Starsailor’s success is beginning to dwindle. While previous trips to Ireland brought them to the Point depot, the Olympia and high up on festival bills, tonight they are reduced to performing in front of a half full Ambassador. It’s a fact that hasn’t escaped frontman James Walsh. Before launching into ‘Four To The Floor’ he remarks, “Here’s one you can dance to, there’s plenty of room for you all to do so anyway.”
In town to mark 50 years of Fender guitars, Starsailor open with ‘Poor Misguided Fool’ and immediately send the small but loyal gathering of fans into a frenzy. Two songs in and Walsh dons a Fender, presumably to the delight of the organisers. It’s a token gesture though, and it isn’t long before he returns to his sunburst Gibson Les Paul for ‘Alcoholic’ and the remainder of the show.
Ending the hour-long set with a solo performance of ‘The Way Young Lovers Do’, Walsh is in fine form throughout. Rather than go through the motions in reaction to the low turnout, he engages with the audience on subjects such as GAA and previous Dublin shows.
On these grounds it’s disappointing that so many seem to have abandoned the band. Starsailor may not possess the greatest collection of songs, but somehow that doesn’t really matter. Live they possess a rawness and soulful quality absent from their studio work. If they could transfer that to their records then they might live up to the promise of the wonderful ‘Good Souls’. As it stands though, expect to catch them in Whelan’s this time next year.