Last year in June at Amboss Rampe I got to see Declan Greene, Saarloos and Gavin James. Fast forward 8 months and Gavin James is back at Dynamo selling out an even bigger venue after playing at Energy Air and getting some major airplay time. What changed? He’s brought a whole band with him on stage.
Declan Greene
Declan Greene is Gavin James’ first support act and what a start it was. Standing alone on stage without any music he sings a very powerful song. What a voice. He then grabs his guitar and we got to experience half a comedy show and half a very brill musical performance. Declan Greene also covered Lady Gaga’s and Bradley Coopers “Shallow” midway through his set and many of the people in the crowd sang along. “River” a song dedicated to his fellow mate and part of Saarloos was next. His unfortunately short set ended with “Stay”. The whole crowd helped him out singing along and we experienced already a great atmosphere! Declan Greene really warmed up the crowd.
Saarloos
From last year’s gig I knew I loved the harmonies Craig and Brian create together and I wasn’t disappointed this year. The three lads came on stage and now the stage was big enough for Andy not to be hiding in the back ground ๐ “Feisty” being a cool uptempo song which got the crowd going and I think many of us must have seen them before. The lads were overwhelmed by the crowd’s cheers and singalong support! I loved to see their surprised and happy faces when they earned themselves our support. Unfortunately it was time for a sad song although they weren’t feeling too sad right now.
For the next song “Trust in Me” the crowd again was their backing choir singing “Don’t loose faith” while they sang over it. Such a great atmosphere I have to say it again. No-one wanted the set to end but with “Changes” it did. However the song was another highlight from the Saarloos set. If you don’t know them you really should check out their music! They are freaking awesome! ๐
Gavin James
At 9 pm it was time for the main act Gavin James to come on stage. I was expecting another one man show which I adored the last time but I got surprised. Gavin James brought a bass player, a drum player and Jeff his piano player along. I wasn’t sure what to make of that and when they started with “Til the sun comes up” I was still processing. “Coming home” and “Faces” followed quickly and I missed Gavin James short stories between songs. If I hadn’t been to his last gig I think I would have loved it! The songs are still great and Gavin James’ voice is still angelic but it kinda felt like it got commercialised.
“Tired”, “Glow” and “Start again” where next. Everyone around me seemed to be singing along and enjoying it while I spent the songs looking around processing. I remembered “The Middle” from last time and I slowly was getting used to this new Gavin James. For “22” it was just him and Jeff at keys playing and I was loving it! But my favourite song of the night and my highlight yesterday was “Nervous”. Gavin James with his guitar and his voice only. Such a beautiful song and I remembered closing my eyes during the last gig and swaying to the tunes.
After this highlight Gavin James was looking to come closer to his audience in the back. He stepped down and parted the crowds like Moses until he was in the middle of the room where he covered a Ray Charles song. Everyone was quiet! In general the people were very quiet tonight which is a stark contrast to last year’s gig. Either the music got louder which it deffo did but the audience got quieter and listened more as well. “Easy” and “Bitter Pill” were next and both songs I liked in the full band version. Am I getting used to the band? ๐
Gavin James’ uber hit “Always” was followed. He sat at the piano and performed the very beautiful ballade while the audience filmed it and sang along to it. I love the fact that he chose to sing this song somewhere in the middle of the set. It just proves that he thinks that this is not his biggest songs and all of his songs are equal. The set continued with “Cigarette Break” and “Two hearts”. And finally my absolute favourite song by Gavin James “Hearts on fire” came on. How different this version was with the full band. It still got the crowd going and of course we had to all kneel down in the middle of the song only to jump up for the chorus while confetti rained down on us! I love confetti and I loved that moment. You can check it out in my stories on Instagram.
Gavin James quickly left the stage only to come back out of his hiding for the encore. I remember it so vividly back at Amboss Rampe he hid behind the curtain ๐ “Book of Love” and “Only ticket home” finished the set. The latter is supposed to be played at 4 am in Dublin Pub because everyone can sing along to no matter how drunk they are. It goes “Hey La La La” ๐ and another set of confetti finished the night! ๐
Gavin James evolved into an artist with a band. I am still not sure how I feel about this. However I do loved his show including the support acts Declan Greene and Saarloos.
