The Coronas, live at Cyprus Avenue

The Coronas Cyprus Avenue, Cork Saturday 1st March 2008 Support: Caccade This is the happiest band in the world. Or, at least, they have the happiest lead singer. (My mind kept thinking of Gidgit films, I’m not sure why.) The Meteor Music Best Irish Pop Act Award nominees, the Coronas, arrived on stage to a very appreciative audience, made up predominantly of females, it must be said. At least near the stage. Very well-presented females too. Variously described as Pop or Rock-Indie-Alternative (Wikipedia), I’ll add my own: Anthemic Guitar Pop. This is feel-good music sung by a happy man who loves being on stage with his guitar, or piano, depending, and it is aimed fair and square at the college market. If you are in any doubt about this, just read the lyrics to the chorus of their recent single ‘San Diego Song’: “We sleep all day and drink all night. We are not wasting our time. We refuse to hide. We’re going out tonight.” If that isn’t something with which pretty much every 3rd-level student in the country can identify, I don’t know what is. It was certainly making me feel nostalgic. This was their first gig on an 11-date nationwide tour, culminating in an Olympia Theatre gig in Dublin on April 6th, which, with their recent single “San Diego Song”, the new single “Grace, don’t wait” and last year’s album “Heroes or Ghosts”, will only serve to jack their popularity ever skyward. Their music is infectious and their delivery energy-fuelled. These are guys who seem to love what they do and it shows. Mid-way through the gig, a guest-musician was brought on and vanished into the shadows to play keyboard. In fact, this reviewer, although she heard that someone new was coming on stage, missed the actual entrance and spent the rest of the gig vaguely wondering exactly where the piano sound was coming from. Is it a loop? Is it a pre-recording? No, it’s a hidden artiste! She didn’t even know there was a second keyboard on stage. Lads, the lighting in Cyprus Avenue could be looked at. The singer was occasionally almost completely invisible, with the spot being kept firmly centre-stage, regardless of who was where doing what. The crowd was in good form from the word go, giving the support act a very warm reception (mind you, they did deserve it) and carrying this right through the wonderfully bouncy set from the Coronas, even to the point of forcing another chorus from the famèd San Diego Song, singing on after the band had stopped – always a take-home moment in any gig. So, Westlife won their 8th consecutive Meteor Music Award for Best Irish Pop Act… The Coronas Danny O’Reilly Conor Egan Graham Knox Dave McPhillips