We love nothing more than kicking off the gig with a good live show. Irish live music is in as rude health as ever, with festival season fast approaching and a rake of exciting bands enjoying commercial success (here’s looking at you Heathers, and the Villagers too while we’re at it). With that in mind we popped down to Whelans last night to catch the Dirty Epics headline a show with back up from Hogan. Maybe it was the beautiful weather and another busy day in the office checking out new bands that had us high spirit but we had a whale of a time.

Hogan were a perfect warm up. Tight, super-catchy hooks and an efficient band playing to the best of their abilites the band put on a great show, no doubt on a high from finishing their album the night before. We loved the bouncy pop of Jealousy and the shuffle and flow of Here I Go Again. Hogan do effortless sunshine drenched pop tunes with a nice bit of meat to their bones and we cannot wait to see how big those boys are bound to get over the coming months.

Dirty Epics had us thinking the same thing. Their frontwoman SJ is possibly the coolest frontperson we have seen in quite some time. She oozed swagger and rock’n'roll charm from the minute she stepped on to stage, rocking a rather eye catching furry coat (which we imagine she was boiling in, talk about dedication to fashion!) and weaving a spell on everyone in the room. The Dirty Epics do a neat line in new wave punk with a neat sprinkling of pop on top evident on every song. New single I Heart You was a bit of a standout as was the rather fantastic We’re Coming Up. There was a shimmer-y slower number which was perfect and may have had the IMTV crew feeling a bit love-y dove-y but our standout moment was Pony where we got to do a bit of a shouting into the mic and indulge our rockstar fantasies. The whole set was a joy and we’re super excited to see where the band end up over the coming months. With plans for a new album in the autumn and some gigs planned up, we’d make it your mission to see these guys play live soon.

All in all we had quite the fantastic Monday, a neat reminder that sunshine, great live music and a bit of rock’n'roll karaoke will always be a recipe for a good night out.

- words Conor Behan