Friday, May 4, 2012

Bombay Bicycle Cub - Olympia Theatre - review

Bombay Bicycle Club - Olympia Theatre - Monday 30th April 2012

Back in early December last year Bombay Bicycle Club played a stunning gig in Dublin’s Vicar St and at the time I thought they couldn’t top that but last night in the Olympia Theatre they did. They were fantastic, blew the roof off the place.

The Londoners seem fond of playing Dublin and it showed. They were in impressive form and the younger audience loved every minute. Unlike their Vicar St performance where they opened with the stunning “Shuffle” taken from their current album “A Different Kind Of Fix” - this time it was album opener “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep”. Following this was the slow build of “Your Eyes” and older tune “Dust On The Ground”. This was one of quite a few older tunes on show taken from the rather under- rated debut album from 2009 “I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose” - “Cancel On Me”, “Always Like This” and my personal favourite track “Lamplight”.

Guitarist Jamie MacColl introduced the part of the set as songs from their UK & Ireland only release “Flaws”. This showcased the bands more acoustic sound through single “Rince Me Down” and “Ivy & Gold”. At one point singer Jack Steadman played a wistful piano only song which send shivers down my spine. It was incredible.The crowd were in complete silience. You could almost hear the commentary from the Man City V Man Utd match in Brogan’s Pub next door.

Other tracks from “A Different Kind Of Fix” included “Bad Timing”, “Leave It”, “Beggers” and the incredible dancy bass line of “Lights Out, Words Gone”. Plenty of influences and similarities can be heard throughout the set. From the quirky, uplifting Foals to the guitar sounds of Vampire Weekend. Even the blips and beeps of Radiohead are tried out.

The bands encore consisted of the aforementioned “Shuffle” and ended the night with “What If”. This was an excellent performance. Everyone should catch this band while they are on this form and before they become stadium fillers. Most certainly my gig of the year so far. 

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