02, Dublin
In the 02, Imelda May is resplendent in an eye-wateringly tight gold dress, growling, rocking and rolling her way through a rockabilly set, with occasional shunting detours into grooving bluesy numbers and the odd bit of country style. As she bends down low to pull another few deep chords up by their roots, her whip-tight band continue lashing out the red-hot numbers; no hair has gone unslicked among this crew of serious players, no bass notes tread on a drummer’s rhythmic toes, this is a toe-stepping, head-hitting, horn-blowing performance across every inch of the songs. And all of this to support a fabulous front person with a style and approach that is brilliantly at odds with any current pop trends or fashions.
But this is a very, very large venue and it’s difficult to ignore just how sparse the stage set-up looks. May prowls the space between her band members, but given the size of the platform, it tends to take a while.
At one point, she breaks a song down terrifically, instruments fading out, leaving just her vocal and some crowd participation — and given that this is a few days before Christmas, firmly in the office-party season, the response is substantial, if not quite raucous.
To fill rooms this size and set the timbers rattling in the roof (do roofs even have timbers any more?) whole brass sections are needed, not a lone trumpeter. A standout vocal is essential, but it needs a complement of backing singers to make these cavernous spaces hum back in harmony; a guitarist who knows all the chords is invaluable, but a rhythmic counterfoil can really make those solos cry and sing. And a stage show and backdrop of lights, curtains, mirror balls and a few Christmas trees stuck on to amp stacks won’t cut it in a space that demands showmanship on a grand scale.
This, then, feels like a venue too far. That this band can play and set the room on fire is beyond doubt, and the crackling energy on stage would be electrifying in close proximity. But before May can conquer a stage as big as this, she’ll need a show and perhaps musical strength in numbers as big as her own personality and talent.
