"We're not starting the show until you stand up and dance," says Shane 'Tex' Fallon as the strains of 'What You Crying For' open the set. The Shoos' singer is serious. 'We can wait,' he says good-naturedly. The crowd don't need to be told twice.
At over six feet tall, with ginger hair and neatly clipped beard, Shane is an imposing presence, like a well-groomed Tormund Giantsbane. Yet despite appearances, the singer is not naturally brash.
"He was so shy," says rhythm guitarist Scott Maher, "so Tex is a persona we created."
"I step into the character when I am on stage," Shane continues. "The name kinda stuck. I tell everyone it's from Walker Texas Ranger. But, really, it's because I look like the guy from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Shyness aside, Tex owns the stage, and sings with a pleasing growl. Tonight the band are launching their third album. It's been a long time coming - over three years since 2012's Panic Slowly. Backstage in the dressing room, Scott says the delay boils down to relationship bullshit.
"I tell you the truth. We got a guitarist that didn't work out and then a drummer that didn't work out. If we had any sense, we would have quit, but we're too fucking thick to quit."
Getting the dynamic right, especially in a band with a pair of brothers - Scott and bassist Steve - is no easy task. But the Mahers are not the Gallaghers its seems.
"A lot of our songs come from Steve's basslines, and I can see easily where he's going with them," explains Scott.
A sort of musical telepathy?
"Something like that," agrees Scott. "It clicks easily."
"For me, it's shit!" laughs Shane. "I can't have them ganging up on me."
After the setbacks and disappointments, the band were anxious to get back into the studio. But the fallow period seems to have paid off creatively.
"The songs were written, and when we got into record them, it was pretty seamless," says Shane.
"They're more grown up songs. With this album we went places we wouldn't have gone before," adds Steve.
"It took us a while to find a way to express what we wanted to say, in a way that was honest but that other people might want to listen to as well," continues Scott.
The songs are darker in places and the guitars are grittier too. It works. "Why Don't You Leave?" - a track Shane calls the "most depressing song in the world" is stirring live. Other noteworthy tracks include 'Top of the World' and 'Mothers Love', both of which have received radio rotation. As a pair of singles they make an interesting contrast. 'Top' is a chugging slice of Americana, while 'Mothers Love' wouldn't sound out of place in a Coldplay set.
The stand-out song of the evening is 'Hook, Line and Sinker.' Mixed by Kodaline's Jay Boland, this is a swaggering pick-up artist anthem, but one deftly underscored with self-loathing. It's impossible to resist. If there's any justice, it'll be a hit.
The band recently opened for Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra, which as Shane notes, is "a great way to announce you're back." But tonight is different. Playing support is not the same as playing to your own crowd and wondering if any of them remember you, or care. Luckily, they do. There are shouts of "one more tune" as the band exit the stage. The Shoos donÕt oblige. If a break teaches you anything, it's this: always leave them wanting more.