So the last day of summer arrived and so did Hurray for the Riff Raff to Dublin’s Whelan’s with Sister Ray in support to play to a sold out venue.
Métis singer song writer Ella Coyes aka Sister ray opened the night and first off thanking HFTRR for having them here and its their first time in Dublin before starting a 30 minute set, between some fantastic songs we were told a few anecdotes. One such story was how pussy is their favourite bad word and how one time they noticed that the word is not used in any indie songs so they decided to rectify that and wrote one. Ella finished the 30 minute set with a great cover of AC/DCs, Up To My Neck In You and as its just Ella alone on stage with an electric guitar this was an impressive cover and fantastic version.
There’s a brief intro , band walk out and then followed by Alynda and its right into Wolves after which its a short hello Dublin and right back into another from the latest album (Life on Earth) that being Pierced Arrows.
A break from (Life On Earth) with the song Rican Beach and its Latin influenced beat, but its only a brief break as next up was a run of songs from the latest album Jupiter’s Dance / Precious Cargo, the latter addresses issues concerning refugees and immigrants, something Alynda spoke about before starting into the song.
Continuing with the (Life on Earth) we were told here’s one about plants and yep it was the catchy tune Rhododendron followed by Pointed at the Sun / Saga. Saga was dedicated to all the survivors in the crowd and about how there’s a war being fought in America over the rights to ones own body with Alynda saying I hope this song can give some comfort. The songs end was greeted with a huge applause and rightly so.
The Body Electric came next followed by the lovely combined singing and spoken word of Night Queen, this then brought us on to Rosemary Tears to finish out the main set.
The usual short encore break ends with louds cheers for the start up of Hungry Ghost after which its said ” sorry we don’t have any records with us, but you can find them at Freebird Records” (Long time Dublin Indie record shop)
The night is finished out with Pa’lante and the crowd shouting back Pa’lante every time it was said in the outro of the song.
Its been a long time since Hurray for the Riff Raff had been in Dublin (something even Alynda mentioned during the night) so please don’t leave it so long till the next time, COME BACK VERY SOON!
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