We got the pleasure of witnessing a diamond in the rough develop into a rising star last Saturday night at the Grand Social Dublin where the bubbly Áine Cahill had her first sold out Dublin show.
Megan-Kate Doolan greeted the crowd with her warm mellow vocals and smooth soothing tracks. The Wexford youngster showcased her flavour of alternative folk, sprinkled with a bit of soul and glazed with gentle creamy vocals and a slight rasp giving a fantastically unique rich texture to her tracks. With beautiful melodies presented simply with just her and her decorated guitar Megan-Kate Doolan looked delicate and elegant but when performing her songs she draws you in and touches your soul.
David Keenan follows with an intense set of strong lyrics and dynamic vocals. Belting out tracks about places he has been and people he has met on his travels. He possesses the art of story telling in
true Irish manner. With proficient guitar playing that is organic and raw strengthened with powerful vocals that are attention grabbing with the odd lilt almost half yodel at times. Keenan shows the red-blooded gritty side to music reminiscent of the Irish songs of old.
Once Keenan finished his set the crowd flooded forward awaiting the entrance of Áine Cahill. The room became clammy and sticky as the people packed to the front. I began to realise just how popular Cahill had become as I was being pushed back from the people in front of me, who made no apologises of their crude assault on my shoes while leaving me with little to no personal space. One gets worried when you are so close to someone that you can almost breath in their hair. Cahill begins her set with a captivating a cappella version of ‘Bang Bang’ which completely absorbs the crowd in a frenzy of awe and admiration. This starlet shatters any doubt anyone can have as she performs a soulful rendition of this classic with all the emotion and suave only 
Cahill possesses. Crooning her way into ‘Puppet’ followed by a passionate and soulful ‘Dangerous Woman’ which gets everyone swaying and loosening up their hips. Track after track showcasing her talent effortlessly. Cahill displays she is a born performer. Exuding sass and likeability she holds the entire audience in the palm of her hand while she banters back and forth with them. ‘Blood Diamond’ is a catchy cheeky little dig at the “bitches ” who always get what they want. Portrayed with a characterisation of class and an attitude of high class splendour while also delicately giving the middle finger Cahill once again pulls the crowd into a “girl power” anthem that has everyone shouting out the lyrics as they are reminded of someone they know who fits the description of the lyrics. The famous ‘Black Dahlia’ had everyone singing and swaying. It is obvious that Áine Cahill is set for great things from the roaring for “one more song” and from the massive amount of people bombarding her for autographs and selfies after the show. Watch out for Áine Cahill she has a big career ahead of her.
You can catch Áine Cahill live at
Fri 23 Sep The Waiting Room, London
Fri 04 Nov Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin
swirl, driven by punchy drums and dynamic guitars while Doyle’s vocals keep things fresh and edgy. Ghost Robots keep the tracks flowing fluently as they belt out tune after tune oiling up the rusty hips of the crowd as they sway and mosh to each track. Drummer Dael O’Brien is especially enthusiastic and stands out with his energetic mesmerising drumming. They ease us into their insanely catchy ‘Under Fire’ which recently featured as one of our Worth A Listen tracks. This luring song goes down well with the entranced crowd as they move to the beat while the tracks effortless cool tone has a dazed effect while still packing a punch. Ghost Robots finish on ‘Bad Habbit‘ leaving the stunned crowd wanting more.
monstrous frenzy-causing sound that will rock you to your core and persuade even the most timid person to rebel and headbang. New Valley Wolves as promised give us an energetic and memorable show as they dominate Crane Lane with the forceful and staggering ‘This Bad City’ and ‘Shark’. They exude swagger and fiery attitude in ‘Athens’ as they give us a smooth sensual almost funky track that builds into a moshing riot. The rock duo confirm they are a force to be reckoned with, when they pull out the masterstroke that is new soon to be released single ‘Silver Tongue’ knocking us back and demanding the attention that these guys deserve. Lucey coaxes the crowd forward and they begin a frenzy of moshing to the powerful bluesy ‘Eyes On Me’. Members of the crowd shout out the fast passed rap-like swagger-filled lyrics accompanied by the slick fiery riffs teamed with pounding soul shaking drums. They finish strong with ‘Fire In The Blood’ followed by new single ‘Trouble’ two hefty, mean tracks bursting with attitude. While ‘Fire In The Blood’ had a rapid tempo that raced through the crowd causing a chaotic mix of moshing and hopping, ‘Trouble’ took on a destructive persona keeping the crowd headbanging and going crazy in its high energy body pounding sound leaving the crowd thirsty for more.
doesn’t love a saxophone especially when it works well and adds diversity and depth to their tracks. Their witty humour and banter goes down well with the crowd, a brilliant warm up for a great night ahead.
to go to one of their gigs .’Dream’ follows with its bright upbeat bubbly sound which I thought had a slight country twang when i listened to the album, however when performed live they give us punchier drums and a fantastic lustrous guitar that is compelling. The edgy bluesy ‘This Town’ give us a rock and roll feel with swagger. The heavy riff is brawny yet flexible and can coax you to dance without you even realising it. Its an energetic track that the crowd reacts well to and seems to sweet talk the crowd to bopping along. They slow down the tone with the melodic smooth ‘Morning Light’ showcasing their lush harmonies. Its a soft track that has a sway almost soft bop effect on the crowd. The set flows smoothly as they glide into the catchy ‘Diana’ which shows us their funky side. Unfortunately we had to leave at this point but not before we got to hear the smooth sensual ‘New York Is Dangerous’ with its slick darker tone.
is no doubt of their talent.
punchy drums it’s a fantastic start to their set. Blossoms are a band that you absolutely have to see live to really appreciate their talent as we see from this instrumentally energetic track. They give you a full bursting sound that you don’t here in the recordings. They follow with their new single ‘Getaway’ which as we hoped in our review of this track earlier this year was amazing live, once again they gave us a new more voluminous sound and dimension to this smooth indie pop track giving it a edge and bite. Blossoms fly straight into ‘Across The Moor’ as the crowd enjoy it’s sleek seductive style with bouncy funky beats and flirtatious bass. It’s 
irresistible keyboard melody has everyone bouncing and swaying. They slow things down with ‘My Favourite Room’ before they blast into ‘Blown Rose’ followed by the crowd favourite ‘Charlemagne’, with very little speech between tracks. Blossoms let their music do the talking, while their cool, calm persona radiates and gives them that attractive feature that draws the crowd in and makes them listen attentively. They conclude their set with the dynamic ‘Blow’ this song is full of swagger with enticing psychedelic guitars and strong alluring bass. This song performed live commands your body to dance and leaves the crowd wanting more. An excellent warm up and a strong act for The Last Shadow Puppets to follow.
of stage performance. We see a fresh more playful side to Turner as he interacts with the crowd and his partner in crime Miles Kane. They perform some beloved songs from their first album which obviously are a big hit with the crowd as they watch Kane and Turner perform in a theatrical manner full of hip thrusts and guitar poses. Both are pros at performing and command the stage and captivate their audience as they perform. Nothing can put them off their stride not a lead coming out of a guitar while playing or a mic falling off its stand while Turner is singing. Turner simply carries on with or without them. The show is full of dynamic playful energy. They surprise us with ‘Is This What You Wanted’ a 
Leonard Cohen cover in which Turner sings the verse while Kane’s strong vocals take on the chorus. They return for an encore of ‘Meeting Place’ ,’The Dream Synopsis’ and of course ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ The Beatles cover which gives the crowd an explosive ending as we are presented with a full heavy instrumental end of pounding drums screeching guitars and insane synth sounds. It’s definitely a show I’m glad we didn’t miss as it was a refreshing change to see such a fun light hearted show that was bursting with fantastic music from the much loved duo.
massive final track. As usual a strong performance from Beautiful Corruption.
with slick guitars and pounding drums followed finally by ‘Chasing and Fading’ the EP’s title track which is a riff based track that is infectious and trance like. They build to a heavy end with a strong final note, that leaves the crowd wanting more. After a little persuasion Anna – Liese play two more songs before finishing as the crowd begin a frenzy of dancing moshing and pushing. A strong way to end a brilliant gig.
Glow’ and the infectious upbeat ‘The World Is Waiting’ that had everyone bopping along as frontman George Waite performed with an Elvis Costello swagger and energy. Every song followed smoothly and went down a treat with the audience. They swayed and danced perfectly contented with the beaming radiant tunes as they joined in with the “crowd friendly” clapping bridge of ‘Backstreet Lovers’. Their new track ‘Real Life’ went down particularly well with the crowd. The girl beside me turned to her friend and yelled “Oh my god I love these guys!” I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a strong Irish following after Monday nights performance.
