The throng gathered in Whelans, Dublin tonight for a night of pop punk and a sold out show for headline act Crown the King, but first up are Galway band Light Grey. Light Grey a third wave pop punk band drawing elements of emo and hip hop to create an effervescent energy all of their own. That energy is epitomised by lead singer Ciaran Nevin, hoping and bouncing around the stage for the opening of their set to then end. Opening with the tittle track to their latest EP ‘Are You Even Real’ released back in October 2021, then is a track from their 2018 EP Settle Down, followed by two more songs from the AYER – those being Messed Up & Haunted. Ciaran introduces Teenage Dream by Katy Perry saying they like to play this so people that might not know their stuff have something to sing along to. Back to originals to finish out their set with four more songs Loser, PRBLM , Bubblegum and Year 3000, during which Ciaran leaves the stage for a walk around through the crowd while singing all the time.
Light Grey (click on the thumbnails for full image)
After a stage reset Crown the Kings drummer takes his place and sits in darkness and then as the stage explodes into a blaze of red the band emerge to take their places. Right from the start its another high energy set from Dublin’s pop punk outfit, opening with their second single Honey followed by their their debut single Gone Too Fast which quickly captured the attention of pop punk fans in Ireland. After after the release of these they were rightly so compared to pop punk heavyweights such as All Time Low and Mayday Parade.
Following on with Running on Empty & When Your Looking Like That (a Westlife Cover)at this time the band have to take a brief stop as the skin on the snare drum has split, so its a quick dash back stage to sort – all the time the crowd chanting Crown the King, Crown the King! back up and running they’re back with I Miss You, and then its the turn then of the brand new EP title track Groundhog Day (only released on February 2nd of this year) The guys finish out their high energy set that saw the floor of the upstairs venue actually bounce and vibrate at times with their third single Fence.
These guys are set to dominate the Irish pop punk scene, after announcing that they are soon to be back in Whelans during the summer.
