Friends and band mates Claire Kinsella and Laura Quirke make up Lemoncello. After a busy few months of releasing, promoting and touring their debut album ‘Old Friends’ around Spain and Ireland, the duo played the first of their two night stint at The Sugar Club on Thursday.

Setting the tone of the evening was Stevie Appleby. Claire acknowledges that both herself and Laura had been huge Little Green Cars fans as teens, going to secret shows as often as they could. Having the former frontman open for them felt like a special, full circle moment. Stevie performed an acoustic and melancholic set peppered with humour. ”Just before I came out I realised my t-shirt was on backwards,” the singer admits.

Beginning their set, Claire and Laura take to the centre of the stage in classy all-black attire. The pair stand side by side, Laura with a guitar in hand with Claire’s powerful vocals as accompaniment. The Sugar Club provided an intimate setting for the band. What works generally as a jazz venue translated brilliantly for this particular stripped back rendition of Lemoncello. In stark comparison to their Whelan’s headline show earlier in the year, which saw the audience slow dance to ‘Old Friends’ and sported a rowdier atmosphere, the Sugar Club edition was quiet. The audience sat in a revenant energy, listening and admiring the harmonious beauty of Lemoncello’s music and captivating stage presence.

Joined by Lorcan Byrne on drums and accompanied by funky visuals on a screen behind them, the stripped back set reached its high point when Laura left the stage, performing a yet unrealised song in karaoke fashion. Her back faced the crowd with lyrics displayed on screen to a red background, the performance emanated an air of theatre.

The set was dotted with long instrumental fills and humour. Introducing a new tune, Laura explains: “This is a song I wrote when I tried to go on holidays by myself. I lasted three days,” to laughs from the crowd. “Trying to be a sun hat person for a while. Trying to change my style” ring the lyrics.

The trio announce ‘Lagan Love’ as their last song (wink wink), and leave the stage. Returning for an encore (who’d have guessed), Claire and Laura take up their original positions standing side by side in the centre of the stage. Just the pair and a guitar. They play an acoustic rendition of ‘Old Friend’, the crowd tenderly joining in for the chorus, singing “old friend, let’s pretend that we’re strangers again.”

Drummer Lorcan Byrne returns for the final song. Lemoncello close out this stellar Sugar Club show to ‘Harsh Truths’, and take three bows to a standing ovation. Adaptable and ethereal with a healthy dose of humour to boot, Lemoncello put on a perfectly choreographed performance. The duo can next be found playing the Music Trail at Other Voices in Dingle at the end of November.