Caught Live: Yeasayer + Suckers @ The Academy, Dublin

The downgrading of this show from Dublin's Olympia to the more intimate surrounds of The Academy might suggest that Yeasayer have been milking things a bit of late – especially having already played a sold-out show at The Academy earlier in the year, and been part of the bill at Oxegen in July – but any question of fatigue among the city's gig-going public is quickly answered tonight, because The Academy is absolutely rammed. It seems there’s still plenty of appetite for the Brooklyn band and their warmly-received second album Odd Blood.
 
The guys have brought along fellow New Yorkers Suckers as support this evening, and the quartet go down a storm on their first appearance in front of an Irish crowd. Their ragged, swelling sound is genuinely rousing, incorporating trumpets, pounding percussion and massed choruses. It’s very reminiscent of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (particularly in the vocals department), and their raggle-taggle folk vibe certainly has a hint of Arcade Fire about it, but whatever the influences, it’s superb stuff. ‘Martha’ is arguably their standout number, a punch-drunk love/lust song (“Don't say that your hands and knees were made to pray / 'Cos you're a pretty good lay…”) built on a dizzy, infectious groove. The band get a great reception, and will hopefully be back here soon for some headline dates of their own.
 
Confession: I’m not really a big fan of Odd Blood. For my money, in opting to go for the all-out pop assault, Yeasayer have lost some of what made them so interesting in the first place. So it’s with a certain amount of trepidation that tonight’s show is approached. It has to be said, though, that certain songs from their latest album do benefit greatly from the live setting - not least opener ‘Madder Red’: the rhythms hit home more effectively, and the garish production values that mar the recorded version are less evident.
 
All the same, the gig definitely moves up a notch or two with the introduction of pre-Odd Blood material: the mystical, tribalistic shapes of ‘Wait For The Summer’ are complemented by atmospheric background lighting. Yeasayer obviously pay attention to every aspect of their live performance, and tonight there are some serious vibes coming from the stage, both musically and visually. A raucous version of ‘Tightrope’, their track from last year’s Dark Was The Night compilation, is followed by a gorgeous rendition of ‘Red Cave’, a spine-tingling folk song with an authentically spiritual feel to it.
 
Indeed, it’s surely a sign of Yeasayer's confidence and stage presence that they can now afford to leave the big anthems until the end of their set: the rapturously received ‘O.N.E.’ precedes ‘Ambling Alp’, which is nothing less than a celebratory rave-up tonight, a grin-inducing pop song if ever there was one. The crowd demand an encore and one is duly served up, with the anxious, urgent groove of ‘2080’ bringing the night to a scintillating conclusion. Their new pop direction may have been a divisive about-turn in the eyes of some (like myself), but Yeasayer prove tonight that they’re still a magical live proposition.