The Goo 1
Live Reviews Contd. ROB HERON - THE GRAND SOCIAL
ADHAMH O’CAOIMH ROB HERON & THE TEA PAD ORCHESTRA The Grand Social Dublin septet The Louisiana Six opened the evening with an expertly performed set of deep country Americana. Fronted by a singer celebrating his 84th birthday, the family centric jug band nonetheless never failed to miss a beat, leading proceedings with some sharp harmonica work, excellent harmonies and a skiffle to tap toes to, and answered with rapturous applause from a crowd as taken with storytelling between a set of originals, interpretations and an always welcome quote from ‘Lowrider’ NOELLE CARROLL LEITH ROSS The Grand Social A queue of dyed-hair, nosepierced teenagers sitting amongst tote bags and rainbow flags outside the backdoor to The Grand Social is often a strong indicator that some form of indie singer-songwriter is in the vicinity. This was in fact the case when Canadian musician Leith Ross played a sold-out show to their loyal fans who had travelled from all across the country for the event. An impressive feat given ADHAMH O’CAOIMH BORIS Button Factory Kicking things off to a brassy, abrasive start, Pupil Slicer brought to mind Dillinger Escape Plan, Darkthrone and Fall of Troy in equal measure. It may have been an energetic and well received performance from the UK metal band in anticipation of their forthcoming Blossom album, but if they struck like a mathy air raid, Boris levelled The Button Factory like an atomic bomb. Detonating with vicious double whammy of ‘Anti-Gone’ an ‘Non Blood Lore’, before Atsuo, often PAGE 16 the drummer for the band who in their current glam/punk iteration stands as a preening, Jagger by way of Black Metal centrepiece, launched into the rollicking good time that is ‘She Is Burning’. Much of the set comprised songs from ‘No’ and the 2022 version of ‘Heavy Rocks’, both comparatively upbeat riff repositories from the bands prolific and productive pandemic plenaries. We, the lucky devotees bore witness to Takeshi wielding his iconic doubleneck and Wata brandishing her unmistakable Black Beauty flanking the singers serpentine antics in stark relief, while touring drummer Muchio admirably held the unenviable position of filling his monolithic boots. The evening was incredible, atmospheric, fog filled wonder, ranging from the D-Beat fury of ‘Blood Red’ to the devastating piano doom that ‘(not) Last Song’ becomes live, from frenzied thrash to waves of of beautiful drone undulating through the crowd, womblike and transcendent, before closing the best show I have seen since Neurosis sometime in 2007 with possibly their finest moment, the glorious ‘Farewell’ from ‘Pink’. Oh, Wata has the best guitar tone in heavy music, and it's not close. the artist is yet to release a full-length album. Ross’ eager fans were certainly not disappointed when they took the stage, the singer and their bandmates squeezed together between a full-sized double bass and every variation of guitar you could possibly think of. The intimacy of the show was unparalleled, the artist joked and laughed with their supporters, creating an atmosphere that felt more like a gathering of friends than a typical concert. Every person in the room sang every word to every song through a range of tears and smiles, and at one point, straight up screaming. The highlight of the evening was when Ross took the stage solo to perform an unreleased song which left the room in an eerie awe of silence followed by a deafening applause. For the final performance of the show, Ross brought all their bandmates, including those from the support act, back onto the stage for a poignant tribute to Ross’ grandfather, to whom they claimed to owe their love of folk music, marking a heartfelt conclusion to their tour. by WAR. The dude abides. Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra hit the stage, Heron with a fresh (wedding) haircut led the set of high waisted honkey tonk with aplomb and a bottle of Jameson Crested. The band took to immediately moving feet with their sassy big band sound shaded in gypsy jazz, lent virtuosic depth by incredible accordionist Colin Nicholson and speckled with highlights from mandolin player Tom Cronin. The high energy, good time showtunes brought to mind echoes of Eddie Cochran, a not quite so harrowed Tom Waits or a slightly less suave Sinatra, the set culled from a discography deeper than their seven years would suggest. A broken string tended to by the remainder of the band whilst Heron and Cronin whipped out a mellow harmonica number and ever the raconteurs, a story. A wonderful evening ended with a yodel laden encore followed by the band returning for a last hurrah of a whiskey soaked good time’ dancin’ song. The band are no strangers to the Grand Social, you could do a damn sight worse than seeing them the next time they come through.