Boyce Avenue at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin on May 20th 2011
Review by Mark Preston
Photos by Abraham Tarrush
If you listen to The Fourcast, Goldenplec’s show on 2XM show you will have heard the lads sit down and discuss YouTube and it’s effect on music and how it breaks bands from relative nobodies to superstars. Boyce Avenue are a band who started with covers put up on YouTube and put their own spin on the songs. Some bands never get beyond this stage but Boyce Avenue they amassed a fan-base and eventually spawned an album. When I went to see them the last time they played Ireland, it was clear that they were still finding their feet and weren’t quite sure what was happening. Sometimes quick fame can be a hindrance to a full time career.
This time around, in a slightly bigger venue of the Olympia, they seemed to come into their own. The support acts on the night were Dublin pop-rock band Keywest and Brighton based Nick Howard and although I didn’t manage to catch Keywest, Nick Howard was a great support act. Although a singer songwriter, he got the crowd singing and provided excellent warmup entertainment before the main act.
Boyce Avenue arrived on stage, the young crowd gave them a very warm welcome as the main attraction kicked through the album piece by piece to their adoring fans. Interspersing album tracks with the cover songs that has graced them with their new found fame like “Wonderwall” and “Back For Good” and “Dynamite” (Taio Cruz) or even “Firework” by Katy Perry they had the crowd in the palm of their hands.
They finished up with the lead single from the album “Hear Me Now” which if I’m honest despite the great covers was by far my favourite song of the night, not only that it was their finale of the show which happened to be the final show of the European tour for this year.
For three brothers from the U.S. who started off with just a video camera and recorded some covers, empowered by the industry machine that is YouTube and propelled to fame by their fans who follow them everywhere it’s a pretty amazing story. You can see in their show that they really love to perform and when you find and artist that loves it so much it can be an absolute joy to watch. Their cover of Boyzone’s “Back For Good” has the entire Olympia singing along and no Irish crowd needs prodding to sing along to Wonderwall. This carefully thought out show mixing their own material with guaranteed crowd pleaser’s is what will keep them in a career for years to come.
While they may not be a stadium filler of a band just yet, from the changes I’ve witnessed in 2 gigs, they are definitely on the right track!