Rolling into town for its first visit to the People’s Republic this year, the Heineken Green Room Sessions touched down at the Half Moon with Groove Armada having the laborious task of being the first ever act to make two Irish Green Room appearances.
Local resident and Red FM man KC amply opened proceedings with a selection of lush, funk workouts that paved the way for the Tom and Andy show. The fact that Findlay and Cato had to walk through the 350 capacity-crowd with their bag of records to make it as far as the stage was a signifier of the intimacy of tonight’s venue. As with Groove Armada’s previous Green Room rendezvous at Galway’s Cuba, tonight’s gig waved goodbye to the MCs, band members, and brass and string arrangements that feature so prominently on their four studio albums to date.
Those believing that the likes of Groove Armada’s contributions to the Back To Mine and Another Late Night mix series would provide the template for this DJ set were making erroneous assumptions. Instead, as the duo kicked off shortly after midnight, it became apparent that their recently self-released mix album Doin’ It After Dark would offer a more precise outlook on where Findlay and Cato’s live DJ-ing tastes lie. While Groove Armada‚s studio material has spanned from downtempo, soulful pastures to funky guitar parodies, their decks experience is perhaps a little more straightforward.
A tasteful nod in the direction of all-out club house ensured maximum hip-shaking, while tendencies to slip into supple electro, techno and big-beat moments ensured that there was something for everyone in the family at this gig. Even the glow stick brigade must have been impressed with the ‘Born Slippy’/’Flat Beat’ mix. Cato, in particular, seemed to be enjoying himself as he teased out the crowd with snippets of ‘I See You Baby’ prior to shutting up shop for the first time. Unsurprisingly, an obligatory dart of ‘Superstylin’ was unleashed, leading way to a final 20 minutes that was undoubtedly the highlight of the set.
As Cato and Findlay enter their thirties, and are now considered elder statesmen by many, god only knows what musical route they will take next. Whatever they choose should yield interesting results.