Girl Band played the second of two seminal night at Vicar Street in Dublin last night, as they tour their sophomore record The Talkies with support from Powpig. The Last Mixed Tape was there to cover the show.
Everything louder than everything else. Girl Band is a band that does nothing by halves. Whether it be the thematic depth of their new album The Talkies or the all-encompassing low-end rumble that forms the undercurrent of their live shows, the four-piece keep a strong artistic thread in every facet of their work.
Moving through long-form fury filled renditions of ‘Lawman’ and ‘Shoulderblades’ and short sharp jolts like ‘The Cha Cha Cha’, Girl Band established earlier that this show was not something just happening in the background. This was immediate, this was now.
But it was “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?” that propelled the gig from the strong noise-rock show into something more, something communal. There was no isolation here, as the beats rumbled and the band built the intensity and the vocal yelled and reached out into the audience with hypnotic precision, the crowd followed. Giving themselves over to the abandon of the moment.
Quickly followed-up with the one-two punch of ‘Going Norway’ and a raucous version of ‘Paul’ and Girl Band left the packed out Dublin crowd reeling in the ringing aftermath of everything that had come before.
Girl Band put the punctuation on a year that saw them return and conquer with a show that was cathartic for both the band and the audience. The culmination of a long journey to Vicar Street, Saturday night all about living the rumble and the scream of their music in realtime. A vital show, in more ways than one.
All photos by Stephen White. Click and scroll through the gallery below.
