LIVE REVIEW: Girl Band at The Button Factory

Girl Band aren’t messing around. The Dublin noise foursome have been whipping up momentum in the last year or so; each release gets more heat, each gig gets more “electrifying” in the reviews and each time they play their 25 second single ‘The Cha Cha Cha’, it gets considerably trendier.

They’re a busy bunch and catching them in Dublin these days is a rarity. As such, The Button Factory was predictably rammed on Saturday night.

A busy touring schedule has tightened the screws and the sound is as immaculate and dirty as ever. But Girl Band never have to sell it. They’re cool customers – statuesque for the most part, save for lead singer Dara Kiely, who exudes a dash of “mad scientist at the helm”.

The set skipped through the lads’ stock brand of infectiously intense, punk-tinged noise. There was unreleased material to begin with, dutifully lapped up by the crowd, then came ‘Heckle the Frames’ around the 15 minute mark. For experienced GB attendees, the countdown to the tipping point had been on from the get-go. This was very much it.

The room was steadily buzzing when the unmistakable oscillating swish of 'Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage' rumbled up. The Blawan cover is a fan favourite and when it dropped, anarchy ensued. There were literally people in the air.

With moshing well underway, 'Lawman', 'The Cha Cha Cha' and Girl Band's latest mouldy masterpiece, 'De Bom Bom' kept up the intensity. For that twenty minutes, the room descended into the sort of strobe-filled, gut-busting, ear-splitting madness that leaves your body not really knowing what to do with itself.

'Witchdoctor' closed a captivating set that rendered the Button Factory massive yearning for another hour.

It doesn’t get much better, really.