Review By Dee Lennon
Photo’s by Alessio Michelini
It’s quite a positive sign when a band has to change venue due to high demand for tickets. South Carolina based Band of Horses sold out its reassigned venue, Tripod, and played to a loyal group of followers who gathered there on an unusually balmy Dublin evening. The crowd was warmed up with a stellar performance by the support acts, and when Band of Horses took to the stage just after 9, we were ready to listen to a mix of old tunes from “Everything All the Time” (2006) and “Cease to Begin” (2007) and new ones from “Infinite Arms”.
With the release of their eagerly anticipated album “Infinite Arms” on 18th May, the band were keen to promote the new singles on the European leg of their tour having received favourable reviews from their performance at the acclaimed SXSW festival in the spring of this year. They were recently signed to Columbia records (after two successful albums with Sub Pop), which is a sign of things to come, and have had a spate of public appearances on high profile shows in the US such as Letterman, The Late Late Show, and in the UK on Later… with Jools Holland.
Support on the night came from Darker My Love and unfortunately due to Dublin’s world class public transport service I ended up missing these which was much to my disappointment. All I could do now was await Band of Horses.
The five members came on stage with no pomp or ceremony, and lead singer Ben Bridwell casually welcomed the crowd, referring to their previous Dublin gig, joking that they would play badly on purpose and sabotage this gig to cancel out the last one. The opening three slow tempo numbers made for a slow opening, which meant that the crowd took a while to fully to react to the music. After a mellow start featuring the title track to the new album, “Infinite Arms”, and older tunes “Detlef Schrempf” and “Monsters”, the band upped the energy by playing “The First Song”. Interaction with the crowd from Ben Bridwell was minimal, but this worked in the bands favour, as it appears to be a major component of their folk rock image by running smoothly from song to song.
Members of the band change frequently, as die-hard fans know, but the five that were part of the set on Friday evening meshed well, and Bridwell proved to be an effective front man. “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands” was a tune of note, and the fusion of passion between the band and audience reached a fever pitch during this song, and “Islands on the Coast”. The heat in Tripod seemed to be getting to members of the band, and amusingly, after a particular rocking number, a member of the band’s entourage came on stage with a fan. Needless to say, this did not solve the problem. One of the guitarists, whose image included shades and a cowboy hat, shed them after several songs. Bridwell, a consummate professional, withstood the heat for the entire show.
The band included a number of new titles like “Laredo” and “Older” in this part of the set and interspersed them with older ones like “Marry Song” to please those who could sing the words back. The immensely talented Ryan Monroe, alternated from keyboard to guitar, and sang the hypnotic number – “Older” – with Bridwell, which he co-wrote with the latter for the latest album. Many Band of Horses fans believe that the group have shed their indie rock core judging by “Infinite Arms”. However, while the new material has a slightly different sound of soft rock to it, the song writing retains its quirky and powerful edge, while bringing something new from an established band to the music scene. Infinite Arms is a synthesis of American rock with a slight folksy edge, an achievement that has earned Bridwell (who wrote most of the album) and Band of Horses high acclaim for it thus far.
The diverse following assembled in Tripod really entered into the spirit of gig when Band of Horses played consecutive crowd pleasers from their previous albums, such as “Great Salt Lake,” “Is There a Ghost,” and “No One’s Gonna Love You”. A slide show of shots of various spots in Dublin was projected on to the background of the set which excited the crowd, followed by one of certain sites in America. This enhanced the rapport between band and audience and was a unique addition. The enormously popular tune “The Funeral” ended the pre-encore set as concert-goers attempted to guess what tunes were left for us to hear.
Any mutterings about prolonged wait for the encore were quashed when the band returned to the stage to play a melange of old, with “The General Specific” and “Our Swords” and new material, “Factory” and “Ode to LRC”. Band of Horses ended their hour and a half set with a slow tempo tune, mirroring the beginning of the show. The band certainly manages to blend older forms of music with modern sounds, and sent its captivated Dublin fan base out into the night more than satisfied.
