It’s almost been a full year since Dublin garage punk band SPRINTS played their last gig in their hometown. To say their careers have gone uphill since then would be an understatement: US, UK and European tour dates, an opening slot for IDLES on their UK and Ireland tour, a date at Glastonbury 2024, a nomination for a Choice Music Prize – the list of accomplishment goes on.

In their glorious homecoming on Saturday evening, the band is visibly riled-up, euphoric enough that you would almost forget that this is their second concert of the day, following their all-ages show in the afternoon. And the crowd, already warmed up by Shark School’s furious opening slot, is more than ready to share the excitement.

Sprints at The Grand Social on March 29th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

“Last time we played in Dublin was last April,” announces frontwoman Karla Chubb as she walks on stage. “We’ve had time to write an album while on the road. Tonight, we’re gonna play it in full.”

Sprints at The Grand Social on March 29th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

Few things will galvanise a venue like the perspective of hearing a new release for the first time – and if SPRINTS know how to do anything, it’s to build up anticipation. The first notes of the set, slow and heavy bass guitar and drum lines, creep up between the ribs, ominous and breathless, the promise of an explosive record.

Indeed, the energy bursts into frenetic chords in the bridge of the second tune, and never truly drops again. Soon after, Chubb places her mic on its stand, grabs her guitar and, as if on queue, the audience takes a deep breath together, readying themselves for the heaviness of the next few songs.

Sprints at The Grand Social on March 29th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

If the sound of the new record, and perhaps of SPRINTS’ entire discography, could be described in one sentence, it would be the frenzied rage that comes out of desperation. Played live, this brand of punk translates as both incredibly rousing and hopelessly cathartic, even as Chubb shouts out heart-wrenching lines like “help me, help me, I’m a mess.”

The frontwoman's charisma cannot be overstated – during the entirety of the gig, your eyes are stuck to her, emotion visible in each of her movements as she delivers an impossibly precise performance. Through the respect she inspires, she’s capable of making the crowd respond to each of her quiet commands, running into a mosh-pit the second she utters the lyrics “rage, rage, rage!”

Sprints at The Grand Social on March 29th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

Throughout the set, Jack Callan’s drums read like a lifeline, rhythm fast and heavy like a heartbeat after a long run, lights flickering to the tempo as if to make sure the crowd never looks away.

All too soon, the band announces the last tune of the album: a love song, they say “because the world is ugly,” but the band has managed to start doing what they love full time – and their joy is contagious, bustling like Sam McCann’s bass melodies and Zac Stephenson’s fiercely savage guitar riffs.

Sprints at The Grand Social on March 29th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

As if offering the audience a reward for previewing their new record, SPRINTS close their set with a number of older tunes, starting with the feverish ‘Adore Adore Adore’ and jumping straight into the impossibly exhilarating ‘Heavy’ as the crowd goes absolutely mad with excitement – the room growing warmer by the minute, if that is even possible.

In the midst of it all, ‘Literary Mind’ (which Chubb presents with a simple, but effective “I love women!”) almost reads like an impassioned moment of surreal happiness – explosive, celebratory and yet incredibly soft, like a burst of laughter bubbling up the chest.

Sprints at The Grand Social on March 29th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

By the time SPRINTS reach their last tune ‘Little Fix’, the room feels like a church of sorts. As Chubb opens her arms, the crowd splits in the middle as if in prayer, and the singer jumps amongst them for a moment that is as communal as it is intoxicating, perfectly encapsulating the specialness of the band’s dazzling homecoming gig.