The Cast of Cheers, Whelans September 2012

A Wednesday in the middle of the week in the middle of September is not what you would imagine to be a good time for a gig. September & October are months filled with gigs with the end of the festival season and everybody returning from holidays, the country seems to flood with bands playing the yearly gigs of touring and promoting new releases.
With so much choice you might think a gig mid-week, when you could go to so many others at the weekend might be off to a bad start but you might be thinking wrong.
Safe to say I’ve been busy recently so the prospect of going to a gig last night when I was very tired was daunting, there was football on tv, warm couches to sit on and food to eat. But I had tickets and I just knew I couldn’t miss The Cast Of Cheers live having missed them before. So I picked up my equally lethargic friend and headed to town in hope of a seat or a wall to lean on in Whelans from where I could enjoy the show and relax at the same time (how silly a thought that was when I knew what to expect from these guys live).

I arrived at Whelans at 8.30pm which is early enough for most shows in the venue as doors where 8.00pm. Well Whelans was already packed and the support act Kowalski had just hit the stage to a very big crowd. Kowalski I had only a vague recollection of the name with little to no knowledge of the band. Well I can say it was yet again another pleasant surprise these guys are solid, with a nice mix of electro, indie and rock. The vocals have moments of Death Cab For Cutie but driven by music similar to Two Door Cinema Club. For some reason I cant figure out, I wanted to say feeder aswell but I can’t put my finger on why, maybe somebody else will. It’s a nice contrast of the softer vocals driven by pumping bass and synths. Well worth checking out.

Kowalski: Outdoors.

The Cast Of Cheers: Family.

By the time the headliners took to the stage Whelans was completely packed you couldn’t move anywhere, people might as-well have been hanging from the rafters. The lads took to the stage in complete darkness to huge cheers from a very excited crowd. From the moment the first song began you just knew this gig was going to be special the crowd were up for it, the band are on top form ready for the first night of their tour and no mid-week, work the next morning rain or any other excuse was going to make a difference.
The Cast Of Cheers have crossed a bridge in music that I have always wanted someone to try, they play the kind of instrumental music we hear from bands like ASIWYFA, Adebisi Shank and Enemies, fast changing almost dance or classical music played with rock instruments. Except they also have an amazing vocalist and catchy lyrics it crosses the two styles very nicely. They have a talent for producing choruses that a crowd can scream back at them as they play see the video below for an example.

The Cast Of Cheers: Goose.

The lads absolutely blew the roof off Whelans, the crowd sang back every word they could muster in between fits of clapping to the high-speed beats of the songs. It was also nice to see how much fun the lads where having on stage and the joy in their faces was unmistakable as the crowd sang their songs back at them. Towards the end of the show the boys finished out a song with a different percussion piece in each of their hands bringing the show to the encore nicely.
As they returned to the stage and kicked into the crowd favourite “Family”, the crowd surfers got going and the crowd bounced to the end of the show.

The Cast Of Cheers: They call it a race.

A Cock and Bull Tv Video.

So while I set out for the night tired and not feeling in the gig mood it took all of thirty seconds of The Cast Of Cheers live to blow the cobwebs out and have me flying for the length of their show and until I hit my pillow that night.