American rockers One Republic gave a blistering performance last night at Cork’s Savoy Theatre to a packed house, with support from Irish rock group The Shoos. The modern American rock group first hit the big time via their collaboration with producer Timbaland on a remix of their song “Apologize”. The band have seen their star rising since, and released a string of popular hits from their debut album Dreaming Out Loud including “Stop & Stare”, “Say (All I Need)” and “All Fall Down”. They released their second album, entitled Waking up in November 2009, and have released two singles from the album, “All The Right Moves” and “Secrets”. The band is currently touring Europe in support of the new album.
The Savoy Theatre is a much larger venue than one would expect from the outside, almost twice the size of Dublin’s Tripod on Harcourt St., and far larger than The Academy on Abbey St. With an upstairs standing balcony and a sizeable ground area flanked by mid level seating, the venue provides an intimate atmosphere but with booming acoustics and resonance for great live sound quality. Between The Savoy, The Marquee, and other famous music venues such as the Half Moon Theatre and Cypress Avenue, Cork is beginning to become an attractive Irish stop for bands on European tours.
Irish rockers The Shoos took the stage at around 9p.m. providing a very tight, solid and energetic performance of modern day rock infused with a spirit of mid-90s Punk rock, almost reminiscent of Belfast punk rockers Therapy?, but with a less edgy sound. Drummer Scott Maher provided a very tight and powerful foundation to the band’s sound, beating his drums like they owed him money. Lead singer Texas displayed some very impressive vocals and engaged and captivated the audience to sing along to the melodies of their latest single “Yeah”. The Shoos set lasted approximately 40 minutes, providing ample warm- up for the main event of the night. And with the true mark of any indie rock band paying their dues on the road, the band broke down their own gear and cleared the stage for headliners One Republic.
With the stage bathed in deep purple and red lighting, and smoke gently billowing from smoke machines to the sides, One Republic take to the stage one by one ,the audience cheering and clapping, until lead singer/brains of the operation Ryan Tedder emerges to a rapturous ovation of screaming females. I couldn’t help but wonder at that moment how the rest of the band must have felt hearing him get that reaction, as there was a marked difference between the receptions they got! The band opened with “Everybody Loves Me” from their new album. A blistering rocker of a tune, with a driving drum beat and blues-infused acoustic guitar riffing, it is a perfect opener to pump the crowd (and perhaps Mr. Tedder’s ego!)
The band went on to play all of their big radio hits, including “All The Right Moves”,” Secrets”, “Stop & Stare”, “Apologize”,” Say (All I Need)”, along with additional songs from their new and previous album, and even one new untitled song, another melodic slow burner that builds to a rocking crescendo, a trademark of Ryan Tedder’s writing style for the band. Tedder is an accomplished career musician, writing music for, amongst others, Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, even former Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell, and Leona Lewis’ smash hit “Bleeding Love”. Tedder’s main instrument is a large, two stack electric piano/organ, flanked by an Irish flag thrown on stage by a fan (along with two packs of Tayto’s Bistro crisps, which was a bit weird, but the band seemed to like them.)
The band offer a unique array of musical skills on multiple instruments, and positions are regularly changed throughout the night. Bassist Brent Kutzle alternates between a cello and an electric bass guitar for most of the set, even picking up an acoustic guitar for a stripped down version of “Last Goodbye“with just him and Tedder’s vocals. Guitarist Drew Brown alternated between lead guitar and a glockenspiel which came through surprisingly clear in the live mix. Lead Guitarist Zach Filkins also picked up the viola for a brief 3 song stint. Tedder also picked up the lead acoustic for “Stop & Stare”, but undoubtedly his best performance of the night was with his vocals. It’ one thing to be a good singer on an album, but the true test of any singer is the live environment. Especially today in the world where auto-tune and pro-tools are used to pitch correct any vocal imperfections, (a studio trick which means anyone can sound pitch perfect on a recording, and is the reason why the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus have music careers.) Tedder’s vocals are absolutely pitch perfect, not a bad note to be found. The high notes and vocal range he displays are truly impressive, and the power in Tedder’s voice cuts easily through the bass heavy live mix of the band’s rhythm section of cello and drums. However there were minor sound issues regarding the levels of the vocals in some songs, when Tedder’s main vocal mic appeared to be turned down for rest between songs (to prevent feedback), their sound mixer wasn’t turning it back up in time for the first verses of some songs.
One Republic’s set lasted about 75 minutes, taking the stage at 10p.m. and ending at 11.15. The big highlight of the night was a blistering rendition of the immensely popular tune “All The Right Moves” which left me nearly deaf, and the big surprise of the night was a bang on rendition of The Beastie Boys’ famous hit “Sabotage”. The band excelled on this one, and Tedder impressed with his rapping on the verses. But being a vocal style he wouldn’t normally utilise, he didn’t seem to be able to project himself as loudly as he could while singing, as he tried to keep up the frantic vocal pace. But overall, a very tight, solid performance from a very talented group of musicians, they kept the audience captivated and energised right through to the end and delivered a high quality live performance which has been honed to perfection from constant touring. And a bargain too for €28!
Also spotted in attendance were Peter Stringer and his lady.
One Republic, 12/4/2010, The Savoy Theatre Cork:
*partial setlist*
Say (All I Need)
Stop & Stare
Apologize
Goodbye Apathy
Won’t Stop
Come Home
Marching On
Made For You
All The Right Moves
Secrets
Everybody Loves Me
Dreaming Out Loud
Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover)
Something’s Not Right Here
Good Life
Last Goodbye
Waking Up
CT
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