Little Green Cars and Damien Dempsey Make Summer Come Alive

Our sharpshooter Kathrin Baumbach was on hand to capture the action; check out the photo gallery here.
Little Green Cars took to the stage at the Iveagh Gardens on Saturday night: you couldn’t have chosen a better venue for the Dublin natives. The idyllic hidden garden just off Harcourt Street lent the perfect summery ambience to the band’s melodic sound.

They were greeted by a resoundingly appreciative crowd who had no problem with joining in, to bolster Faye O’Rourke and Stevie Appleby’s lush harmonies.

Opening with the slow-burning ‘Red’, the melodic strength of the band was evident from the outset. ‘Harper Lee’, an absolute banger, proved to be a firm favourite with the fans, who responded to it emphatically. O’Rourke is a natural and hugely talented front-woman: her stage presence is excellent and her powerful vocals are a highlight of the band’s music.

About midway through the set Appleby stopped the music and recited a rhyming poem, waxing lyrical about the power of song. This led into the haunting ‘The Song They Play Every Night’ from last year’s Ephemera album. ’Claire de Lune’ and ‘The John Wayne’ are crowd favourites, and having belted those out, the band were enthusiastically cheered back on for an encore.

If Saturday night is anything to go by, Little Green Cars can only be expected to get bigger and bigger.

Support on the night came from Sam Messayeh and Dublin legend Damien Dempsey. The Iveagh Gardens crowd proved their absolute reverence for Dempsey by chanting ‘Damo, Damo!’ throughout his entire set. Just before finishing with the uplifting ‘It’s All Good’, Damien paused the music to express his gratitude ‘for being alive in the summer'. In the era of Brexit, Trump, and weekly terrorist massacres, to have a man stand in front of thousands of people and implore us only to ‘love yourselves today’ is a very beautiful thing indeed.

A great evening…

• Maija Sofia