In their hour and a half choc-full ‘o hits set, to be sure, the lads delivered heart-on-sleeve emotion and singable melodies at a mellow pace – a fine place for the devoted.
In the chorus reprise of their first single Together We Cry, front man Danny O’Donoghue, clad in black duds, jacket and striped white shirt, wasted no time in ditching his keyboard before clambering down into the crowd, while the rest of us got an earful of volunteered singing (shrieking) for his efforts.
Demonstrating a flawless command of falsetto, Danny, who normally sounds a tad like Sting, sounded rather MJ-ish in the first strains of If You Ever Come Back. And while he delivered his songs with soul and conviction, spirited guitarist Mark Sheehan was equally intent on providing levity throughout the performance.
Before wooing further an already enticed crowd with an acoustic treatment of I’m Yours, Mark, who clearly enjoyed regaling the crowd, gave a little insight into Danny’s less-than-stellar love-life and the admission that Danny wrote the song at 3am when he was very much in his cups.
Once again the crowd needed no prompting at Man Who Can’t Be Moved, before the lads grooved with their fastest paced song of the nightRusty Halo before exiting to return with an encore of hits For The First Time, and Break Even.
