You’ve got to hand it to De Barra’s. It’s the venue’s 30th birthday this year and still this little treasure in the heart of West Cork raises the bar; forging ahead while the music industry staggers around waiting to be put out of its misery and other small venues vanish off the map.
They’ve excelled themselves this time too. It’s the August bank holiday, the sunshine’s still flirting with what we can credibly refer to as “the summer” for once and De Barra’s are proudly presenting two of Ireland’s best independent bands over one ecstatic 72-hour period.
On the Friday night, Limerick quintet Windings played arguably their best De Barra’s show to date, while tonight it’s the turn of talented roots-rock Cork sextet JOHN BLEK & THE RATS to remind us why they remain one of Ireland’s most mandatory nights out circa 2013.
The Rats have built up a formidable reputation as a live act over the past three years or so, but now they’re touring their acclaimed debut LP, ‘Leave Your Love At The Door’ and touting their most stable line-up to date, they are finally ready to capitalise on their burgeoning popularity.
A celebratory atmosphere prevails in the crowd, but onstage there’s an impressive lack of complacency. These guys are committed and road-hardened and merely their opening salvo – involving a restless ‘Cities Keep Changing’, a gripping ‘Ease Your Mind’ and a terse ‘The Road’ – is enough to quickly set them apart from the pack.
Album tracks such as ‘Calling Out My Name’ and the bitterly resigned, waltz-time ‘Rosie’ are greeted like long-lost friends, but it’s a testament to the ambition and drive of frontman John O’Connor (aka John Blek) that a slew of freshly-minted tunes are already jostling for position in the band’s ever-shifting set. Of these, the dark, Triffids-esque menace of ‘Infirmary’ and the sparse, tantalising ‘Dance With The Devil’ sound especially vivid, though the defiant ‘Trying Times’ has sounded like the dark horse coming up on the rails in Blek’s songwriting stakes for some time now.
|
Elsewhere, redemption commands a high price on the stomping, prison-bound ‘Old St. Catherine’; Blek and terrific vocal foil Ann Mitchell harmonise to near-perfection on an Appalachian-style ‘Crucify Me’ and the gospel-tinged, rafter-raising ‘Lord! Don’t Leave Me’ is not only a seamless set-closer, but features a quicksilver, James Burton-esque solo from tasteful lead guitarist Robbie Barron.
The Rats’ determination to play the game by their own rules is further demonstrated by the shape of their encore. Instead of simply going for broke, they play the sparse, cautionary ‘Don’t Take The Road I’ve Taken’ before launching into their gritty diaspora anthem ‘The Tide Will Rise Again’ and delivering the dancefloor from evil once and for all. It’s the ideal conclusion to both a confident, quality-stuffed set and a life-affirming weekend where a tangible spirit of independence could hold sway without fear of reprisal. Long may De Barra’s continue to nurture talent of this calibre.
John Blek & The Rats onine
De Barra's online
|
