Shouting At Planes

When you think of Irish bands who played Glastonbury this year, Shouting At Planes may not be at the top of your list. Hell, you may have never even heard of them. For their tenth gig ever, they graced the stage at the great British festival. With the band only together since Christmas ’09, this is a pretty sizeable feat. Growing in stature and reputation, they launched their new single ‘Hospice’ in Crawdaddy.

First support act opening up for Shouting at Planes was fellow Cavan man, Daire O’Reilly, who will play at the Electric Picnic. O’Reilly writes radio friendly, melodic songs which shone, even in a stripped back acoustic environment. Playing songs from his forthcoming album, stand out tracks were ‘Oh Darlin” and ‘Stargazing’. O’Reilly also surprised the audience with a rousing rendition of Mic Christopher’s ‘Heyday’.

Brendan McGahey frontman of ‘The Making’ performed some of his band’s material acoustically. A dapper looking McGahey, complete with cravat, entertained the growing audience to the band’s pop/rock sound. He just seemed like he would be more comfortable with the full band around him.

Having a launch in Dublin for a band from outside the capital can be tricky at times, with questions and costs of filling a venue. No such worries for Shouting At Planes as a jam packed Crawdaddy waited for the premier of the video to the new single ‘Hospice’.

The five piece came onto stage to a rousing reception, starting off their set with ‘Live My Way’. The band use dual frontmen Aodhan McBreen and Liam McCabe to the best of their abilities. The duo have a great rapport, and their vocals interact well. There are a couple of multi-instrumentalists in the band and the addition of saxophone and trumpet to certain songs add a great extra dimension to the alternative blues outfit.

‘Leaving On My Own’ is introduced as a new song and is heavier than its predecessors with its definite rock guitar sound. This track gives the driving rhythm section a chance to shine with a solid drum/bass performance. During ‘Let You Know’ the frontmen show off their showman skills, getting the captivated audience to clap along, arms raised in the air.

‘If I Could have Loved You’ is perhaps the band’s most commercial sound so far, not unlike a combination of Maroon 5 and Matchbox 20 and would feel quite at home on AOR radio. The drum driven ‘When I Need You’ sees the audience bounce along so much that Crawdaddy’s foundations should be checked.

The band show great diversity throughout their set, adding elements of many genres including some funk to ‘Lyrical Rhyme’. Not sure how many times I’ve heard a band from Cavan slip in some Snoop Dogg to a song.

Shouting At Planes have come a long way in less than nine months, this is the launch of their debut single. They are accomplished musicians who, with this set, have proven they can write decent rock songs and have an expanding fan base. If they continue their rise at this rate, everyone will soon know their name.

Set List:

1. Live My Way
2. Chatterbones
3. Leaving on My Own
4. Little Time Without You
5. Let You Know
6. Goodnight My Joy
7. If I Could Have Loved You
8. When I Need You
9. Lyrical Rhyme
10. Know Yourself
11. For a Hero
12. Pencil Full of Lead (Paulo Nutini cover)

Encore:
13. So Young
14. Hospice - Goldenplec

Playing at Glastonbury is something a lot of Irish acts (including U2) would love to have on their CV. Playing at Glastonbury just six months after getting together is an even more impressive CV fact – and something Cavan band Shouting At Planes can boast. The talented five piece have certainly had an interesting few months and they topped if all off with the launch of their new single (and video) ‘Hospice’ in Crawdaddy last Friday, August 27.

But before we heard what Shouting At Planes had to offer we were treated to acoustic sets from two support acts. First up was singer/songwriter Daire O’Reilly who despite an initially indifferent audience managed to win over the crowd with some brilliantly catchy tunes. His own tracks such as ‘Oh Darlin’ as well as the Mic Christopher hit ‘Heydey’ got the crowd suitably warmed up and O’Reilly and had the Shouting At Planes fans on side after dedicating some tracks to the lads. You can catch the Cavan man at Electric Picnic this weekend but only if you’re an early riser because if my ears served me correctly he’s playing at noon on Sunday.

Next up was The Making’s Brendan McCahey performing a solo acoustic set. Following on from where O’Reilly left off McCahey impressed with some catchy pop/rock tunes. By the time he finished his set the venue had filled up considerably and the crowd were suitably warmed up for the main event- Shouting At Planes.

Before the lads came out on stage we were treated to a screening of the video for their new single ‘Hospice’ which entered the Irish charts this week at a not too shabby number 23. The video received a warm welcome from the audience before the band burst on stage to rapturous applause.

Lead vocals are shared by Aodhan McBreen and Liam McCabe to great effect with Aodhan’s soulful tones and Liam’s smooth vocals blending together perfectly. For a group who have only been playing together since Christmas 2009 Shouting At Planes have great on stage chemistry and seem completely at home in front of an audience.

I’ll admit that at the start of the gig I was questioning how a band, who have been together for such a short amount of time, could have enough good songs to fill a headline slot. With this in mind, I was expecting to hear a few fillers, a couple of tracks thrown in to fill out the stage time, but I’m glad to say my fears were completely unfounded and from start to finish Shouting At Planes knocked out one great song after another.

The addition of saxophone and trumpet on some of the tracks gives the band a great bluesy sound that sets them apart from a lot of other indie rock acts. Throughout the set they flip from a traditional pop/rock sound to a more earthy, blues feel showcasing their diverse musical influences.

From the catchy and heartfelt ‘If I Could Have Loved You’ to the laid back and effortlessly cool ‘Lyrical Rhyme’ the lads had the audience eating out of their hands. They seemed to be having an amazing time on stage and their excitement spread throughout the crowd creating a real party atmosphere, culminating in their cover of Paulo Nutini’s wonderfully upbeat ‘Pencil Full of Lead’.

If they thought for a second that they were going to escape without an encore they were sorely mistaken and after chants of ‘one more tune’ they gladly appeared back on stage ready to give the crowd what they wanted. ‘So Young’ was one of the best received tracks of the night with the audience singing the catchy chorus at the top of their lungs before the lads wrapped up the night with an excellent performance of ‘Hospice’.

Shouting At Planes have come a long way in a few short months and if Friday night’s gig is anything to go by there’s a lot more to come. Talented musicians, charismatic frontmen and great songs, Shouting At Planes have it all. Only time will tell if they can achieve the success they, no doubt, have their sites set on but something tells me we’ll be hearing a lot more from these guys. Shouting At Planes could well be our new favourite band! - Heineken Music