I saw Gavin James at the Kaufleuten Zermatt Unplugged two years ago. Unfortunately I had to leave his set after 30 mins to see Aloe Blacc because the timing back then was really bad. However what I saw of the set I enjoyed very much so that made me go to his 2nd gig at the sold out Amboss Rampe.
The Irish Night was opened by Declan Greene who is your typical Irish guy – or at least that’s how I see it. He’s super funny and a very talented singer songwriter. Playing the guitar and singing nice songs and cracking jokes in-between and warming the crowd up. That’s what I call a good opener!
Just a little while later Saarloos took the stage… and just like that we had some more Irish lads cracking jokes and making amazing music. The Harmonies of Brian and Craig were on point and I really really loved it and I was sooo impressed. For some songs they were joined by Andy who played the bass. They played a mix of Craig’s solo songs and their first EP as Saarloos: “Alive”, “Changes”, “Free Fallin'”, “Trust In Me”, “Home”. Since it was the last night of their tour together Gavin James quickly popped on stage to play the harmony and joke a bit with the lads. So if you love The Coronas, Ed Sheeran or Passenger I bet you love those guys too, so check’em out!
Gavin James walked on stage with his keys player Jeff and sang “For You”, “Remember Me” and “Coming Home”. The Craic continued throughout this evening with these amazing Irish musicians. He taught us that in any other country savage is a bad word but in Ireland it just means f***** amazing! What I love about live music you can continue your jokes and your interaction with the audience during the songs as well. In the very hot sold out Amboss Rampe the set continued with “Boxes”, “Hard to do” and “Nervous”. Gavin James’ voice range in the latter is super impressive. He said that a few days ago he was really sick and sang the song not how he normally would. Waay lower and it kinda sounded like Joe Cocker. Laughs were guaranteed! 🙂
It was so hot and just savage so we got to hear a few more songs: “Put you back together”, “Always” and “Faces”. I was already starting to get sick and I had a sore throat so I was kinda glad that I wasn’t able to sing all the songs with him. However a lot of the front row people were very good and made sure to sing almost every song. What I loved about this gig was that most people were super quiet since it was just Gavin, his guitar and Jeff on the keys. So it was very intimate and really not loud. Every chatter would have been heard. There was only one woman from Kerry on a Tinder date as Gavin put it who was talking constantly. I loved that he called her out on it because sometimes you just want to shhh people during a gig and it’s ok to do so!
“Tired”, “Glow” and “Cigarette break” were next. Gavin James’ voice is incredible and beautiful. His songs are almost all about heart break and just very sad. So it is super refreshing to lighten the mood with lots of jokes and fun stories. This sets him apart from Dermot Kennedy who’s shows are doom and gloom all the way. Finally my favourite Gavin James song came on: “Hearts on Fire”. It’s just a super fun and up-tempo song where you can properly dance too… Or jump to. Gavin asked us to kneel down and then jump up for the chorus 🙂 Good Craic or like he said SAVAGE!
There was no normal encore break. He just hid out behind a curtain and we only saw his hand pushing us to make more noise. Just hilarious! We got to listen to four more songs “Middle”, “Book of love”, “Two Hearts” and “Only ticket home”. The gig was over so quick and the weather decided to be Irish too since it started to pour down during Gavin James’ set. I was so happy I got to see a full set and properly enjoy a night out in what felt like a small Irish Pub in Dublin.
Have you seen these Irish lads live? Leave a comment below and share your experience 😉
Check out my latest gigs: HAIM, Snow Patrol/ Travis, Caribana Festival
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