Review of Cast Of Cheers at The Button Factory on October 29th
Photos: Kieran Frost
Review: Craig McDonnell
October 29th saw recent-exiles The Cast of Cheers return to The Button Factory to take a break from recording their second album in London. Considering that this was Halloween weekend, a healthy crowd were present to hear the band try out a plethora of new tracks as well as playing the majority of their debut album ‘Chariot’.
Support on the night came from the well-known SPIES. I have somehow managed to avoid seeing these live so was quite interested to hear how their powerful sound translated from headphones to the live stage. It was a polished set, with the quiet parts being eerily quiet and the loud parts shaking the entire venue. SPIES seem to have their sound perfected with frontman Michael Broderick’s distinct voice equally adept at soft, quiet singing as well as cutting through the loud,powerful riffs. Talking to two people after the set at different times, the words ‘Morrissey’ and ‘Interpol’ came up both times. It is hard not to hear the strains of the former in Broderick’s voice and the music is definitely reminiscent of Interpol and similar bands.
The Cast of Cheers came to the stage and, rather disappointingly for the weekend that was in it, not one costume was to be seen (big shout out to the Lego Man in the crowd, one of the few people to dress up on the night). However, the lads seemed excited to be back playing in Dublin, asking two or three times during the set where the party was tonight? Might as well make the most of their time back home, I guess!
As stated at the start, the headliners played most of their debut album, ‘Chariot’. They also played numerous new songs, presumably many if not all of which are the ones being recorded in London. If that is the case then we are in for a second album matching, if not succeeding the brilliance of Chariot. The crowd were eating out of the bands hands for each of the new songs. Difficult second album ,what difficult second album!
Leaving the stage to the traditional chants of “One More Tune”, the band took a long time to come back on stage before explaining that they weren’t sure if they had one more song to play for an encore! If the aim of this gig was to try the new songs live as well as giving their fans a taste of whats to come, then I feel both band and fans will have gone home very pleased indeed.