A heaving and appreciative Dolan’s Warehouse crowd were treated to storming sets from four of the best up-and-coming Irish rock bands around at the moment, each offering something different to a crowd that gathered at the Limerick leg of the rather appropriately named Freezer Sessions, hosted by Hot Press and Jägermeister.
Local band Last Days Of Death Country were first up on the bill and a sizeable home support greeted every note and beat pumped out by the four-piece.
A muscular, at times brooding band, LDODC are a heavyweight outfit, yet whenever it seems they are about to stray into post-rock territory, the tender vocals of Patrick O’Brien and the band’s eye for a melody drag them back from the precipice. The slow-building ‘Words’ and effervescent ‘Exposition’ were particular highlights.
Monaghan band The Flaws were next up, and their energetic indie-rock set – a mix of songs from debut Achieving Vagueness and excellent follow-up Constant Adventure – went down well with this crowd.
The Springsteen-esque ‘Part of You’ was a good choice to open the set, but things really got going with the slower, Libertines-esque ‘Eastern Shore’. The superb ‘16’, from their Choice nominated debut, went down well with a lusty crowd, but the set-closer, ‘Throwaway’, was anything but, courtesy of a thundering, bassy finish that evoked a youthful U2.
Windings, the second Limerick band on the bill, followed The Flaws, and while this ‘new’ band is in a different vein to that of frontman Steve Ryan’s preceding one – the hard rockin’ and much loved Giveamanakick – this five-piece still have plenty of rock weight to throw about.
The slow burning ‘Apologia’ – with its epic middle chorus – put paid to the notion that ‘Steveamanakick’ has left his metal roots behind, but the two-tone skiffle of ‘These Horses’ and the tight, poppy bounce of ‘Brain Fluid’ show that this is a band relishing their current direction, following on from the release of the excellent album It’s Never Night earlier this year.
The highly rated O Emperor topped the bill and those who stayed on into the night were treated to a very special set indeed from a band whose musical tastes belie their tender years.
It was difficult to pick a highlight from a set that boasted mostly very high points: the stomach churning, slide guitar psych-rock of ‘Sedalia’; the five part harmonies on ‘Don’t Mind Me’; and the excellent, Wilco influenced ‘All Worked Out’. But it was the set closer, ‘The Fat Lady Sings’, that wowed everyone in attendance, singer Paul Savage breaking into falsetto and the band confirming that the hype is merited - this is a very, very special group indeed.

Browse our gallery of pics from the night here.