Live Review: Future Islands at Donnybrook Stadium

“It feels like winter, though it’s the heart of the summer,” Sam T. Herring sings on ‘Back in the Tall Grass’, capturing the mood on a dark June evening in Donnybrook dominated by slate-grey clouds and threatening, chilling gusts. For so long, nervous glances were cast at a sky ready to open at any point, but by the end of the night the storm had been confined to the stage.

It’s been four years since that Letterman appearance that broke Future Islands to the world, and the band could easily have gone the way of many a 10’s sensation and died an over-memed death, but Sam T. Herring’s presence is as captivating as ever, even scaled up for a big stage such as this.

Bassist William Cashion and keyboardist Gerrit Welmers form a subdued, anchoring presence, alongside touring drummer Mike Lowry - freeing up Herring to shine.

His stagecraft hits that sweet spot where at its most macro - sweeping punches of the air, deranged lunges at his stage monitors, cossack-style high kicks - it keeps even those on the edges and in the far-off seats hooked. Herring’s true genius though lies in the micro, his ability to create an intimate connection with anyone who can see the pale blue of his eyes.

Every thump of his chest, every guttural roar, every time he gazes at the rafters reaching for what he’s lost, every time he gets on his knees and picks a fan to sing to - all these actions would be empty and hollow if not for the incredible, solemn sincerity that he lays bare for us all to see.

With this, Herring creates a cult of personality - he jumps, we say how high. The intensity comes to a head in different ways at two points in the set - during fan favourite ‘Walking Through That Door’, his intense howl and sweeping lunges across the stage coincide with a sudden swell in the wind, and for a second you would easily believe that he had gained command of the elements themselves.

Later, during ‘Light House’, a gut-punch of a song about an ex-girlfriend’s advice that helped Herring through his depression. He’d earlier ordered some roadies to push his monitors from halfway back the stage to right to the edge, and there he crouched, reaching out to us with arms, words and soul, imparting the wisdom he’s collected. “You know what you know is better, is brighter,” he sang - and everyone who heard it believed it.

Future Islands are more than that TV appearance, they are more than ‘Seasons’, the song that Bono called “a miracle”. They are a band who ground their way to the top though constant touring, creating connections like this every night all over the world. Long may they reap the rewards.