Greenroom Live, Letterkenny
Saturday 25th October, 2014
It’s a blustery cold Autumnal evening that would easily be an excuse to stay indoors. But tonight at Greenroom Live in Letterkenny, with its candlelit tables and intimate setting, a relaxed and music loving crowd turn out to see Rainy Boy Sleep perform alongside support from Chelsey Chambers and Joel Harkin.
The casual, welcoming venue sees its audience trickle in as Joel Harkin starts his set, an appetizer for the evening. A young performer, dwarfed with a large acoustic guitar, he delivers a mixture of original and cover songs in a gentle and careful yet confident style, easing us into the night ahead, his last song bringing a strong raw vocal before a break from the next act.
The patient audiences informal chatter is diverted as Chelsey Chambers delicate vocals float across the room with acoustic strums from first song I’m Falling.
Chelsey, a young artist from Moneymore introduces herself, presenting a humble and likeable manner. She brings us a country style sound with breathy clear vocals, beautifully penned lyrics and acoustics. Her set is short, consisting of 5 songs but she interacts and talks us through the inspiration of each song, self-penned from her own life experiences. Chelsey’s performance is well received by the captive audience giving a warm applause and cheers ahead of headliner Rainy Boy Sleep.
Donegal’s Rainy Boy Sleep, aka Stevie Martin, slips quietly onto the stage after a brief break, launching into his first song Jeanie, treating the immediately attentive and larger crowd to a varied vocal range rewarded with whoops and cheers from the keen audience. He buoyantly greets us as he tunes his guitar for next song Yours Truly, a song with electro beats and melody. Throughout his set he charms us, acknowledging our applause with modest yet confident bows. He shows appreciation also to Chelsey by dedicating the next song Shopping Centre, an upbeat lively track.
Throughout the set he showcases a range of styles in his songs, combining his indie like image and sound with rocky beats, lively sounds and gentle acoustic ballads such as Waiting For Your Love. He confidently moves around the stage expressing and entertaining with his distinctive Irish accent complementing his sound. As he performs Bottom of The Sea, he delivers lyrics that you can visualize. When he sings his story, we see his facial expressions reflecting the emotion of the words, giving us coy smiles as we listen and watch before stepping away from the mic to sing to us naturally and powerfully.
His last song of the set, current release Ambulance has the audience on their feet dancing, saving the best for last. Truly being an enthusiastic and natural performer, his encore song of sentimental cover Stand By Me and original lullaby sounding song Vantage Points warms and excites, leaving us musically fulfilled.
We may have walked into the venue feeling as dreary as the weather, but we leave feeling fresh and uplifted.
Stacy Fitzpatrick
