Live Report: Bell X1 at the Iveagh Gardens

It’s probably because it’s so rare, but there is something truly magical about Iveagh Gardens as a venue when the sun shines. Bell X1 frontman Paul Noonan jokes that he had the Child of Prague out all week in order to entreat the weather gods to be kind, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

First up, Bren Berry and the Beautiful Losers send waves of beautiful noise over those who arrived early. The six-piece band, including some of his old Revelino muckers, alongside former Turn/Idlewild bassist, Gavin Fox, deliver a set drawn from Berry’s impressive 2025 debut album, In Hope Our Stars Align. One of the undoubted highlights is ‘Bullet Proof’, where Berry admits laughingly that some of his pals thought that the lyrics about wanting Paul Newman’s eyes were actually a reference to the Bell X1 singer. Having witnessed Berry’s live debut in Whelans earlier this year, it’s clear that he’s growing into the role of frontman with aplomb. The crowd swells during the Beautiful Losers’ assured set, so by the time they leave the stage, they’ve been playing to a full and receptive Iveagh.

Bell X1 are old hands at this summer festival gig malarkey, and they kick off with the crowd favourite ‘Snakes & Snakes’, lifted from the majestic Music In Mouth, and follow it up with the addictive earworm of ‘Velcro’. A hilarious intro, involving the kind of dingy Dublin bedsits where so many Irish bands spent their formative years, leads us into ‘Alphabet Soup’, and everybody is dancing, Dave Geraghty swapping the banjo for his trusty electric guitar half-way through.

It’s a set high on the hits, including the eternal dance-along that is ‘Flame’, a glorious singalong to ‘Eve, The Apple Of My Eye’, the international megahit that somehow got away, and surrealist single ‘The Lobster’. Old live favourite, ‘Tongue’, meanwhile, still carries a ferocious kick and proves that age has not diminished the fire.

Indeed, there are a few new songs sprinkled amongst the oldies, including gorgeous current single, ‘But First, Love’, as well as a Dave Geraghty-fronted track called (I think, my ancient ears not being what they once were) ‘Coughing Up Butterflies’.

There’s a moment of sober reflection when Noonan explains the Irish Cancer Society collection around the venue, in honour of their late bandmate Glen Keating, who tragically passed away from the disease earlier this year, before a blistering ‘The End Is Night’ has everybody’s arms in the air. They finish the main set with the manic energy of ‘The Great Defector’, which still sounds as fresh and relevant as it did back in 2009.

The encore begins with the reflective ‘Light My Way’ from 2023’s Merciful Hour, the skittish percussion-led beauty a slightly unusual choice for so late in proceedings. They certainly know how to end a show, however, as a celebratory ‘Rocky Took A Lover’ rings out into the Dublin night, the crowd singing their bit long after the band have left the stage.

Carlsberg don’t do summer gigs, but if they did, this would be up there with the very best; band, audience and (it has to be said) weather, combining for a truly special night.