Live Report: Dream Wife at Whelan's

A brief pause for breath in a sweaty gig in the tight confines of Whelan’s. Rakel Mjöll smiles onstage, an irrepressible presence who knows just how much attention she commands. There she lays out her own commandment: “All the bad bitches to come to the front!”

The trio of Mjöll, guitarist Alice Go and bassist Bella Podpadec formed Dream Wife as a fake girl band art project, but quickly made things real after discovering the power of upbeat three-chord guitar anthems.

If Scott Pilgrim is the superhero of garage rock, these three can collectively proclaim themselves the superheroines - such is their larger-than-life energy tonight, you can almost see the notes emerge from their instruments, comic-book style.

They’ve fast built a community around their spiky riffs and mantras like “I am not my body/I am somebody” - ‘Somebody’ is an early highlight tonight. The cornerstone of the set is easily ‘F.U.U’, a glorious celebration of the band’s spirit - Mjöll hitting like Mjölnir with her signature line - “I spy with my little eye - bad bad bitches.”

The key of what Dream Wife are about is found in another Mjöll commandment: "being a bad bitch equals supporting your fellow bad bitches."

If you’re in Dublin, that means supporting Girlfriend, the north Dublin 5 piece who were hand-picked to open tonight and caused a memorable ruckus when synth player Ailish donned a devil mask, entered the crowd and opened an intense pit. If they keep putting out smart singles like “Spitkissing”, they’ll be tearing up stages internationally like tonight’s headliners in no time.