This Other Kingdom played their final headline show of the year at the Academy in Dublin last Saturday night, the Last Mixed Tape was there to cover the show.
It has been a breakthrough year for This Other Kingdom, the group released their debut L.P. Telescopic (read TLMT’s full review – here) to critical acclaim and are now already eyeing up album number two. With the announcement that last Saturday night’s gig would be the band’s last of 2015, there was a certain degree of anticipation in how the four-piece would round off the past twelve months.
Indeed, it had been quite some time since I had last seen This Other Kingdom in a live setting, and with this show being one of their biggest headline performances to date they didn’t disappoint.
Playing over a bedrock of humming psych-rock noise, the band set the visceral, high-energy mood of the night. Performing like a band with nothing to prove and everything to celebrate, the group blasted through tracks from their debut record with aplomb.
Renditions of songs like ‘Vacate the Horror’ and ‘The Day, Your Day’ had an added freedom to them as This Other Kingdom confidently played with the hypnotic psych-rock rhythms of their music to deliver a powerful live set that once again reaffirms why their reputation as a live act is held in such high regard.
Furthermore, the mid-gig announcement that work on their second album was underway and that a forthcoming record deal could see the group reaching further afield, the excitement and sense of occasion was wracked-up in the gigs closing moments.
And so it goes, This Other Kingdom bring one chapter to a close and look write the next. With their Telescopic era behind them, what the future holds for the Dublin band could be a compelling story in and of itself. But for now, Saturday’s show works as a reminder of how engrossing a live act they are.