Review by Vanessa Monaghan
Photos by Alessio Michelini
When you think of Irish bands who played Glastonbury this year, Shouting At Planes may not be at the top of your list. Hell, you may have never even heard of them. For their tenth gig ever, they graced the stage at the great British festival. With the band only together since Christmas ’09, this is a pretty sizeable feat. Growing in stature and reputation, they launched their new single ‘Hospice’ in Crawdaddy.
First support act opening up for Shouting at Planes was fellow Cavan man, Daire O’Reilly, who will play at the Electric Picnic. O’Reilly writes radio friendly, melodic songs which shone, even in a stripped back acoustic environment. Playing songs from his forthcoming album, stand out tracks were ‘Oh Darlin” and ‘Stargazing’. O’Reilly also surprised the audience with a rousing rendition of Mic Christopher’s ‘Heyday’.
Brendan McGahey frontman of ‘The Making’ performed some of his band’s material acoustically. A dapper looking McGahey, complete with cravat, entertained the growing audience to the band’s pop/rock sound. He just seemed like he would be more comfortable with the full band around him.
Having a launch in Dublin for a band from outside the capital can be tricky at times, with questions and costs of filling a venue. No such worries for Shouting At Planes as a jam packed Crawdaddy waited for the premier of the video to the new single ‘Hospice’.
The five piece came onto stage to a rousing reception, starting off their set with ‘Live My Way’. The band use dual frontmen Aodhan McBreen and Liam McCabe to the best of their abilities. The duo have a great rapport, and their vocals interact well. There are a couple of multi-instrumentalists in the band and the addition of saxophone and trumpet to certain songs add a great extra dimension to the alternative blues outfit.
‘Leaving On My Own’ is introduced as a new song and is heavier than its predecessors with its definite rock guitar sound. This track gives the driving rhythm section a chance to shine with a solid drum/bass performance. During ‘Let You Know’ the frontmen show off their showman skills, getting the captivated audience to clap along, arms raised in the air.
‘If I Could have Loved You’ is perhaps the band’s most commercial sound so far, not unlike a combination of Maroon 5 and Matchbox 20 and would feel quite at home on AOR radio. The drum driven ‘When I Need You’ sees the audience bounce along so much that Crawdaddy’s foundations should be checked.
The band show great diversity throughout their set, adding elements of many genres including some funk to ‘Lyrical Rhyme’. Not sure how many times I’ve heard a band from Cavan slip in some Snoop Dogg to a song.
Shouting At Planes have come a long way in less than nine months, this is the launch of their debut single. They are accomplished musicians who, with this set, have proven they can write decent rock songs and have an expanding fan base. If they continue their rise at this rate, everyone will soon know their name.
Set List:
1. Live My Way
2. Chatterbones
3. Leaving on My Own
4. Little Time Without You
5. Let You Know
6. Goodnight My Joy
7. If I Could Have Loved You
8. When I Need You
9. Lyrical Rhyme
10. Know Yourself
11. For a Hero
12. Pencil Full of Lead (Paulo Nutini cover)
Encore:
13. So Young
14. Hospice
