Last night saw a Kilkenny take over of upstairs at Whelan’s Dublin with three acts playing to a packed venue.
First up on stage was solo act St John of God opening his 30 minutes set with an
acoustic version of Nirvanas “Heart Shaped Box” to the crowds delight, after which he says, that
was going to be the only cover in my set tonight until I was asked to play another. Which was to come later in the set after a few of his originals and that being a Jeff Buckley song. His short set was well appreciated by the crowd who the whole way through let out yelps/whistles and cheers.
Without any amount of a break it was the turn of the nights second act The Screws a relatively new band on the Kilkenny music scene. But these guys already play like seasoned pros and have a very well produce EP (Take Vienna) already under their belts and tonight it’s that EP that dominates their set. They open up with an intro jam before In Time off said EP, then it’s a new song and a soon to be single “Gotta Be More Than This”. It’s two more track from the TV, EP “I’ll Be Fine” and “Perfect Chemistry” after which it’s a cover of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” and this gets the crowd dancing. It’s a new song next “Sitting Alone”, then the final track for their EP “Violet” and they finish up on a cover of The Beatles song “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”.
Just a short switch out of pedalboards before the main act of the night Oh Bryan are on stage with their
Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy tinged rock.
First up two originals “Little Fires” / “My Kind of Beautiful” after which Keith (acoustic guitarist) disappears from stage as he is not needed for the next song, a cover of “Master Blaster” and then it’s a cover of the classic “All Along the Watchtower” followed by their own song “Just Need to Get Away. Two more covers “Dancing In The Moonlight” (Keith on vocal duties) “Tunnel Vision”.
It’s back to the originals with a run of three, “Give love a go” “Little things” “Moments Like This” two more covers “Rock n Roll” and everyone’s favourite “My Sharona” which got the reaction it gets everywhere with people singing and dancing before the guys finish out with their own song “Our Surrender”.
The nights over and Kilkenny was made proud tonight.
