Emmy the great live at Crawdaddy, Dublin

There’s a simplicity and honesty to Emmy the Great’s Saturday night performance in Crawdaddy that’s difficult not to like. But it’s also hard to get too excited about it. In fairness, though, this reviewer’s lack of enthusiasm has more to do with the venue than the band itself. The Crawdaddy stage on a cold, wet night (acting as shelter from a level of meteorological misery that only Dublin can muster) just isn’t the right backdrop to Emmy the Great’s brand of laid-back folk music. No, the ideal stage (since you asked) would be a field of wildflowers, with Emmy herself perched on a giant toadstool, while her beautiful (both acoustically and aesthetically) band sit cross-legged on the grass in front of her...
But back to the real world – the mid-sized audience was predominantly male, with a few representatives of the thick-rimmed glasses and checked shirt brigade in attendance – usually a good indicator of the presence of the next big thing. And are they? Well, Emmy is certainly an impressive performer. Her cover of Skeeter Davis’ ‘The End of the World’ was close to perfection and the show-stopping moment of the night. Stand-outs from her own portfolio include the gorgeous duo of ‘First Love’ and ‘Country Song’. She’s blessed with the kind of voice that somehow convinces you she’s telling the truth – lending her clever, quirky lyrics a resonance that might otherwise be hard to come by. Definitely one to look out for.