Delorentos at The Button Factory, 25th February 2012
Review: Oisin Tormey
Photos: Owen Humphreys
With ‘Little Sparks’ currently high in the charts and being critically well-received, it was the turn of The Button Factory to bring forth a triumphant live performance for Delorentos, who performed a mammoth twenty-song set to a sold-out crowd on Saturday night. This was the liquid test, the first night presenting new songs to an appreciative crowd in live format, and to the immense credit of the band, it was a gig to remember for all the right reasons.
From opening with the album’s title track, ‘Little Sparks’ to finishing off with ‘The Stream’, it was clear the band wanted to try as many of their newest tracks as possible. Despite protests from Ró and the lads of nerves in playing the songs for the first time, they pulled it off flawlessly. ‘Right To Know’ sounded deeper than its album version, with the guitar coming across more pronounced and bringing out the band’s inner U2. ‘Petardu’ had a louder bass sound which combined well with the drums to give it a funkier undertone than the studio version conceals. Ró said he believed they could sound a bit more exotic live compared to the album, and he wasn’t wrong.
The band did play a lot of their newer material, but the songs fit so well into their set-list that it wasn’t overbearing. In fact, for me it was their best performance to date. Every song seemed more and more enjoyable for the band, and this really resonated with the crowd. They didn’t entirely focus on the newest release, with their two previous albums getting a strong showing too. ‘Say You’ll Never Love Her’ has the crowd bellow out the build-up with a bit of help from the Delos too. The fact that ‘Sanctuary’ is now right in the middle of their set shows the strength of the songs they now have in their repertoire. But after all that is said, it really is the impressive live display of the newest album that took hold of the entire night. ‘Waited For You So Long’ with its masterful falsetto brought an even more delicate aspect to their work, and ‘Swimmer’ sounded like Bell X1 at their finest.
The encore of the gig is where it got further interesting, with two songs from ‘You Can Make Sound’ opening it, and two songs from ‘Little Sparks’ finishing. It could’ve spectacularly backfired, but this is Delorentos! The true highlight of both the album and the night was ‘Bullet In A Gun’, which the band were admittedly nervous about playing. With the album out for just over a month, this was the song which got the biggest response of the night, and deservedly so. The song has hit written all over it. A relaxed sing-along star of Irish indie already. The one small adjustment would be to have it finish the night instead of ‘The Stream’, which didn’t evoke the same response as ‘Bullet’ did. It’s a strong song, just not a closer. But that’s only nit-picking at this stage. Delorentos put on an incredible show, one which should propel them to even bigger and better things this year. As the lads walked off stage, after a standing ovation with beers in their hands, all I was thinking was “Cheers lads, you well deserve them!”
Delorentos Photo Gallery
Photos: Owen Humphreys
