A Lazarus Soul – The Grand Social – Live Review – 3/05/19

Review by Killian Laher

An army of their fans turned up to pack out the Grand Social for the launch of the fifth album from A Lazarus Soul. Support came from Dave Long, formerly of Into Paradise, who, joined by another guitarist, played a set of acoustic songs which improved as it went along. Included was his clever, Whipping Boy-referencing The Underground Song, and he even threw in Sleep from his former band.

But the main event was the performance of A Lazarus Soul, fronted by a very animated Brian Brannigan who really owned the stage. Opening with the trad-sounding Black & Amber, full of raw lyrical imagery. With Joe Chester playing some fine, jangly guitar on the likes of No Hope Road, at times you could be forgiven for hearing shades of Johnny Marr. The songs were delivered with real passion, especially Funeral Sessions. It wasn’t all new songs, the band found time to dig up a couple of older ones, rounding out a solid set. The band seem to fall between every musical stool that there is, making their appeal difficult to define, yet they have a loyal following, who went home very happy.