IRIS acoustic session

Steph takes to the sofa to enjoy undoubtedly one of the most phenomenal, free shindigs happening in Dublin last Wednesday night, besides Kila of course...

Well, we all knew it would be happening across the cobbled stoned street form us but funnily enough the commencing Kila show in Meeting House Square didn't really faze any of us involved in Wednesdays intimate little living room session in the TBMC.

Big thanks to God for preventing a down pour, there was that fantastic summer buzz pervading the very air around Temple Bar and it seemed to seep right into the TBMC where we admin were strolling around drinking, laughing and getting to know Dave Best our sound engineer extraordinaire of the night.

Marie Keane graced the couch first and did nothing if not shake the God damn building to its foundations not to mention the rest of us transfixed watching her, enamoured and in awe at the sheer volume, intensity and passion with which this woman sings. For someone unused to playing and singing together Marie did well and proved that mediocrity in small amounts is overshadowed into oblivion with that degree of sheer brilliance in a performance.

I just kept nodding at the others, watching like a gombean, thinking "Holy Christ this woman is going to be a legend, no question". She sings with the passion and conviction of Billie Holiday and has a voice, the range of which sees to know no boundaries or limits. Mixing soul, folk and rock love is the central focus of most of her tunes but it is not sentimental Irish-style self-absorbed narcissism, it’s intense and witty and emotive and so so refreshing you just hold your breath for every new tune which is always better then the last. Thumbs up to this young woman, a living legend in the making who makes 'Sitting on the dock of the Bay' sound like one of her own.

 - Stephanie Frances O'Brien

---