When I was at Electric Picnic I went along to see Joan as Policewoman, but I just wasn’t feeling it. So after giving her what I felt was a fair chance I decided I just wasn’t in the mood and I wandered into the next tent to see what was on. The tent was ROCKING, there were two guys on stage, one guy playing drums and the other lad bopping about, looking after electronica and singing - and they had the crowd going nuts. The sound was infectiously catchy and impossible not to bop to.

I remember thinking that it wasn’t a sound that shouldn’t work but just did. It reminded me of Sir Henry’s in Cork in the late 80’s/early 90’s with someone singing over it. I actually hated dance music in the 80’s/90’s so it was much to my amazement that I found myself loving this sound. It was one of the stand out gigs of Electric Picnic and I had to see them again.

Last weekend they played the Village in Dublin as part of the Heineken Green Synergy thing.

Le Galaxie did an excellent job of getting the crowd warmed up with a set that started out quite low key and built nicely, getting the crowd going slowly but surely. I’d be interested in seeing a longer set from Le Galaxie because it really felt like they were just in their stride when they left the stage leaving us wanting more.

The Village had steadily filled up as Le Galaxie had played , and the anticipation was tangible as we awaited the arrival of The Presets. The stage darkened and a typically Presets eighties synth sound started up as the two boys quietly but commandingly walked on stage and took up their positions - on the left the drumset and on the right an array of synthesizers and keyboards.

And that was it. The sound of The Presets exploded into The Village and the crowd went nuts as they pounded out ‘Talk Like That’ as their opening number.

Don’t ask me what the set list was because I can never remember, all I know is the crowd didn’t stop bouncing from that moment until halfway through the gig when The Presets thankfully took it down a few notches and played a few more chilled out numbers. I know I was perilously close to a heart attack at that point and I welcomed the breather, but of course it didn’t last long, they weren’t going to let us off the hook that easily, and they soon soared back into full-on mode bringing the crowd right back with them as the whole place danced or jumped up and down depending on the space available.

The Presets were dressed casually in tshirts and jeans, the vocalist Julian Hamilton wasn’t wearing the showy pink jacket he was at Electric Picnic, nor did he bop around the stage, although that would have been rather difficult given the size of the stage at The Village. Not that I’m complaining, because it was great to see The Presets in such an intimate venue, and despite their casual attire there was nothing casual about the performance they gave.

They announced the last song in the set and lashed into ‘My People’ and the crowd went absolutely ballistic. By the time the song finished I was done. I couldn’t possibly partake in any more dancing or jumping or even head nodding, I headed down the back of the venue to get a drink and watched the incredibly long and intense encore from the back of the venue, where I was able to fully appreciate just how much the crowd were into this gig, from the front right down to the back the crowd was heaving and bouncing and 100% giving everything they had, as were the band.

Definitely one of the most intense gigs I’ve attended, in the best possible way!

I couldn’t fault anything except maybe the problems the venue had with water in the toilets, which I assume/hope was just that night.

Other than the water getting cut off in the toilets the venue was excellent, the crowd was great - really friendly and it actually felt the closest to the Electric Picnic festival crowd that I’ve ever come across at a gig. And if you’ve been to Electric Picnic you’ll know that’s a good thing!

If you can possibly get to a live Presets gig, go. I know I’ll be right back up front the next time they play Ireland - see you there

Oh and if you are the German bloke we met up the front, leave a comment - I’d love to see some of the photos you took!

For more info on The Presets check out Wikipedia.

I’ll admit I’m probably not the best person to review this gig, I’m not really familiar with the music of Spiritalized (check out music on myspace), and I was wrecked tired going into the gig. I bought a ticket because so many people mentioned it would be excellent, and that it was amazing they were playing in such a small venue. So I got a ticket and got hold of the latest album ‘Songs in A&E’.

I listened to the album a few times, at first surprised that it was so ’singer-songwritery’ for want of a better term. I had it in my head that Spiritalized were dancey and upbeat and psychadelic. Once I got over that I slowly began to appreciate the album for what it was, but it still wasn’t completely grabbing me.

Sir Brian Barry did say that he was never overly fond of the albums, but loved the live sets, so I looked forward to the gig, and in the run up to it I listened to the album more. I fouind it mildly depressing but my appreciation of it grew nonetheless.

Soul On Fire, the first single from the album began to really get into my head. I looked forward to hearing it live.

So we headed in last night to Cyprus Avenue and as the band took the stage (somehow they all fit on the tiny space) someone commented that it was good to have real rock and roll stars in Cyprus Avenue, and they certainly looked the part.

The first thing you noticed was that this was going to be a LOUD gig. And I mean LOUD. They opened with Amazing Grace which went into one of their own numbers, I can’t remember which. It seems that Jason Pierce, who essentially is Spiritualized, was extremely sick and wrote Songs in A&E based on his experience. I read somewhere that over the course of a couple of albums Spiritualized has introduced more and more of a gospel influence to the music, and Songs in A&E certainly has a lot of biblical references, Jesus, Heaven, Angels, Souls and the like feature heavily, so Amazing Grace made sense as an opener.

The two backing singers complimented Pierce’s vocals beautifully, even if at times I felt they were underused, and it would have been nice to hear them really let fly with those voices.

As I had hoped, “Soul On Fire” was amazing. Other stand out songs were “I think I’m in Love” and the incredibly long version of “Come Together”. There was a really good mix of slower and rockier numbers, with the pacing of the gig just right - if you weren’t as tired as I was. I kept wishing some of the longer numbers wouldn’t go on so long

It’s been a while since I was at such an old school rock gig, with plenty of loud guitars and attitude from the lead singer. There was zero audience interaction - zip, nothing, nada. Jason is too cool for school with his shades and his sneer, and it seemed almost quaint up to point - a throwback to the days when we glorified our movie stars and rock stars instead of trying to pull them down to our level.

But it’s only fun up to a point.

As the last song ended in a rocking wall of noise, Pierce went to take off his guitar, and there was some bit of a thing going on up the front. I think someone right at the front put their hand up to take the guitar as he took it off - i couldn’t really see. Sir Brian Barry said he had a good enough view and that the guy tried to take the guitar, but wasn’t aggressive or threatening or anything - either way Pierce turned on him fairly vicously and lashed out at him, with his foot, his fist and then his guitar. If the guitar had connected it would have done serious damage, so I can only hope he was aiming to miss. Did anyone else see exactly what happened up the front? Leave a comment below please!

For someone who spent a good part of an hour and a half singing about Jesus and being saved and the like it seemed somewhat hypocritical. I like gospel music, but I don’t like people who are full of shit using religion for effect in their music, and I found this quote in an interview with him about his illness:

So what about all those hymnal, religiously-tinged songs in his canon, from Walkin’ With Jesus to Lord Can You Hear Me?

“It’s just language,” he explains, “like Be Bop A Lula.” Although he adds that “even Godless people turn to God in utter desperation, so that song’s a cry for help”.

Maybe I’d be a bigger fan of Spiritualized if there was more honesty in his songs and less posturing.