LIGHTNING SEEDS

LIGHTNING SEEDS (Olympia Theatre, Dublin)

A quarter-filled Olympia wasn’t a good choice of venue for Ian Broudie and Lightning Seeds. Their clean, friendly pop would have been more at home in a packed-to-the-rafters Whelan’s or a respectably-full SFX. Instead, the gig lacked one important element, crucial to a late-night concert: atmosphere.

The band themselves were obviously affected by the small turnout, but managed to get into the swing of things in time to save the gig from being a washout. The front rows (there weren’t many other rows) of the Olympia danced and jumped their way through ‘Life Of Reilly’, the tune used by Match Of The Day during the weekly goals round-up. The song brought back memories of a radiant Robbie Fowler dancing elegantly around the clumsy challenge of Keown, skipping past the outstretched arms of Seaman, and sliding the ball into an empty net to complete a glorious hat-trick over the dreaded Arsenal. Aah, the power of music.

Broudie’s guitar jangled effortlessly through the material from Jollification. ‘Lucky You’ was a perfect piece of throwaway pop. ‘Feeling Lazy’ was suitably laid-back.

The scouser-pop of ‘Open Goals’ was wonderful: lyrics about wishes, fishes, and splashing in the waves. ‘Change’ was sheer class; as hummable as a radio jingle, as lovable as Meg Ryan’s smile, and as playful as a kitten with a live mouse, while ‘Perfect’ almost lived up to its name.

Broudie’s old friend and collaborator, Terry Hall, made a guest appearance, performing ‘Sense’ from his new solo album. The former Specials mainman hasn’t lost his voice, he can still warble with the best of them. Terry looks taller in real life than he does in pictures, just one of those things you notice. The trouble was Terry didn’t seem too interested in the gig, and to be honest, neither did the rest of the band: the difference being that Terry Hall didn’t even get paid for it.

It was a shame really. What could have been a really special gig became merely an ordinary one, and Lightning Seeds remain one of the unsung talents of the pop world. As Terry Hall sang on ‘Sense’, they were ‘Flying high on something beautiful and aimless’.

It’s just that nobody bothered to look up.

• John Walshe