It’s not quite freezing in the City of the Vibes, but it’s chilly enough to make you thankful for a valid reason to jump around and, in the process, to warm up! Tonight’s opening act provide just such an excuse. Hailing from Tuam and taking their moniker from an old Waterboys song, Strange Boats play straightforward pop rock, but they do it with such enthusiasm that it’s hard not to be charmed.
They might come from the home of The Saw Doctors, but they take their musical cues more from the likes of Ash and The Ramones. The four-piece have already scored a radio hit with debut single ‘Boys Walk Faster Than Girls’, but the highlight is the wonderfully titled ‘Teenage Love Convention’, which segues neatly into a tongue-in-cheek cover of The Ronette’s ‘Be My Baby’.
Another four-piece, in this case equal parts boys and girls, The Wonder Villains are from Derry and their hippyish stage gear is just as colourful as their name. Three shiny happy people and one requisite too-cool-for-school guitarist, they play hook-laden, high-energy pop songs, littered with pop cultural references (including a song about football legend Zola).
The blonde female singer also plays bass. At key points throughout their set, she and the beautiful keyboardist jump in presumably trademark tandem. “This is a song I wrote for Bruce Springsteen,” the singer announces at one stage. “It’s called ‘Baby Don’t Look So Sad’.” They’re obviously having a lot of fun up there and it proves infectious.
Next up is Choice-nominated indie star and Kilkenny’s coolest cat, Jeremy Hickey, better known as Rarely Seen Above Ground (RSAG). Taking his musical inspiration from Joy Division and Talking Heads, and his style of live presentation from Gorillaz, Hickey sits at a centre stage drum kit, triggering his virtual band, who appear intermittently on two surrounding big screens.
He opens energetically with the raucous ‘Teachin’ & Reachin’’ – and for the following 40 minutes or so never misses a beat. It’s a difficult thing to keep an audience interested when there’s only a drummer onstage, but a combination of showy sticksmanship, arresting visuals and some great songs keep the Róisín rapt. By the time he wraps up with ‘This Winding Sheet’, I’ve resolved to dig out his albums and give them a fresh listen.
The Session is brought to a close by another one-man-band. Young Cork producer Toby Kaar has been making waves of late with his remixes for the likes of Nouveaunoise and Ten Past Seven. It’s difficult to gauge exactly what he’s doing with the sampler, but the audience certainly appreciates his smooth blend of house, hip hop and electronica.
He has a sense of humour as well. With Movember coming to a close, a large number of women in the crowd were wearing fake ‘taches. “Back in my day, you grew your own moustache,” Karr sneers, before banging out some more beats.
All in all, an extremely cool Freezer Session.