Villagers - Trinity series, 29th June

I nearly would have gone for Sea Power. Love them, it's been a few years. Bizarre, them popping up as support here.

Ah, I'd love to see them back for their own gig. Was that the one in Whelan's? Great live band.

I was there with my wife and daughter. Not the most enjoyable but that might be down to me. I found Sea Power to be too loud and discordant - something I might enjoy in other circumstances but not expected as a warm-up for Villagers. Villagers were very good I thought but you would need to be familiar with the new album (as I was) to get the most out of it. First four or five songs were all new tracks and the casual punter might not have appreciated that. Conor was working hard to generate an atmosphere and he seemed to have succeeded in that for the main audience at the front of the stage, but I stayed near the back with my wife and there was a lot of talking and laughing going on and not a lot of interest with what was happening onstage. Maybe in hindsight there was too much already going on in Dublin that day, dominated (quite rightly) by TS. We had parked in Ballsbridge earlier in the day and my family wanted to leave early to catch the last few songs outside the Aviva, and while I would have liked to stay for the whole gig, I didn't complain too much. (Great positive atmosphere all around Ballsbridge and the TS gig sounded like excellent fun)
Conor is probably better suited to an indoor environment and I have tickets for Villagers in Dolan's Limerick in December - I think that will be a lot better. Saw Villagers there a few years ago and it was a cracking gig.

Yes, I suppose. Had I been on my own I would have moved up closer to the stage, so as I say it was partly down to me and where we chose to stand…