Live Review: The Original Rudeboys, The Academy

2012 had so far been a year of great achievements for this Dublin hip-hop group: their debut LP This Life recently went gold here, they played the Phoenix Park during the summer, and recently supported Cheryl Cole in the O2.  All that was left was the small matter of a couple of headline shows in their hometown before putting their feet up for a short Christmas break.

“Academy! Are you ready?” was the shout, as The Original Rudeboys (Rob, Neddy and Walshey) took to the stage in front of the eager crowd that had poured into the Abbey Street venue long before the lights were lowered.  And judging by the positive feeling that overtook the room with the opening lines of ‘Travelling Man’, the answer was a conclusive and raucous “Yes!”

A bit of banter with the audience followed, before everybody raised their glasses to celebrate surviving the end of the world the previous night.  ‘Bringing Me Down’ was next and kept things moving with its refrain of “I just stay on up, that’s what’s up” roared backed by the now heaving crowd.

The set was filled with all the album favourites, as well as some new tracks that feature on the deluxe edition, which the lads weren’t afraid to give a plug or three. Fair game.  Things were broken up nicely though with a few covers: Adele’s ‘Hometown Glory’, Kanye’s ‘Niggas in Paris’, Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Young, Wild and Free’, and an impromptu crowd sing-along of James Morrison’s ‘Broken Strings’ (after Walshey broke a string on the ukulele) were all given the ORBS trademark hip-hop once over.

Things took a festive turn when the lads returned sporting Santa hats for an encore that started with the opening verse of ‘Fairytale Of New York’, before a clever play on words (sunny instead of Christmas, natch) sparked pandemonium – and throwing of the aforementioned hats – for a rowdy rendition of ‘Sunny Days’. 

Fan favourite ‘Stars In My Eyes’ – with the line “I wanna make it big someday, see my name in lights” – brought the curtain down on a hugely successful and enjoyable night for everybody involved in the success of ORBS so far.  With two Olympia shows, and European dates supporting The Script, already planned for 2013, they won’t have to wait too long for that to happen.