Keywest: Live at Vicar Street

From the mean streets of the capital where they cut their teeth busking from 2011, to hooking up with Grammy-nominated producer Mark Needham on debut album The Message and beyond, Keywest have been hard at it these past few years.

This is far from a celebratory lap of honour, however, as straight from the off, Keywest treat their loyal army of fans to a fiercely high-energy set. Obviously still buzzing from selling-out the same venue back in October, openers ‘Straight Through My Heart’ and ‘Back Into Your Arms’ are belted out with lots of style and swagger.

With their sophomore album and a US and Irish tour penciled in this winter, Andrew Kavanagh is apologetic about playing some new material to the attentive crowd. He needn’t have worried: most of them go down a treat, including ‘Soldier On’ – a nicely penned ode on the trials and tribulations of life in a rock band.

Noteworthy renditions of radio hits 'Feels So Cruel’, ‘Miss You Most’ and latest EP cut ‘Electric Love’ totally justify The Script and Maroon 5 comparisons, while an ambitious Prince trilogy (‘Kiss’, ‘Raspberry Beret’, ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’) receives a collective thumbs-up from the grooving crowd, as singer Kavanagh grabs a well-deserved glass of red: not an easy job covering Prince!

With that second album and winter shows already planned, Keywest are certainly heading in the right direction. Maybe some fashion advice from Danny and The Script lads wouldn’t go amiss though: we haven’t seen that many dodgy waistcoats since Big Break was last on TV. Ah, only kidding lads: you looked the business!