Source: The Post
Sunday, October 21, 2007 -
Author: Lisa Brady
Vicar Street, Dublin, October 12, 2007
Being both a southsider and an Aslan concert virgin, I entered Vicar Street last Friday night with a certain degree of trepidation. Urged on by a mate, let’s call her Harry (a northsider and Aslan devotee), I was led into an expectant, packed and sweaty crowd in a bid to see what all the ‘bleedin” fuss was about.
Ok, so they are noU2 (think more Crowded House with four chords and the truth) but Aslan certainly know how to get a crowd going.
Considering the fact that Aslan have operated for years now on their tried and tested formula of belting out past favourites (always the same faces up the front, according to Harry), there is something still fresh and exciting about their live performance.
Dignam is passionate about his music and his fans, and embraces each song with his entire body, using his signatory hand signals to communicate with his crowd. As I watched them shadowing his movements, like some sort of secret code, I was almost envious (not to mention left out), because I’ve never felt that passion about a band.
They dealt out hit after hit, with Hurt, Lucy Jones, Crazy World and This Time whipping the crowd into an elated frenzy. The true test came when they introduced Here Comes the Sun from their new album For Some Strange Reason.
It’s a classic catchy rock anthem that kind of makes you want to dance on the spot and, true to form, the fans sang along, word-perfect all the way.
After the gig, age-old debates were doing the rounds. ”Of course Aslan’s version of Wish You Were Here is much better than Floyd’s”; ”Mick Jagger told Christy he did a bleedin’ great job with Angie”.
I might not agree, but diehard fans like Harry need no convincing. Ticketmaster has information on further Aslan dates this year
Rating ***
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