Review by Oisin Tormey
Photos by Sean Smyth
Academy 2 got treated to an energetic performance last night as indie popsters One Night Only took to the stage in front of a relatively small, yet enthusiastic crowd for the opening night of their UK and Ireland tour. No seat was safe from being danced upon as George Craig and co. performed a set focused mainly on their second, self-titled album. “It’s hotter than a motherfucker in here” Craig exclaimed during the gig, a sentiment hard to argue with.
The band clearly knew their fans as the shrieks from the screaming girls engulfed by the band’s songs were ear-piercing throughout. “He’s so hot!” one fan exclaimed beside me. As dashing as the lead singer was or wasn’t the band put on an impressive live show. ‘Bring Me Back Down’ changes from an unremarkable album track to one of the standout songs of the night, while ‘You and Me’ sounds like a rockier version of what appears on the debut album.
We are then treated to the first live airing of ‘Can’t Stop Now’, a Keane-like pop rock track which gets the crowd bouncing and craving more of the same. They are duly rewarded when the band follow-up with ‘Just For Tonight’ as the room explodes into hysterics and a crowd sing-along ensues. The highlight of the night follows as the band finishes their set with ‘Say You Don’t Want It’, the anthemic lead track from their newest album. They give it their all on stage, as Craig rocks around the stage slamming every chord on his guitar perfectly. This finishes the gig to rapturous applause, but the lads stay around afterwards to meet and greet their crowd, a nice touch to end the night on.
The one drawback was the length of time that the band did play for. Speaking to a fan of theirs who saw them the last time they played in Dublin, she said that despite only having one album out at the time, they played for longer than the hour which was performed at this gig. Granted it was an all-ages gig but a 9pm finish is disappointing for some of the fans whilst leaving the venue. Despite this, One Night Only played an impressive gig, one which makes me believe they will be festival favourites in the following years to come.
