life are always certain, death, taxes and Iron Maiden having amazing merchandise. While most bands bring one or two tour t shirt designs, they had 10 different designs for tour t shirts alone.

Crowd: 8/10, a lovely crowd of people who were really into the music, met a lovely man from Down behind me who was a pleasure to talk to.

Overall: 9/10, Iron Maiden are a staple of live shows for a reason, and that reason is evident to anyone who goes to one of their shows.

Next up: Joe Bonamassa plays Rory Gallagher 1/7/2025

An absolute scorcher of a day, the second longest day of the year and a sweltering 28*C sitting in Phoenix Park.

An unusual venue, it has fallen out of use for one reason or another, only holding a few concerts over the last decade, with the most recent being all the way back in 2018, so to re-christen the venue as it were, Zach Bryan was put on the task, and I’d say he delivered alright.

One of, if not the greatest songwriters of this current generation, Zach Bryan delivers down from soft soothing Melodies all the way to throat-tearing, gut wrenching singing, very reminiscent of his own friend and collaborator, Bruce Springsteen.

A massive crowd of around 60,000 people descended upon the park and did not leave disappointed, from opening with “Overtime” straight into the blood-pumping “Open the Gate”, a song crafted from pure adrenaline.

All throughout the show we were treated to songs that make you wanna sing, scream, cry and raise your fists in anger, or in determination. The true spirit of proper country music.

Country’s leading superstar, and when I say country, I mean country, not the stadium country music that has been polished and shaved down by the industry, but the raw and powerful country this world needs.

Songs like “Something in the Orange”, “Burn, Burn, Burn” and “East Side of Sorrow” had the entire park in a mixture of screaming and dancing.

Stage Setup: 6/10, nothing major to comment on here, very standard stage setup and layout for a concert this size.

Band performance: 10/10, the rest of the band performed perfectly, very tight players who play off eachother very well, and the main man himself has a voice that could tear down rooves and tear apart your heart.

Support: 7/10, Noelinne Hoffman and The Turnpike Troubadors provided support for us, they did an admirable job, they both delivered solid sets and got the crowd warmed up for the main act, as a support band should.

Merchandise: 8/10, a nice, if expensive, selection of merch, including a Zach Bryan Irish Jersey, concert specific t-shirts and all the other bits and bobs you find at any other concert.

Crowd: 4/10, I hate to talk bad about a crowd of people trying to enjoy themselves, but the standard concert etiquette I have observed and that I have acted with seemed absent at this concert, people getting up on eachother shoulders directly infront of people, blocking their view and eventually quite a few of them causing major falls, a lot of people experiencing adverse effects from the heat but nobody around offered any help.

Overall: 7/10, a very good concert from Zach Bryan, an absolute generational talent in music today, but a concert let down by things outside of his control.

Next up: Iron Maiden 25/6/25

On the way home from Nine Inch Nails at the 3Arena, and I’m still feeling the after affects, a raw and loud performance, the entire venue shaking constantly, roaring guitars and screaming vocals.

Strobe lights and some of the most innovative concert staging I’ve seen yet.

Starting out with an acoustic set out on a B-Stage before moving to the main stage, and the whiplash I received when they moved to the main stage and played to the opening riff to “Wish” was extreme and disorienting, but in the best way.

One of the most talented musicians on the planet, Trent Reznor, with his backing band out on a screamer and a non-stop, full on, action packed and hit after hit of a set.

Around the main stage was a transparent sheet hanging down from the roof, on which they beamed the visuals and camera footage, and that cameraman they have, running around the stage constantly and getting perfect shots, was honestly the star of the show.

This was Nine Inch Nails first show in over 2 and a half years and they are back on their top form, after watching live videos from 2022 I was a little worried as Trent’s vocals sounded strained and worn out, but he drove all those worries away with the first screaming vocals he put out, and he held up the standard throughout the show.

Quite a few songs from their magnum opus “The Downward Spiral”, one of my picks for the greatest album of all time, were played, everything from the opening track “Mr. Self Destruct” and the closing track “Hurt”.

“Hurt” is a song that I have adored and admired for years, from the gut wrenching original, written by a man in the depths of his heroin addiction in his twenties, to the heartbreaking Johnny Cash cover sung just months before his own death, which left us with two versions, of the same song, that couldn’t be more different in their meaning.

The ending chord of “Hurt” is something that will always stay in my mind, after listening to that entire album, which is a concept album about depression, drug abuse and suicide, to end with that loud distorted guitar chord, is like being hit by a semi truck.

Stage Setup: 10/10, between main stages and B-Stages, with the best lighting work, and the best camera work I have ever seen at a concert, the lighting from the lasers to the stage lighting to the beaming of the footage onto the stage curtain, was second to none.

Band performance: 10/10, calling Nine Inch Nails a band is a bit of a misnomer, as until quite recently it was only Trent Reznor who was a member, but his longtime backing guitarist, and some other touring musicians, along with him put together a high energy, note perfect set, with absolutely no slippage from Trent’s voice, which sounds better than it did a few years ago.

Support: N/A, there was no official support act but another artist they collaborated with previously joined them on stage in the middle of the concert.

Merchandise: 10/10, I wish Nine Inch Nails didn’t make such good merch, because it is so outrageously expensive, their merch has always been pricy, wether official merch in store, or off their website, it has always fetched a high price, for a reason, they had t shirts, hoodies, ponchos, AirTag holders even, but at a cost, a cost well worth it to me, and my inevitable buyers remorse.

Crowd: 10/10, a scary crowd but an energetic and a crowd you could tell was passionate about the music, although it was extremely warm in the venue and I am rather glad I was not in the standing section, as I don’t know if I would have stuck it to the end.

Overall: 10/10, probably, in my opinion, the single best concert I have been to, Nine Inch Nails have been one of my favourite bands for years, since I first listened to “Reptile” on Spotify and hating it, and hating the band, and then months later re-listening and feeling like Shackleton first setting eyes on Antarctica, astonished as the incredible, dark, passionate and beautifully written and composed music I had found.

Next up: Zach Bryan 20/6/25

A childhood dream of mine was finally realised today, the band that got me into music, the band of the first album I ever bought on release, the first band I really got into, that made me love music, I finally got to see live.

Stereophonics are an underrated powerhouse of late 90s and early 00s rock. One of the great Welsh musical acts up there with the like of Tom Jones.

I feel as though this review may come off biased, which is a fair assessment considering I absolutely am biased.

Kelly Jones has one of the best voices in music going, a proper raspy, whiskey voice, very reminiscent of Rod Stewart, with who they have a song, “Handbags and Gladrags”, which they treated us to a rare performance of at the concert.

I sang, I laughed, I loved and I left, in that order. Sitting here on the bus back down to portloaise I can feel the itch in my throat that will almost certainly develop into a lost voice tomorrow morning. Worth it.

The entire band are on the top of their game like always, opening with “Vegas Two Times”, a great hard rocker song to get the crowd going, with fan favourite sprinkled throughout an amazing set, songs like “Local Boy in the Photograph” and “Just Looking” had the crowd roaring.

One of my personal favourite songs of theirs “C’est La Vie” left my throat in absolute pieces.

Finishing with the straight down to earth hard rocker song “The Bartender and the Thief” straight into their biggest hit “Dakota”, it was a night to, and that I will, remember.

Stage Setup: 8/10, a very standard stage set up, but the use of the screens both beside and behind the stage, with some amazing visual effects overlayed into it brought quite a lot to the spectacle.

Band performance: 10/10, not a slip from these lads tonight, Kelly’s voice sounds the same as it did when they dropped their debut album in 97’

Support: 7/10, support was given by Davey MacManus first, a local lad from Dundrum who used to be in the music scene with Stereophonics, certainly a unique talent, with songs such as “It’s Like Walking Down the Stairs in the Dark and Missing a Step” bringing a strange but endearing element to the gig, Next up was James Bay, a big artist in his own right, with hits like “Let it Go” and “Hold Back the River”, a very talented singer and an exceptional guitarist

Merchandise: 7/10, very standard merch selection, including tour hoodies, t-shirts and even an event specific t-shirt for that concert only, along with those were hats and even pairs of socks

Crowd: 9/10, a great crowd that was really into the music, a crowd that welcoming I made great friends with the couple beside me, everyone was warm and everyone was roaring along to any and every word they knew

Overall: 9/10, a concert a long time coming for me, and it was well worth the wait, an amazing band, who put on an amazing show, a show so good I almost forget about the torrential hailstorm that happened while we waited for them to emerge onto the stage

Next up: Nine Inch Nails 15/6/25

This Friday gone I attended twenty one pilots at the 3arena, a band I would have been familiar with, but not much outside of the major radio hits, but for what the concert was, it was near perfect.

The stage setup was immaculate and the transitions between songs were incredibly well rehearsed.

The lead singer came out in what I assume is his signature balaclava, and sang and played a few songs.

At one point the lead singer jumped into a hole on the floor of the stage and instantly, and I mean instantly, the lights shifted up to a maintenance platform high above the seating area to the left, and there he was, he sang a bit and then took off the balaclava to reveal that it actually was him up there and not a stunt double, they had obviously done the switch on the stage at some point that was so smooth nobody realised.

With cinematic theme changes between sections of the shows, going from the bright red stage setup of their new album, to a post apocalyptic looking setup for an older album, a switch which included, among other things, a large torch that was actually lit, which was paraded past the edge of the crowd.

They mad multiple b stages and even floating stages held up by the crowd as they would hold up a crowd surfer.

For one song they brought up a young boy from the crowd called Cian and got him to sing some of a song with him, which was genuinely heartwarming.

A concert with so much crowd interaction, including two small stages set up in the crowd for the final song, both of which would’ve been no bigger than maybe thirty square feet each.

A highlight of the show is when the lead singer got the crowd to put down their flashlights and then queued different sections of the crowd to raise and then lower their flashlights on separate beats of a song, creating an amazing effect.

Stage Setup: 10/10, an amazingly set up stage, including multiple B stages out in the crowd, aswell as moving stages, and floating stages carried by the crowd, and the main stage itself was done meticulously, giant screens surrounded the stage and played both live footage and video effects

Band performance: 10/10, an incredibly talented singer, with high energy throughout the show, even throughout all the running, jumping and balaclava wearing, his voice did not falter, the drummer of the band may be one of the best live drummers I’ve seen in my days of concert going, incredibly gifted at what he does

Support: 8/10, Balu Brigada was the name of the support band, I had heard nothing of them, a band hailing from New Zealand who make very energetic and rather quality music, they did a great job of working up the crowd for the main act.

Merchandise: 5/10, this is where the concert faltered, merch was available but it was very generic and very pricy for what it is, a hoodie with just a logo and text on the front and nothing on the back would set you back 80, a jacket made out of cheap looking material was 120, could have been much better

Crowd: 10/10, a crowd who you could see were really passionate about the music and about the experience, which was helped greatly with the amount of crowd interaction from the two members of the band

Overall: 9/10, for what it was it is a very hard concert to fault, while it may not be my taste I had a great time, a very interactive band that are incredibly talented and clearly seasoned in what they do, with a crowd that was taking all that energy from the stage and giving it back tenfold

Next up: Stereophonics 6/6/25

Another trip over to Manchester had me seeing one of the most intriguing and impressive bands I’ve heard of live.

Heilung are a collective more so than a band, and they label their concerts not as concerts, but as rituals. Their music style is incredibly hard to pin down but could be described as ancient Nordic style music.

They sing in a range of languages from English to Proto-Nordic, and many languages in between, all from around the Northern Europe to Scandinavian area.

The concert opened with what is dubbed the “Opening Ceremony”, where all the performers gather in a circle and chant out a long saying establishing that all humans are brothers under the one great being.

It was at this point I was wondering if I was joining a cult of some sort, but after the rest of the concert I wouldn’t mind joining whatever they have going on there.

The theatre was engulfed in the burning sage they were wafting from the stage and throughout the performance.

All of the performers were dressing in ritual gear, including many parts made out of deer bone, most of the bone used is animal but there is one human forearm bone used as an instrument in the mix somewhere, and I am afraid to question where they got it.

Stage Setup: 10/10, the stage setup consisted of various performers on large horse skin drums towards the back, and the main performers out front with microphone stands made of bone and wood, behind the stage was large swathes of trees and bushes. This setup fit extremely well into the theming and atmosphere of the concert.

Artist Performance: 10/10, a group about twenty-strong filled with outstanding performers, the lead and side vocalists sang in both angelic engulfing voices and deep guttural throat singing. The range of instruments went from simple drums up to harps made of bone and large deep echoing drums that gave a great backbone to the songs.

Support: 10/10, the support was a group called Eivor, all of whom hail from the Faroe Islands, not somewhere I would expect a band playing to 3500 people to be from. The lead singer has one of the most versatile voices I’ve ever seen, going from deep throat singing to soaring angelic vocals as she delivered a mix of original songs and ancient Faroese hymns.

Merchandise: 10/10, although I may be financially recovering from this merchandise stand for the next few weeks, they had probably the best variety of merch I have seen at a gig, from smaller tank tops, standard t shirts, tour t shirts, standard zip hoodies, zip hoodies with fully embroidered designs all over, large woollen cloaks and even a fully woollen jumper, also featuring CDs and Records of all their albums this was a fairly stacked merchandise stand, with prices to match.

Crowd: 10/10, my first concert I ventured to alone and it wasn’t long before I had become part of a solid group of people who all had also only met each other that night, we talked and sang and danced like friends that had known each other for years. One of the warmest feeling and most welcoming crowds I have been in the throughout my time of concert going.

Overall: 10/10, this is not a rating I give lightly, but this is also not a concert I find easy to describe, the combination of the atmosphere, the ritual performance, the ancient music, the deep guttural voices clashing against the high angelic voices, the shouting small army equipped with shields and spears. Truly an astonishing act to see live, and although they are disbanding later this year, they will be back and hopefully better than ever.

Next up: Twenty One Pilots, 3Arena Dublin, 9/5/25

On Thursday this week I attended James Blunts concert in the 3Arena on his tour to mark the 20th anniversary of his debut album “Back to Bedlam”.

I originally started to listen to James Blunt because I found his online antics to be quite amusing, especially once he agreed to legally change his name, to anything of the publics choosing, if his debut album went back to number one late last year.

Now I have to admit, I was not expecting all that much from James Blunt, he’s currently 51 and I hadn’t known him as one for being overly performative or as an artist that excels live, but I was utterly blown away by his performance.

Now the 3Arena has always been one of my favourite venues, it’s incredibly well set up, in a very easily accessible location, perfect sound design, and the seat layout makes it hard to have a bad seat anywhere in the arena.

The setlist for this show started straight off into the debut album start to finish, and with the song “You’re Beautiful” coming as the second song in the setlist, there were certainly fears, even from himself, that he may have put the hits out too early.

This was absolutely not the case, through that album is a few more hits and then a strangely intimate back half with some slower more emotional songs, culminating in one of the most powerful performances I have seen, his rendition of his song “No Bravery”. A song about war, with him alone on the piano, only one stage light set to him, while on the screens in the background played footage of what appeared to be his own video diary from the war, in which he served as a captain in the late 90s.

The second half of the show consisted of the hits off the other albums, including a cover of “Cuz I Luv You” by Slade, partway through which James Blunt ran off the stage and up through the aisles climbing on the railing between the seating blocks and high giving people all the way through, including me, and almost falling backwards onto me and my friend after getting down from a railing directly behind us.

Interspersed throughout all this was his widely renowned comedic wit, a naturally funny man, with a very British style self-deprecating humour, commenting on the fact he may have “fucked this one up” by playing his hits too early, or apologising to men in the audience who’s wives had dragged them there, encouraging them to try and use this good deed to get a “little something” from their wives afterwards, and offering empathy as he said he “would not go to a James Blunt concert unless you paid me, which you all did”.

Stage Setup: 8/10, A surprisingly detailed and intricate stage design, 2 screens either side of the stage showing the performers and one large screen behind showing either the performers or the visuals for the song, some of which were lyrics, visualisers, or even war diaries as stated earlier.

Artist Performance: 10/10, This is not a performance I would have expected from James Blunt in a million years, the absolute raw energy of that man and his being in greta physical condition for 51, I guess half a decade in the military would do that for you. The natural comedic charm and the powerful voice, including some moments of pure raspy powerful singing you’d more expect from Bruce Springsteen than James Blunt.

Support: 8/10, It’s almost as if James Blunt didn’t want to be the biggest one hit wonder at his own event, often insulted due to his status as one, to the point of leaning into it and doing a documentary called “One Brit Wonder”, James Blunt got Toploader to do the support, one of the only bands more deserving of the title one hit wonder. While I did not know the majority of the songs, the band put on a rather good show, then came out with a cover of “Mr Blue Sky” as the penultimate song, but all that previous setlist could’ve been a disaster and it would still have been redeemed by the final song, “Dancing in the Moonlight”, one of the catchiest songs of all time, and their version being the most famous, it was only fitting to end it and got the crowd perfectly prepared for the main event.

Merchandise: 8/10, Honestly, the merch would’ve most likely scored a 10/10, but due to Dublin being the last stop on this leg of the tour, we were left with the scraps of merch remaining from the other dates, and they even had to throw in some merch from last years tour to remedy it, that being said the merch throughout the tour looked phenomenal, and what were greeted with was decently good aswell, including a range of merchandise items made in collaboration with Rizla Papers, one of the largest manufacturers of cigarette papers, and quite a few signed items up for sale, all at very good prices for concert merch.

Crowd: 6/10, Falling a bit short here, the crowd was rather pleasant towards the beginning, but has one of the largest tendencies towards excessive alcohol consumption I’ve seen in my days of going to concerts, which ended up with quite a few verbal arguments and one physical engagement that I could observe from where I was sitting. Other than the few bad apples though, the crowd otherwise was decent, but missed that something you can’t quite put your finger on that makes a truly great crowd.

Overall: 8/10, An amazing performer, one of the best I’ve seen in my so far short life of gig-going, an incredibly energetic and passionate performer, and what seems to be a down to earth nice man, you wouldn’t go wrong with booking yourself some tickets on his next go around just to see the spectacle that is James Blunt, and how he defies all expectations as “Just another one hit wonder”.

Next Up: Heilung, 02 Apollo Manchester, 21/4/25