The The at The Iveagh Gardens

Dublin’s beautiful Iveagh Gardens – the city’s hidden gem, as it says in all the leaflets - in this glorious sunshine. What could possibly go wrong?

Well the support “band” for a start. I’m contractually obliged to mention them, so here we go. Take one look at Xordox, and you know you’re in trouble – a couple of right looking Herberts, all in white with the raver’s style mining lamp headbands on, in the bright light of day. One of them works an Apple MacBook, the other one sounds like he’s coaxing a response from a broken ZX Spectrum. Is this techno or is it someone taking the piss with what sounds like a wonky fart machine? Things might have improved when Herbert #1 started to manipulate a Theremin, but they didn’t. They even manage go out of time at one point – on computers. “It might sound good at about 4 in the morning, if you were out of it” reasons the fellow next to me. There aren’t enough drugs in the world.

Anyway, never mind all that. Before this tour Matt Johnson/The The hadn’t been seen on a stage since he was a guest of David Bowie at London’s Meltdown Festival way back in 2002. Whatever the reason for his decision to go back out, this capacity crowd are glad for it. In a summer where there seems to be two or three big gigs on every night in Dublin, this one is proper sold out. Most of those here, like myself, look “mature” enough to have been fans back in the eighties, an era when Johnson’s band were one of those that mattered.

‘Global Eyes’, from 2000’s NakedSelf, is a good place to start, settling into a good groove when the drums kick in. There’s some sort of cyberpunk/junkyard stand in front of Johnson – one proper microphone and a couple that look like props from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Their purpose becomes clear when he squawks “This is your captain calling” in the middle of ‘Sweet Bird Of Truth’ to a roar of approval, for this is what we came to hear. ‘Flesh And Bones’, a relatively obscure number, dedicated to the memory of all the beautiful buildings that were torn down in eighties Dublin, seems an odd choice to follow it up, but ‘Heartland’ gets things back on track. Johnson encourages a crowd sing along to the “this is the 51st state of the USA” refrain, which is possibly even more relevant now then it was back in 86/87. ‘The Beat(en) Generation’ keeps the ball in the air before he borrows the intro from ‘Ballroom Blitz’ by The Sweet (yes!) for a hopping version of ‘Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)’.

Things are slowed back down for ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’, dedicated to Johnson’s late brother, Andy Dog, the artist behind all those magnificent The The album covers. ‘Love Is Stronger Than Death’ was originally written for his other brother, Eugene, who passed away in 1989. It’s a beautiful song, music as a handhold through grief. Johnson’s father died only last month, so fair play to the man for being here tonight at all.

‘Dogs Of Lust’ rocks before ‘Helpline Operator’ and ‘This Is The Night’ lead us, logically enough, to a triumphant ‘This Is The Day’, which gives the crowd a good excuse to join in. ‘Slow Emotion Replay’ is warmly greeted, as it should be, but playing the harmonica riff on the melodica seems an odd choice. We have to wait through the dirgey ‘Like A Sun Risin’ Thru My Garden’ before ‘Infected’, which prompts a mass freak out in the crowd, everyone throwing shapes, including the bloke in front of me in the ridiculously short hot pants. You, sir, have no shame.

Johnson finishes out with ‘I’ve Been Waiting For Tomorrow (All Of My Life)’ before returning for an encore, which he apologises for having to cut short due to the curfew. ‘Uncertain Smile’ is all we get, although it does find time for a good run at the brilliant Jools Holland piano solo from the original.

The response in the bar after seems a bit half and half, some saying it was the greatest thing ever - these people were very happy indeed, and that’s what it’s all about – while others felt that, although it was good, things didn’t really take off. I’m leaning slightly towards the latter camp, some of the downshifts in tempo resulted in a bit of lost momentum, but, that being said, when he was good, he was very good. And you can’t argue with those songs.