Emily 7 Live At Whelan’s With Support From KLDD and Curtisy

Whelan’s plummeted headfirst into an energetic maelstrom last night as Dublin indie rock band Emily 7 took to the stage for their eagerly anticipated headline show. The crowd and band were hungrier than ever for this performance as the show was two years in waiting due to covid.

Against a backdrop of helium balloons spelling Emily 7, the two support acts KLDD and Curtisy tackled the task of warming up the crowd. Sleek sounding, tight and exuding an impressive nonchalant stage presence, four-piece KLDD had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. Comprised of Kilian Callegari on bass, Liam Bennati on drums, David Bradford on lead and Davy O’Toole on vocals and rhythm the band blend moody indie rock with grunge hues and glimmers of punk-pop to create a dynamic sound filled with vigour. The crowd bopped, cheered and some even fangirled over this budding band’s sound. With driving basslines, a fantastic rapid drum assault and some pretty slick guitar work there was plenty of talent on stage – an impressive performance from the four-piece.

Filled with some pretty sleek hip hop backing tracks, Curtisy‘s set followed. Curtisy’s loose performance style, fun attitude on stage and wandering wordplay made for an intriguing listening experience. With raps drifting between topics of girls, drinking and social insights; the artist’s swaggered rhymes and repetitive “yeah, yeah” phrase lingered in many of the crowd’s heads for the rest of the night. Curtisy is fleshing out his style and refining his sound, it will be interesting to see what the hip hop artist does next.

‘Put ’em Under Pressure’ triumphantly introduced Emily 7. The crowd bellowed “Olé Olé Olé Olé, Olé Olé” while clapping and cheering as the band took to the stage. It was a whirlwind of antics, frantic post-punk and sweaty moshing from the get-go. Whelan’s shaked beneath our feet as the cheeky resounding sound of ‘Stephanie’ caused a dance frenzy from the crowd. Filled with thrilling rhythms, soaring wails on guitar and roaring bass grooves the band’s sound is impressive and the four-piece wasted no time in delighting the crowd’s ears with a constant glorious onslaught of instrumentally riveting tunes.

Kyle Bellew and Daniel Clarke are charismatic frontmen who share lead vocals. They exuded a charming persona throughout the set while subtly fighting off the entangled helium balloons behind them. Scott Bellew’s charismatic drumming was a joy to witness and perfectly complemented Brandon Carrig’s superb laid back bass. It was fun chaos all around that was rapturously well-received by the audience. This was particularly evident when the band played ‘Oh Me, Oh My’; the crowd bellowed back the catchy lyrics with such vigour and enthusiasm that made it a memorable moment on the night.

Like all good shows, a broken instrument or two is the norm and a kick drum malfunction,- “we f*cked the kick drum” saw the band styling out the brisk repair with a sleek instrumental jam. The four-piece were comfortable on stage and a broken instrument hiccup was nothing to these guys, within seconds they were back, filling the venue with more blazing tunes.

Emily 7 are a must see live act. They delivered a fantastic live show with an intense conviction that few bands can muster. There are exciting things to come from this band, and I for one am looking forward to it.