Dead Cat Bounce at Whelans on June 24th 2011
Photos: Kieran Frost
There are many ways to start a weekend, but after a long hard week I needed something to smile about, something to cheer me up. Any chosen entertainment might have had a job on it’s hard and my careful selection of comedy four piece Dead Cat Bounce certainly paid off.
Front and centre at a comedy / music show I didn’t know whether to expect the mocking of the crowd as some comedians might undertake or to just be blown away by musical genius. The result was half and half. Mocking our photographer Kieran after the crowd kindly formed a photographers pit for him to easily move around and snap. James donning a shirt with one too many buttons open, Demian with his leopard print trousers, Shane providing the rock and roll and hairbands and Mick the cute ladies man on keys (I say such as a lot of his actions on stage garnered the response of “awwww he’s so cute” from the surrounding women).
Kicking off with ‘Mary’ and then ‘Christians in Love’ lifted the fog of a long week and cracking a smile and they had only started, it was going to be a good evening. Moving through hilarious tracks like ‘Midgets’ and ‘This Wolf Howls Alone’ and one of their newer tracks ‘Rugby’.
They have complete control of the crowd switching instruments at will, providing a four piece vocal like a funny boy band they had everything in what became a very eclectric performance. Highlights of the night were ‘Over enthusiastic contraceptive lady’ with African choir for full effect and one of their most well known tunes ‘Switzerland’ before closing the show with ‘The Day We Fired The Drummer’ which was a hilariously executed two song encore to close the show.
Overall Dead Cat Bounce provide an extremely tight musical comedy adventure which only the most hardened of individuals could fail to enjoy. It’s not side splitting laughter from start to finish but it provides a consistent flow of jokes mixed with stage presence and musical ability that leave you feeling happier on the inside. Dead Cat Bounce rescued my weekend before I even knew it needed rescuing.