In the short space of two years, they have gone from being a small Athy duo, set up by friends to a group capable of selling out two nights at Dublin’s 3Arena in three minutes, while their debut album officially went platinum.
Staying humble in the face of rapidly accelerating fame is a tricky thing. The words of hip hop artist Riff Raff come to mind, when he said “My main goal is to blow up and then act like I don’t know nobody.” Picture This are at a point when their egos could begin to spiral out of control. However, it is evident as they went into their first night at the 3Arena that they are willing to embrace the craziness of their sudden explosion, while remaining alert to the factors that contributed to this event, i.e. the people in the audience.
Starting with a roll of film, which charts the road to this moment, using footage from various shows and interviews to represent their transition, this culminates in the band taking the stage to finalise the cinematic feel. Posing against an enormous white screen, which creates five blindingly brilliant silhouettes; this could be called great storytelling, because it definitely gets the necks on the back of your neck standing.
For the first half of the set, it is the captivating showmanship of Ryan Hennessy and the watertight tunes driven by drummer Jimmy Rainsford, which ensured that the vocal levels of excitement never went below 140 decibels. Opening on ‘Let’s Be Young’, this set the euphoric tone for the evening that was then capitalised upon by adding in an array of lovingly produced videos to make every part of the stage worthy of a photograph.
In a sense, the gig was predictable though. The setlist has been kept in the same order over the past couple of shows. What actually made this night special were the unexpected theatrics and creativity of the band. The band was clearly aware that they could not just get away with a normal gig at the 3Arena. A show on this scale had to be accompanied by a few big ideas, and these they most certainly had. With the regular burst of confetti, occasional sparks flying down from the ceiling, and at one point, a series of water sprinklers to make it literally rain, each and every one of the sixteen songs were presented in a way utterly distinct.
Whether it was setting up an impromptu mini-show at the bottom of the stage runway or turning out all the lights so fans had to illuminate the stage with their phones, this was a case of unleashing the pomp as a means of giving the crowd what they deserved. Theirs was a generous show. As a result of that, Hennessy was able to sit back and bask in the sound of appreciation as everyone else sang the opening verse of ‘Addicted to You’. And he deserved to savour that moment. His band did something unique among young groups. They built a narrative around a show, which was not merely basking in fame. It was also their way of saying thank you.