Four acts bestowed themselves upon the Opening Night Showcase—Callum Stewart, Columbia Mills, Talos, and The Coronas (who else?). It really is amazing the types of crowds that assemble at different gigs, notwithstanding a flummoxed bouncer who rather studiously informed me the ratio of men to women was highly in favour of the latter for this particular night.
Not difficult to envisage when the first of the quartet arrived on stage—Portrush pianist Stewart and his comrades—with their pristinely-cut noggins and sounding like the apprentices to the pop formula so many can only dream of concocting in the current epoch of conveyor-belt showbiz. They appeared to a warm reception as much as the sparse crowd could manage to muster in the early stages. The group was not as tight as their haircuts, I will say, but each member added a different perspective on things—the bassist reminded me of a Dexys Midnight Runners member and the electronic percussionist’s passionate tapping was almost a calling to revive the 1980s his machine so cunningly shaped (for better or worse, we don’t know). A seven-song set with two new tracks including the Bieber-with-bite of “Poison”.
Columbia Mills is cast under the umbrella of “indietronica”. A balanced drummer in Paul Kenny—a bit overzealous on the cymbals, mind—saw a band I think you’ll get more out of in the flesh where they have an excuse to perforate your eardrums away from the comfort of your own headphones. The mix of sound their get-up will only allow from anthemic, post-rock builds to their Gretsch guitar’s fat textures is enough to keep you attentive past their solid and steady rhythm section.
Cork’s own musical architect in Eoin French, better known as Talos, released his plaintive and prissy, full-length debut LP Wild Alee last month. Too much of those adjectives were on show for my liking on both the record and here at the Opera House, but French has a voice and the wherewithal to deliver more convincing content in the future, no doubt. All he has to do is do it.
The main event, The Coronas—the ever-present lovebirds doing their “first gig in a while”; Danny O’Reilly embracing his fellow bandmates like showing comradery was going out of fashion. I believe him. The “classics” ensued along with three new tracks from their upcoming record Trust the Wire, which is out the 2nd June—“Gut Feeling”, a love-driven ballad; “Real Feel”, a love-driven ballad; and a love-driven ballad about being on your phone too much [cue phones in the air by the on-looking contingent]. If that’s a political dig, nice one, but I doubt it. Song eleven, “What a Love”, from the seventeen-song show was dedicated to drummer Conor Egan who’s tying the knot next month.