Thursday, March 20, 2008

Alt-St.Patrick's Weekend: Michael Mayer - Spy, David Kitt / Donal Dineen - Hogan's. The Kanyu Tree - Whelans)

Despite the calling of expensive shithole pubs and legions of joyriding knackers, BTBW managed to tear itself away from the more traditional St Patrick's Weekend pursuits this year.

High-end, free-flowing, funky pop harmonies, two new songs and, of course, a legion of top-notch groupies greeted us on Thursday night at yet another joyous Kanyu Tree performance at a packed-out Whelans. Find details of their upcoming tour on their myspace page here.

Kompakt fien Michael Mayer produced a belter of a set at a local furness known by the moniker 'Spy' on Sunday night. Per Fergal:

We were skeptical of the price starting out. The ridiculous heat in the main room (after we spent ten minutes wandering around the Wax part thinking ticket sales must have been really poor) only added to our potential disgruntlement. But once our position at the back of the dancefloor in a very impressive main room was taken, it was difficult not to be taken aback, firstly, by the Kompakt maestor's dazzling set, and secondly and more emphatically by the euphoric reaction of the Dublin crowd. A truly great night for Dublin's electrelligensia, with many within the room feeling they had rarely experienced such a party atmosphere in a Dublin club. Mayer provided the fodder with some textbook Kompakt-esque techno, combined with some rapturous melodies, as the crowd, no doubt aided by a bank holiday drinking session, went well and truly nuts. If only all gigs were this much fun.

Quite. After a neighbour-enraging afterparty at HQ, we dragged ourselves to an undoubtedly sneaky highlight of the weekend as, in what must have been David McWilliams' wet dream of a HiCo Paddy's Day, David Kitt and the incomparable Donal Dineen shared a turntable downstairs at Hogan's of George's Street. 60s soul and funk shared urinals with Planxty-esque trad and Swedish minimal-tech as the weekend drew to very secret, underground climax. Dineen plays Whelans with Milosh on April 8th, complete with picture show. Go.

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