A Lazarus Soul – Vicar Street – Live Review
by Killian Laher

Saturday October 26th 2024 – Vicar Street, Dublin

A homecoming gig for A Lazarus Soul, to play one of their biggest-ever shows to an audience of fans, friends and family.  Support came from the recently reformed Sack.  The six-piece band were in party mode, opening with What Did The Christians Ever Do For Us.  Frontman Martin McCann, described as the Finglas Sinatra by Brian Brannigan, was at the forefront throughout.  There were plenty of songs from the new album, Do You Need Love and Wake Up People got everybody dancing, Unmade Bed of A Man featured great guitar work from John Brereton and McCann accompanied the band on cowbell on I Fell Through A Crack.

It’s not every gig where the band gives a shout-out to the grandkids!  They didn’t play Laughter Lines (saving it for their album launch show in November, which they plugged repeatedly).  After an energetic, Doors-sounding What A Way To Live, they finished with an emotional version of Tag, singer Martin McCann throwing shapes like a prize fighter.

A Lazarus Soul opened with a heavy version of Black Maria, and it felt like a triumph from the start, Joe Chester’s rocky guitar licks enhancing the opener.  The really tight band powered through The Flower I Flung Into Her Grave, No Hope Road and Glass Swans, Chester showing great subtlety in his guitar playing on the latter.  “Sky Blue Saturday” indeed.

There were lumps in throats as Brian Brannigan and Joe Chester played Lemon 7s, Black & Amber and Long Balconies, without the rhythm section.  You could really feel the love in the room as the hairs stood up on the back of your neck.  A night for fans old and new they reached back to 2007’s Graveyard of Burnt Out Cars, with the seldom-played Blue Murder and a heartfelt The Day Harry Left with superb guitar work.

But Brannigan was the centre of everything.  The band conjured up a fine brand of darkness on an extremely intense We Start Fires, the singer roaring “This country’s cursed” before throwing in a few lines from Joy Division’s Atrocity Exhibition and Decades.  The Palestine-dedicated A Tar Road elicited a massive singalong before an intense, show-stopping Factory Fada, Brannigan singing such poetic words.  Their set finished with a rocking version of The Last of the Analogue Age.  The audience was spellbound.  Some shouted “g’wan Brian”, others singing along lustily, while others stood with tears streaming down their faces.

As if the night couldn’t get any better the encore saw the addition of Mary Barnecutt on cello.  And for a man who sings such powerful words, the emotional highpoint of The Dealers was when Brian Brannigan sang “Oh Oh OH” in the bridge.  After another old favourite, Decade for Believing, the night finished with the powerful singalong Funeral Sessions.

Truly an incredible musical unit of a band, Joe Chester’s intricate guitar patterns were anchored by a tight rhythm section, and a singer who documents Ireland, warts and all.  As Brian Brannigan said at one point: ALS says yes!