Plenty has been said about Dublin’s Fight Like Apes – so much that it’s fair to wonder if they owe their hype to bored music fans desperate to latch onto the next big thing. Their zany image and titles like David Carradine Is A Bounty Hunter Whose Robotic Arm Hates My Crotch all point in the direction of noveltyville. But past shows have proven the opposite, and their first sold-out Whelan’s headliner is an absolute triumph.
Before they take to the stage, Grand Pocket Orchestra prove themselves to be fitting openers, both in terms of their style and raw talent. Their potential is buried under frayed edges and ideas that aren’t fully followed through, but given a little time, all bets are on them proving to be something spectacular.
Fight Like Apes are the ideal case in point of what a year can do. Having played their first show just over 12 months ago, tonight – to use the technical term – they are fucking brilliant.
Their secret is that they have all their bases covered. For a start, they have the personnel right: the rhythm section are as madcap as they come while MayKay is a rare frontwoman who chooses to downplay her sexiness and caramel voice because she's operating on nobody’s terms but her own.
Then, there’s the element of fun – which is all too rare in a time where bands are scrabbling around trying to raise their game, under the illusion that they’re in some sort of niggling competition with their peers. Not only are Fight Like Apes gloriously unafraid to enter into the realm of the daft (MayKay wraps toilet roll around her head to act as a karate-style headband), but they exhibit an unbridled excitement that carries brilliantly through to the crowd and lifts them to ever greater heights.
The Apes, it seems, are all set to take over the planet.