Half-way through Fighting With Wire’s set, frontman Cahir O’Doherty announces to the crowd that the rock trio before them are just “three well-proportioned young lads from Derry”. Well, that much I could see.
The altogether unextraordinary looking and, dare I say it, clean-cut northern boys approached the stage at The Hub without a visible tattoo or piercing between them. Little did I know that the aptly named Fighting With Wire would be wrestling with their instruments for the remainder of the 60-minute set.
Having signed to Atlantic records earlier in the year, these Foyleside rockers have been making more than just a few waves in the UK and Ireland since the release of their debut album Man vs. Monster, with endorsements from just about every BBC Radio 1 rock jockey, including super-fan Zane Lowe.
Granite-voiced O’Doherty took control of the stage from the get-go, urging the crowd to keep the band’s new single at the top of the MTV2 MySpace chart (“Let’s take all the emo shit out and all the indie shit out and keep the rock in!”). But nobody can say that the cocky trio don’t have the skills to back up the bravado. Throughout the show, their full-on, riff driven straight-up rock tracks were showcased to deafening effect, with drummer Craig McKean, in particular, giving an impressively dextrous performance.
With such a big sound, Fighting With Wire are made for a large venue, and although hits like ‘Everyone Needs A Nemesis’ and ‘My Armoury’ were performed with commendable enthusiasm, it was impossible to escape the feeling that the band’s music would probably be better suited to a heaving festival than a quiet Wednesday night in Temple Bar.
Nonetheless, the audience was thoroughly charmed.