“These lads got to number 6 on the Irish charts,” I said to my companion.
“Impressive,” he shot back.
It’s not that impressive. But the live experience of Waterford quintet, O Emperor, is a whole different story.
Saying that, when I arrived, the Button Factory had seen fuller days. In a venue that usually feels slightly claustrophobic, I could hear a conversation at the opposite side of the room with clarity. I even got a seat, which in a music venue, is no easy feat of a Saturday night.
O Emperor are Paul Savage, Richie Walsh, Alan Comerford, Philip Christie, and Brendan Fennessy. Their first album, ‘Hither Thither’ was such an accomplishment that many would falsely assume that they should be at more of an advanced stage in their careers than they actually are.
The lads walk on stage to no extreme clamour.
“Come up, we won’t bite,” says an unsure Savage. The crowd don’t seem convinced, staggering slowly from the bar onto the previously vacant dance floor. They stand and stare, but O Emperor’s music wasn’t made for dancing.
They start on a new one, bit risqué, but the audience hadn’t even finished moving to their desired space yet, so ‘Phil Stone’ just provided the soundtrack.
When everyone had settled, ‘Po’ brought life to the great lighting show that now seems to be part-and-parcel of O Emperor’s live gigs, serving only to enhance the sound and atmosphere rather than to distract.
The unreleased ‘Minuet’ is a delicate show of Philip Christie’s adaptable vocals, as well as his fierce whistle. As the Button Factory began to fill up, less space was available for the music to reverberate, but an ambience arose that felt much more intimate and friendly. This worked in the band’s favour—along with their continued moody lighting and enthusiastic smoke-machine operator—the venue was transformed into a hazy cloud on which O Emperor were happy to stay afloat.
The smoke was especially effective during ‘December’, with Alan Comeford’s blistering guitar solo appearing as if he was setting flames in motion with his polished playing. His effort concluded with the most animated applause he could muster out of the crowd so far.
‘Taloned Air’s siren-esque tones had a previously chattering audience in complete silence, with Paul Savage showing us exactly what he’s made of. The smashing outro brought the band back from being a mere background act and put them back on their captivating cloud.
They band were enthusiastic about playing a few new tunes, saying it’s akin to “getting a new girlfriend,” in that it’s new and interesting. They were new, but I’m not sure the crowd thought them to be interesting—yet.
“You were the brains of the operation,” is greeted with a recognised ‘whoop’ or two. ‘Sedalia’ is, admittedly, a little less spectacular without the orchestra. However, Christie’s strong vocal gives us enough of a show, with Comerford once again showing off his striking guitar skills, seemingly just giving the instrument a slight quiver in order to omit alluring music. ‘Don Quixote’ and ‘Don’t Mind Me’ generated the same welcomes of familiarity, perhaps a reaction that will always be lacking in a set when unknown and fresh material is played simultaneously.
Christie mumbles his way through on-stage banter, I can’t catch a word. I’m shut up though when he launches into ‘Don’t Mind Me’. Mumbling, he was not, with a hint of a Southern American twang to his voice. The underlying Pink Floyd—a band they used to cover—ambience and influence throughout their set fully rises to the surface here.
An encore of ‘Pulp & Jesus Blues’ and ‘I Don’t Know’ was finished off with new single ‘Some Small Matter’, a great finale which indicates some serious up-tempo progression for the band.
O Emperor delivered a huge set with a healthy mixture of the recognisable and those that take you off guard. Unfortunately though, the crowd only seemed interested in the former. The set sometimes moulds into one, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. A prolonged prog-rock epic, dipping at times, but never failing to grab the crowd back in.