At a particularly raucous Whelan’s, Coventry trio The Enemy ushered in the obligatory ‘toast to Arthur’ at 17.59 before making way for David Gray, a man who is well-acquainted with the venue’s interior. Clearly delighted to be back in his spiritual home, Gray played a short, stripped-down set of new songs before ending with perennial crowd-pleaser ‘Babylon’.
Not content with hosting the best show on Irish radio, Paul McLoone also kicks out the jams with the best of ‘em, and he led Derry’s Undertones into the finest gig of the night. Packing their all-too-brief set with gems like ‘Teenage Kicks’ and ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, they really should have been the band to close the night’s proceedings, thus ensuring that the evening would end on a high.
And that scheduling faux-pas wasn’t the only instance, either: although Noah & the Whale’s new album is a splendid effort, their downbeat meanderings would have worked better earlier in the night and not when the audience were gagging for tunes to pogo to.
True, Gaz Coombes’s new supergroup The Hot Rats did keep spirits up with a selection of tracks from their forthcoming debut of cover versions (including a rousing ‘Lovecats’. Alas, Lisa Hannigan’s low-key set meant that the crowd sent home on a note that was more of a whimper than a bang. Still, at least they’ve got the next 250 years to iron out those creases.