It’s a free Heineken Green Room session (600 tickets have been given away gratis) so, even though it’s a Monday, the Radisson is packed. There’s a catch to this ‘free’ business though. The bar is offering a choice of Heineken, Heineken or Heineken, take your pick. Still, the atmosphere is good and expectations are high.
Dublin guitar act Mainline open proceedings. Six shadowy figures in black leather and bad haircuts, their influences are immediately all too obvious. At times, they sound like the Pixies being fronted by Liam Gallagher. Others, they sound like Oasis being fronted by Frank Black. Throw in some My Bloody Valentine effects, Velvet Underground feedback and Jesus & Mary Chain riffs, and you’ve pretty much got their measure.
They don’t speak a word between songs (I think ‘Healing Song’ and ‘Black Honey’ were titles), but they’re fairly adept at pulling iconic rock & roll poses. Sadly, they don’t really connect with the audience until the very end of their set, when they finally seem to let their music take them over, and just really go for it - passionately. Not the most original guitar band I’ve ever encountered, but I’d definitely go and see them again. If it wasn’t raining.
A funky electric DJ set from Richard Fearless follows, though very few people seem to notice. After about thirty minutes, he walks from the DJ booth to the stage. A neon ‘Death In Vegas’ sign switches on, the big screens start to flicker and Steve Hellier and a couple of guitarists appear. The show begins.
Initially they’re warmly received. People cheer and start to dance, getting revved up for the killer moment they know is coming. Sadly, it never does. For the best part of two hours, Fearless and Hellier keep their heads bowed down over their mixers, only occasionally looking up to wave or punch their arms in the air. There are no vocals at all, just a constant mix of dub, techno and trance. It probably sounds great on the 2FM simulcast but, as a show, it’s pretty boring to watch. Roddy Doyle is a great novelist, but would you want to watch him type? Exactly.
Presumably they play some material from their new Satan’s Circus album but nothing is even vaguely recognisable. There’s no ‘Dirge’ or ‘Aisha’, there’s nothing from The Contino Sessions or Scorpio Rising. Even their big screen visuals are unoriginal and boring. hotpress stayed until the bitter end in the hope that something exciting would happen. Nothing exciting happened.
Not quite a death (in Galway) of a gig, but definitely not a life affirming experience either.