Bressie at The Academy (Photos and Review)

Bressie played The Academy on Friday, May 17th.

Last Friday, just as Leinster Rugby fans were celebrating their team’s win in the Amlin Challenge Cup final, The Academy heating up for Bressie’s set. The former Leinster Rugby player (really, Bressie played professional rugby) didn’t miss the chance to invite the audience to celebrate his former team’s win.

Bressie and his band started their set with a few strong tunes, to the delight of the almost a thousand excited women and a few less excited men. Wearing an impeccable white shirt and black tie, Bressie was as classy as ever, although after the first two songs his shoes got in his way, so he got rid of them.

The emotional peak of the night was reached when Bressie shared the story of  “While You’re Dreaming”, a track he wrote a few years ago, inspired by the tragic death of a teenage girl who took her own life. A while before her death, the girl told Bressie that the only time she was truly happy was when she was asleep.

With every song and story between the songs, the audience became more and more receptive and loud. Bressie’s announcement that the next song was “Fantasy”, one of his former band’s (The Blizzards) hits, generated an eruption of cheering and a sea of phones ready to capture wat-too-shaky-and-loud-to-ever-enjoy videos and photos. The last song before the encore was “Show Me Love”, a message taken a tad too seriously by one of Bressie’s fans, as a bra suddenly landed at his feet.

The encore brought a few more songs, including a well-received cover of Martin Solveig and Dragonette’s “Hello. The night ended with “Can’t Stay Young Forever” and a large group of fangirls calling Bressie for a round of high-fives.

Bressie released his second studio album, titled “Rage and Romance”, on March 24th. The album went straight to the top of the Irish charts.

Support came from Orla Gartland.

Photos by Tudor Marian