You Me At Six, 19th December 2010 at The Olympia Theatre
Review by Oisin Tormey
Photos by Kieran Frost
I don’t often feel old going to gigs, more often than not im one of the younger ones mingling with the old fogies. But at You Me At Six, I get the feeling I’m here babysitting some of the crowd as well as seeing the band perform. With the curtains drawn across the Olympia’s stage, it felt like the venue was in full-on panto mode for Christmas, something which the band took into account. Coming onto the stage in Santa hats, the predominantly female crowd go absolutely nuts for the lads, with deafening screams and camera phones out in unison as the band launch into opener and one of their more well-known songs ‘Save It For The Bedroom’. The crowd is loving every minute of it, it begins to remind me of Tommy Tiernan talking about people drinking Fanta and dancing! The band are very good live, something which has worked in their favour by gaining a support slot in Blink 182’s upcoming tour.
‘Safe to hate her’ is played second, and already the crowd seem entranced by seeing their heroes on stage. They know every word to the song and sing as loud as they can. The stage is set up well for an energetic gig, with the drummer on an elevated part of the stage with runways coming past him for the rest of the band to use. These are readily used with high energy in the band racing from one side of the stage to the other. They explain to the crowd that it’s their last show of the year and how happy they are they’re in Dublin for the night. The screams are so loud even the cats and dogs outside are probably getting headaches. As they launch into ‘Finders Keepers’ you get the feeling this pop-punk has all been done before. But when it can still be done well, does it really matter? After this, lead singer Josh Franceschi issues a crowd surfing challenge to the crowd, and says he’ll join in himself. They then begin ‘If I Were In Your Shoes’ and mayhem ensues. Franceschi flexes his muscles to the crowd on stage, something which reflects to the song, it’s one of the strongest of the night. The best part of it, however, is guitarist Chris Miller climbing onto one of his amps and sitting on one of the stalls in the Olympia to finish the solo of the song. I’ve never seen as many security at a gig go so pale so quick! Madness ideal for your first ever gig, as it seemed to be for some of the crowd.
After this the highpoint of the gig comes. The electric guitars and drums disappear as the acoustics are brought out along with a drum box. Beginning with ‘You’ve Made Your Bed’, the band play a two-song acoustic set. The crowd all sing quietly along, which makes the Olympia seem even more intimate than it already is. It’s impressive for the band to put down the electrics mid-set to go for an acoustic portion, something which a lot of bands in their genre would usually stay away from. It shows the band not wanting to repeat themselves too much, and splits the show up very well.
The acoustics are banished once again and pandering to the crowd begins. The band are proud to call the people of Dublin their fans, and love The Script as we all do. We were warned of strobe lighting by a poster on the wall closest to the bar, and we sure get it now! Finishing off with ‘The Rumour’ from their first album, the pace is brought back into the show and a song which sounds tame on the album is changed to a great live track which ends the first part of the gig perfectly. The band leave the stage to even more deafening applause. The fans are really dedicated to the band and pumped up for much more of the band.
‘One more choon’ rings out for little over two seconds as the fans are already expecting an encore. The band return and so does the mayhem, playing a further two songs before saying they will be going away for a while. This prompts panto boos in the crowd, before they announce its to record a new album and my ears begin to bleed from the cheering. In addition to this, they announce that they will be following Blink 182 to Naas this summer before finishing with lead single off their last album and best song of the night ‘Underdog’. I was sceptical about whether they would impress tonight, but YMAS will have a severely inebriated me to deal with when they return to play at Oxegen in June. A action-packed, energetic performance, just remember to bring ear plugs if you do go to see them!
Setlist
Save It For The Bedroom
Safe To Hate Her
Hard To Swallow
Take Off Your Colours
Finders Keepers
Contageous Chemistry
Consequence
Kiss and Tell
If I Were In Your Shoes
Fireworks
You’ve Made Your Bed (Acoustic)
Always Attract (Acoustic)
The Rumour
-Encore-
Stay With Me
Liquid Confidence
Underdog
