In Photos: dEUS @ The Academy, Dublin (12.10.11)

Being forced to scale down at the eleventh hour from The Olympia's regal setting to the decidedly more mundane confines of The Academy would bruise the ego of many a musician, but any slight certainly didn't show when Tom Barman's crew took to the stage on Middle Abbey St. last Wednesday night.

Old favourite 'Instant Street' not only reminded any Frames fans in the audience just how close Glen Hansard & co. came to actually becoming dEUS, but simultaneously set the Belgians apart from their Dublin compadres with a more colourful take on how a wild, hazy wall of guitars and violin should be built.

Following a lengthy set – mostly made up of more recent tunes, chief among which were Keep You Close cuts 'Constant Now', 'Ghost' and subtle spoken-word piece 'The End of Romance' – which compensated for the lack of a support act, the close-to-capacity crowd weren't quite sated by the band's industry standard, 'walk off and straight back on'-style three-song encore, which featured more old gold in the shape of 'Sister Dew' (another reminder of Barman's influence on The Frames).

On the contrary, they stomped, clapped and chanted until the band reappeared to offer one last low-key lullaby, while security began glancing uncomfortably at their watches. This, after all, was a Wednesday night, and 'the yoof' were already starting to pile in to the venue, demanding their weekly dose of NME favourites as opposed to some well-aged Belgian rock.

To view a slideshow of Colm Kelly's photos from last week's gig, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.