My biggest fear at events like this is that I’ll be at the wrong gigs, that I’ll miss the one that everyone ends up talking about, the defining point of a generation, the one people will talk about for years to come. The only remedy for this is to try to bi-locate, and be in as many places as possible at the one time! Unfortunately this is not possible, so what you end up doing is constantly shuffling between venues, checking your time-table every five minutes and then hitting the road again. The littlest Hobo so to speak, ‘There’s a voice, that keeps on calling me’, and that voice says that there’s a better gig on in the other venue! ‘Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want to settle down, until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on’. The downside of this style is that you end up spending most of the night on the streets of Dublin, dashing across roads and pushing your way through slow-moving tourists. To find some middle ground between the two approaches, I decided to base myself in Temple Bar!

I started the evening at Swords in the Button Factory, who are a three-piece from Dublin who have keyboards, drums, bass and electronics as well as some pretty impressive vocals. They played to a small crowd, as would be expected at an early stage in the evening. A quick dash back to the Workman’s Club where I was met by the crowd leaving the Nanu Nanu gig, and from the faces of those leaving, it seemed to have been a fun one! Already I was wondering had I missed something special! So then it was back to the Button Factory for Ships who are a duo from Dublin and feature keyboards, guitars and vocals. The crowd was a little restless though, and most seemed to be chatting over them, the fate of the support act I fear!

Next up was a quick dash to the Workman’s Club to hear some lovely harmonies from Heathers. They are twin sisters Ellie and Louise Macnamara, who even if you don’t know who they are, you know the single ‘remember when’ which was used for Bord Failte advertisement for several months! I only stayed for a short time at this, as PVT were one of the bands I really wanted to see, and their set times overlapped. Back at the Button Factory PVT were very impressive and belted out their interesting blend of rock and electronica. I was a fan before tonight, so knew what to expect from the set, but enjoyed every minute of them!

Fionn Regan had already started his set when I arrived in the Workman’s club, and seemed to be struggling with a quite loud crowd. I love what Fionn does and mostly for the quality of his lyrics, but it seemed a little lost on most of those watching on despite regular sushing from those who wanted to hear. The headliners of the event were Echo and the Bunnymen in the Button Factory and the place was packed out with die-hard fans. It was a lovely set featuring all their well-known numbers, and Ian McCulloch was a real rock star, perched on stage in his dark glasses. He kept stepping back to drink something from a milk carton (milk possibly?) and there was also a bottle of Yop there too! Other than that, he was the perfect rock god for all those in the audience to worship.

The night was rounded off by a trip to the Globe to see Fight Like Apes, which was completely packed out! After a long time in the queue, I eventually made it inside, and was stuck right at the back of the mobbed stage. Was this the defining gig of our generation? Possibly, but I couldn’t see much of it!

Words by Mo, Photos by BD