The Urges Gig Review The Grand Social

The Grand Social was the venue of choice for The Urges new single launch party last night. I arrived about halfway through the set from Beatfink who sounded really good and had a tight sound. They said it was only their third gig together which was surprising because they seem to have their live set up nailed already. I look forward to catching these guys again and seeing their full set.

Next up was September Girls, a band I’ve heard a lot about but never got to see before. For those of you unfamiliar with them, they are a five piece female grunge/pop act. From the moment they played the first chord, it was obvious this was going to be a loud and heavy set as you could feel the bass vibrate through your body as you watched in awe. They opened with “Sister” which was quite dark and moody but was then counteracted by the more pop oriented “Melatonin”. The girls swapped vocals throughout their short set which gave each song a different vibe. Songs such as “Butterflies”, “Veneer” and “Black Oil” were also belted out in the fast paced set. I will definitely be keeping an eye on these girls and hope to hear more from them. They are supporting The Cribs on May 18th in Dublin so maybe I will have to pop along to that.

Sometime just before 11pm, The Urges took to the stage and the crowd were fired up for this one. They were accompanied by a brass section which is a new direction for the live set up and it really added a new dimension to their sound. They began by pounding out ‘Face Made For Sorrow” with lead singer, Jim Walters’ unmistakable delivery. The music was loud and fast which is exactly what you expect from an Urges gig.

I first saw The Urges open up for The Zutons back in 2004, that night I declared that Ken Mooney was the best Irish drummer around. 11 years later and I still stand by that declaration. He just seems to have a style about him that exudes confidence behind the drum kit and makes him a joy to watch.

With little crowd interaction, they ploughed through tracks which included “Strangers”, “Fire Burning”, Find Another Way” and “I’ve Been Here Before”. They threw in a couple of new tunes as well which sounded excellent. Then came new single “Passing Us By” which received a great reception and which I had previously purchased on vinyl earlier in the evening. A blast from the past next with “Jenny Jenny” which hooked me in way back in 2004 so that was good to hear again. A couple more tracks finished off the set around 11.30pm and I left the gig in high spirits after seeing 3 excellent live acts and carrying a couple of new records under my arm.

The Urges play Cork tonight (18th April) and Belfast on the 25th.

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