Villagers, live at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin

A small cabin with a camera, Oxegen 2010. Conor J. O’Brien is holding an acoustic and asking what I’d like to hear. Then he smiles and sighs, “people always say that one” before launching headlong into the song. The Olympia stage, Dublin 2013. Conor J. O’Brien is momentarily alone, deep into Villagers’ second sold-out night in the fabled theatre.

He starts to strum as I wonder what he’s thinking. “The most familiar room” once more and every audience member is singing it back to him. Every single word. They even add harmonies at the end. More fool me for not realising ‘Becoming A Jackal’ had risen to such national indie anthem status. It’s a centrepiece song but Conor, back then and even moreso since the release of second album {Awayland}, has a raft of others that sit easy in its exalted company.
Tonight is celebratory, a victory lap with an immense soundtrack at the end of this particular tour. Debut numbers fly by, sounding like well-aged standards a few years after the fact. The simplicity of ‘That Day’ prompts more bellowing, ‘The Pact’ is as sweet as ever.
The new material is just as accomplished. ‘Waves’ is both queasy and intoxicating, adventurous without losing sight of where it’s headed. ‘Nothing Arrived’ rides the piano twinkle of REM’s ‘Electrolite’, spinning a golden pop melody over its surface. Throughout, the band beautifully aid the magic.
It’s a classic, bass, guitar, keys and drums set-up with some well-worked track adding a layer or two when required. Often things will kick off with Conor and then culminate in a full-band freak out, as Thomas McLaughlin’s six-string goes tsunami. ‘Ship Of Promises’ ends in a din of Bends-era power chords, betraying O’Brien’s adoration for Radiohead.
It’s telling though that, despite the brilliance of his players, the crowd are most rapt when things become pared down and intimate. He engages most when he whispers. The tender ‘My Lighthouse’ is an encore highlight. So to the finale, where, a little lost in the triumphant moment, he declares, “This is the last song, of the last show, of our last tour...” A pause before he corrects himself. “Wait, it’s not our last tour!?” A mass sigh of relief: more wonderment to follow.