“I’m an island virgin,” confessed Damien Dempsey as he took the stage, “and I’m about to pop my cherry.” This community centre was packed while a dozen people on the ‘waiting list’ shuffled anxiously outside. Dempsey’s jovial intro set the tone for an intimate evening of intense ballads peppered with cheeky audience banter. Dempsey played like his life depended on it, veins popping, sweat pouring, anxious to prove himself on his first island outing. He needn’t have worried, as two songs in, ‘The Twang Man’ and ‘Seize the Day’, the crowd was stomping and singing along.
Dempsey’s guitar and vocals filled the hall, while his between song banter covered everything from those unspeakable Brennan’s bread ads to Bono’s Killiney mansion. When he thanked support tunesmith Mike Bartlett, Dempsey claimed they first met on a hairdressing course in Mountjoy. “He fixed my hair tonight,” he added, stroking his modest quiff. Dempsey’s vocals were by turn tender and raw. ‘Colony’ grows in spine-chilling stature on each outing. The low key ‘Hold Me’ was an unexpected highlight, bettered only by the epic ‘Spraypaint Backalley’ with its bittersweet final refrain. Dempsey seems possessed by the spirit of James Connolly and Oscar Wilde, urging the crowd to stand up for their dignity on ‘Negative Vibes’, talking race and class to the attentive crowd.
A contingent of besotted ladies formed a support choir which rose in volume as the gig turned into a party, the end postponed by encore after encore. It began with a muted ‘The West’s Awake’ before ‘Bad Time Garda’ provoked howls of laughter. Damien still wasn’t ready to abandon ship as he invited the crowd for a post-gig gargle. And it didn’t end there. True to his word he appeared at the beach at lunchtime next day, towel in hand, for a bracing Atlantic dip. Then came the final surprise as he strolled to the quayside to wave us off on the afternoon ferry. The tribe of adoring ladies waved and screamed at the Donaghmede Superbard and as the boat unmoored they serenaded the smiling singer, ‘love yourself today’, salty strains floating on the swell, Dempsey’s tall figure shrinking to a spec on the horizon.