Live Review: Night 2 of The Road To The Great Escape with Kean Kavanagh and more

The second day of The Road To The Great Escape kicked off in The Grand Social with Canadian singer-songwriter Cate, US native Isabel LaRosa, and indie-alt artist Kean Kavanagh.

Up first was Canadian singer-songwriter, Cate Canning. The young artist from Vancouver exuded an infectious charisma rooted in blushing self-assuredness that bled out into the intimate crowd which surrounded The Grand Social’s stage. “All of my songs are about boys I didn’t date,” she giggled “...and who play golf.” Canning ran through tracks, ‘Groupie’, ‘Ruin’, ‘Stupid’, ’Can’t Wait To Be Pretty’, and her latest release, ‘Get Better.’ Her debut album Tell Me Things You Won't Take Back arrived earlier this year.

Throughout her set, the Vancouver artist began taking song requests from her obviously-dedicated fan base who best knew her catalogue.

Calls for ‘Funny Story’ were met with the singer chuckling, “no, that’s too sad,” before eventually caving and strumming along with the audience's vocals.

The folk-pop singer from Vancouver clearly won over the intimate crowd of the night with her endearing charm and quirk. With just a guitar, Cate Canning sung to the girl at the back of the room, connecting with every hopeless romantic, main character audience member.

The singer also announced news of an upcoming headline show in October.

Isabel La Rosa Credit: Tina Ackermann

Next up was Isabel LaRosa who announced the start of her set with smoke leaching out onto the stage floor as her biker helmet-headed silhouette was backlit with strobe lighting. Removing her helmet and tossing her hair the 18-year-old from Maryland grabbed her mic and kicked off her cinematic, moody-pop set, with reverb pulsing through the floor.

Joined by her older brother Thomas, who is impressively gifted on guitar, LaRosa ran through tracks like, ‘Therapy’ ‘HEARTBEAT’ and ‘HAUNTED’.

Dressed for the part with a leather jacket draped around both shoulders, the silver chains on the US singer’s pleated mini-skirt tinkled in the room’s flashing lights as she bounded about the stage. The strobe light-filled performance captured every other second of LaRosa as she became engulfed in her performance, and made her move in 4D.

She surprised the crowd with a cover of Katy Perry’s breakout hit, ‘I Kissed a Girl.’

After declaring it was her first time in Dublin, LaRosa rounded off her set with ‘i’m yours.’

Kean Kavanagh Credit: Tina Ackermann

Last but hardly least was Portlaoise-native Kean Kavanagh. The singer-songwriter fittingly kicked off his set with ‘Intro’, and ran through a series of hits including, ‘Summer Nights’, ‘Coca Cola Sky’, and ‘EMMA’.

Encapsulating the audience in an alt-indie haze, the singer and his band members bounced off each other’s musicality, improvising riffs when needed, carrying the crowd along in a vibe-heavy song slumber. Their fifth song, ‘Mary’ was their first time performing the London-based Soft Boy Records co-founder's latest single release live.

“We improvised with that one,” Kavanagh joked with the crowd afterwards, addressing an unnoticeable blunder, “...that was intentional.”

Trying to conclude the night with their 2020 release, ‘EMMA’, the indie-artist was eventually peer-pressured to meet demands for “one more song”, with the crowd erupting when they saw Kavanagh making his way back to his mic stand.

“This is a genuinely unplanned encore. Not even everyone remembers how to play this song,” the indie singer added before they launched into a sleek, jazzy encore.

“Big Laois crowd,” he interrupts, calling out his home county mid-song, which was met with plenty of cheers.

Check out the full photo gallery here.

Stream Kavanagh's latest release, 'Mary' below.