“Who are you going to see?” asked my mam, “Oh, some Canadian band” I replied. Catholic Irish shame at its finest. How could I tell my mam I was going to see a band called Holy Fuck? It would have to be followed with me explaining that they aren’t some kind of Satan worshipers to which her reply would be “Oh right” and the presumption I was on some kind of drugs, and I was late enough for the gig as it was.
How would I go about describing Holy Fuck to her anyway? Instrumental, but not God is an Astronaut instrumental, more Adebisi Shank meets Battles instrumental. Don’t think that would narrow it down for the average Irish mammy. As I contemplated my Irish shame I arrived at Whelans just after doors opened and there was a queue of punters to get in. The gig was a sell out but the lad in front of me chanced his arm at the ticket office while his mates stood just inside. “Any returns?”, he was in luck.
The venue filled up quickly, and with the heating on full blast the place felt a million miles away from the bitter cold outside. The band’s merchandise stand was set up in the far corner, offering cd’s, t-shirts and a rather fetching pair of pink Holy Fuck hotpants. As I contemplated who I had left to get a christmas present for the support act for this evening , Buck 65, took to the stage.
Well, briefly. After a quick introduction, the self titled ‘Whats-his-face’ of Canadian rap confessed that he had lent the Holy Fuck lads a cable and needed to run backstage to get it. It’s nice to know these things don’t just happen to us regular folk. A minute later he was back, albeit a bit out of breath, and kicked off his set with ‘Legs like Shotguns’ and ran through a set including cracking songs like ‘Wicked & weird’ and ‘Dang’, plus a bit of poorly executed body-popping and for good measure a story about having sex with a mannequin. Just accompanied by his sampler, his unique blend of blues, country and avant-garde hip-hip made for a great show, but unfortunately it felt like some of the crowd just saw him as a distraction from the main event, and this was especially evident from the loud chatting going on through the whole set.
As the roadies came out to set up for Holy Fuck I headed upstairs to get a better view of the stage. Whelans was now packed, and as the band took to the stage the atmosphere was electric. The band ran through a set of new and old tracks, favorites like ‘Super Innit’ ‘Foxy’ and ‘Stilettos’ all made an appearance as the lads went all out on stage. Instrumental bands can sometimes get a bit boring live, but Holy Fuck were as energetic as any band I’ve seen and dripping with sweat by the fourth song. They finished with ‘The Pulse’ before coming out for an encore of ‘SHT MTN’ featuring a fisher price learn-and-spell, and of course ‘Lovely Allen’. While I thought, on album, their newer tracks we a bit generic, the band completely restored my faith in them with this cracking live performance.
Words by Kev Meagher
Photos by Kieran Frost
