Review: Paul Gilgunn
Photos: Kieran Frost
As a feedback hurricane roared through the speakers, the audience awaited the arrival of Whipping Boy for their first hometown show in six years; crucially, this night also promised to be the first time the group played their much-loved Heartworm (1995) album live in its entirety. On a weekend when hometown heroes prevailed — with Dublin winning the All-Ireland football final, and the Irish victory over the Australians at the Rugby World Cup – this live appearance from the band provided an opportunity for these progidal sons to face up to their own personal mythology.
When they finally arrive onstage, live-wire frontman Fergal McKee greets the assembled crowd from atop a bicycle. However, the light-hearted atmosphere darkens immediately when guest cellist Vyvienne Long strikes up the melancholy air that introduces Heartworm’s opening track, ‘Twinkle’ (McKee proceeds to deliver the devastating lyrics from his bike, the resulting sense of incongruity adds to the drama of the song). ‘When We Were Young’ is played with gusto, the abrasive guitar attack and pounding drums of the chorus underscoring the bittersweet nostalgia of the lyric. Tonight, Whipping Boy perform the songs with heart and soul, ringing out every piece of emotive power in these tunes; consequently, to experience ‘Tripped’ and ‘The Honeymoon Is Over’ is all the more revealing and affective. Likewise, ‘We Don’t Need Nobody Else’ is exhilarating; the repeated mantra of the song’s title is defiantly sung en masse, an anthem to steadfast assurance in the face of isolation, romantic upheaval, and betrayal.
An exuberant ‘Blinded’ sees McKee straddling the divide between the stage and the front row, the frontman subsequently telling the crowd, ‘we are allowed to enjoy ourselves when we’re playing you know’. It is apparent that the band and the audience are having a good night at this point. During the next song ‘Fiction’, the singer stage dives into the assembled throng before continuing to sing the tune amidst the sea of bodies surrounding him. After a poignant ‘Morning Rise’ — a rendition greatly enhanced by the addition of cellist Long — the singer lays down on the stage wearing the bike around his neck for ‘A Natural’. When he stands up dramatically to deliver the lyric ‘I myself, am heaven and hell’, it conveys a powerful epiphany.
For the encore, the band unveils ‘Earth’s Last Picture’, a stream-of-consciousness exploration — as much a spoken-word/performance art piece as a rock song — the singer now sports a fetching, mirrorball crash-helmet that doubles as a disco ball for the duration of the piece. Following this is ‘No One Takes Prisoners Anymore’, another new tune with clever rhyming couplets and a memorable chorus hook that bodes well for the band’s new material.
After ‘Bad Books’, the band delve back into their earlier material and roll out some early tracks to conclude the night: ‘Favourite Sister’, ‘Valentine 69’, and ‘I Think I Miss You’, before unleashing an eargasmic, stampeding ‘Buffalo’, a performance that finds the Whipping Boy singer on his back (again!) hollering to the beyond of beyond.
On the evidence of this performance, the band remain an enthralling, and unique live proposition. Here’s to hoping that the promise of new recordings will materialize and that this recent round of gigs will be a regular occurrence.
Spread the word around: Whipping Boy are back in town.