When you’re broke, which most of the people with whom I come into contact on a regular basis are, it’s easy to focus on the cost of something, rather than the value. This is why the idea behind Whelan’s Ones To Watch festival strikes me as being so flamboyantly clever. The value is big (acts you know and acts you don’t, all working hard to be remembered) and the cost is low (€5 or €10).
For those who haven’t been, here’s how it works; the price of a pint earns you one night of music, or up to 15 acts, depending on the day. For the price of two pints, you get four nights’ entertainment and a potential 50 acts. Now, here’s where my own analogy comes back to bite me in the ass. Whether you’ve shelled out the price of one jar or two, your ticket stub also covers the cost of … a pint, courtesy of Heineken Music who sponsor the event along with Musicmaker Ireland. The thing’s a steal, is what I’m saying.
Granted, Ones To Watch is hardly Electric Picnic, but if you’re Lethal Dialect, the main room in Whelan’s might as well be Stradbally’s Main Stage. The scruffy Wexford St. regulars are demonstrably not the crowd the razor-sharp rapper is used to – actually, as far as I can tell, it’s the first time he’s ventured beyond the comfy confines of the blossoming Dublin hip-hop scene – but the boy from Cabra takes it all in his stride. Aided by partner-in-rhyme Costello and a scratch-happy DJ, Lethal appears right at home, occasionally ambling around the crowd without dropping a single syllable.
Falling somewhere between ’70s hard rock and ’80s metal, Wizards Of Firetop Mountain bring an equally unfamiliar sound to the electronica-heavy festival, blasting out songs so ostentatious, they’re almost hard to stomach. Almost. By combining expert musicianship (sticksman Ror Conaty deserves a special pat on the back for his demonic percussion) with a delightfully brazen stage presence, they avoid cliché and become every punter’s new go-to feelgood band.
Despite having an average age of 19, doom rockers Spies are one of the most composed outfits around, which perfectly suits their booming, epic, thundering sound. Still, even by their standards, the Ones To Watch show is a doozie. Drummer Jeffrey Courtney-Flynn earns plenty of fans with his roaring, rumbling grooves, while Michael Broderick’s floor-skimming croon stops every bar-bound reveller in their tracks.
We’re treated to another very special show straight afterwards, this time by instrumental foursome Alarmist, a band already renowned for their mind-blowing live set-up. I catch countless members of the audience watching open-mouthed, clearly tamed by their gimmick-free, groove-led jazz rock – these guys don’t do smoke and mirrors, just soaring, arresting choons, flawlessly executed.
More great sets come courtesy of Dublin-based Brit Simon Bird, whose jarring, industrial grooves have become sharper, louder and all the more engaging in just a few short months, probable evil genius Gregor Ruigrok, aka Trophy Boyfriend, who nonchalantly drops a totally banging remix of Jedward’s ‘Lipstick’, and breakneck rockers The Bridges Of Madison County, who win over the crowd with ear-splitting, trumpet-led punk and a killer sense of humour.
Now, a confession. I spent more time on the Whelan’s floor than in my own bed last week, which, as well as being somewhat pathetic, is a hugely encouraging sign of just how immense the Irish music scene has become. At Ones To Watch 2012, there were simply too many great shows for me to catch, too many jaw-dropping moments for our photographer to capture and now, there are too many honourable mentions for me to mention (the list includes Elaine Mai, VerseChorusVerse, Wyvern Lingo, Logikparty, Reid, Daithí, Sleep Thieves, White Collar Boy, Bouts, Gypsies On The Autobahn...)
As affirmations go, they don’t come much better than that.