Caught Live: Gruff Rhys + Y Niwl @ The Academy, Dublin (03.10.11)

Psychedelic whimsy, and lots of it, was the order of the day on Middle Abbey Street earlier this week, as Gruff Rhys parked his Hotel Shampoo roadshow at Dublin's Academy. Perhaps surprisingly, the bulk of Monday night's set was actually made up of pre-HS material, but it hardly mattered as the Super Furry Animals frontman and his Y Niwl backing band brought the tunes and banter in equal measure. Trippy visuals played throughout, with Gruff interspersing his "sunshine pop" numbers with half-remembered anecdotes and giant homemade placards urging the crowd to give 'APPLAUSE' or 'WOAH!'.

Musical highlights came in the shape of 'Pwdin Ŵy (1 & 2)', from his pun-infested Welsh-language solo debut, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth, along with the gorgeous title track from 2007's Candylion LP, and recent single 'Sensations in The Dark' from this year's offering. 'If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)', meanwhile, showed itself to be a hidden gem, proving that, despite being some twenty years into his career, the singer has lost none of his knack for heartwarming balladry. We also got to hear bouncy forthcoming single 'Whale Trail' - a tune penned specifically for the soundtrack to an iPhone game of the same name, no less. Never one to shy away from a bit of self-indulgence, Rhys chose to end with a fifteen-minute ramble through 'Skylon!', Candylion's meandering closing track, which (he reminded us) tells the tale of a mid-air standoff between a bomb-disposal expert, a TV actress and a lone hijacker. That will have explained those airplane seats onstage then!

Earlier in the evening, Y Niwl had warmed the crowd up with songs from their recent self-titled debut album - including this season's BBC Football Focus theme tune, 'Undegpedwar' (there's your Welsh band trivia sorted for the day!). Fiona Diffley checked in early doors to bring us some shots of both bands; simply click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of her photos.

Double A-side single 'Space Dust #2' / 'Whale Trail' is released on 12" vinyl and download at the end of this month. Gruff Rhys and Y Niwl are on tour across The UK for another week (full list of dates here).