Review of Nightbox at The Academy 2 on August 30th 2011
Review by Conor Skinnader
Making their first appearance at the Academy 2 on Tuesday night, were Toronto based Irish group, Nightbox. Coming off the back of a tour that included Wrexham, Liverpool, London and both Leeds and Reading festivals, hype has been steadily building behind this band, so I was keen to see them live.
In support on the night were another young Dublin based group called Spies. They’ve played quite a few places around Dublin now and got themselves a slot at Forbidden Fruit during the summer, so are clearly doing something right. Their performance was top notch, with strong vocals and tight, almost Interpol sounding melodies, backed by heavy drums and crashing cymbals. While the band have quite a humble stage presence, the strength of lead singer Michael Broderick’s voice means this isn’t that noticeable. ‘Fill The Silence’ is probably their best work and belies their age, due to it’s mature sound. Based on this showing, Spies have the potential to join the many great bands emerging from Ireland at the minute and are worth checking out.
Headliners Nightbox took to the stage shortly after Spies, to a busy Academy 2 and their interaction with the crowd was instantly noticeable, introducing themselves, sharing a joke and encouraging the crowd to dance. Their music is upbeat, dancefloor orientated and comparisons with TDCC aside, has elements of Friendly Fires and Metronomy in it. Their style and sound is still unique however, letting tracks flow into one another without stopping, not dissimilar to a DJ trying to keep a dancefloor moving.
I was very impressed with their energy and enthusiasm on stage, particularly their cover of ‘You can call me Al’ by Paul Simon. I’ve never seen it being covered before and it really got some heads nodding, feet shuffling and bodies at the front moving. Of course the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Pyramid, their strongest track and it sounds even better live than it does from the studio. This was preceded by a new track called ‘Waves’ which is top notch and evidence of the upwards curve these guys are on.
One of the lyrics that stuck out for me from Nightbox was ‘You put me in motion’, and these guys certainly know how to do that. They’re playing Electric Picnic this weekend and if you’re out of your tent early enough and can find your dancing shoes, you should have them down on your ‘to-see’ list.