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Kodaline at Varsity Theater
Kodaline Setlist
Ocean Park Standoff Setlist
Tour Dates
11/30/2018 Phoenix Theater Toronto, CA
12/01/2018 Corona Theatre Montreal, QC 12/04/2018 Irving Plaza New York, NY 12/05/2018 9:30 Club Washington, DC 12/06/2018 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA 12/08/2018 Theater of Living Arts Philadelphia, PA 12/24/2018 Coliseu Dos Recreios Lisbon, Portugal Read More
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On a cold and crisp November weeknight, a night of “good news” and “high hopes”-
Ireland’s UK platinum-selling four-piece, Kodaline returned after a three-year absence as part of a brief sixteen-date North American tour in support of new album, Politics of Living (RCA Records) with openers Ocean Park Standoff, stopping by the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis.
To suitably warm up the crowd on a chilly evening was Los Angeles alt-pop trio Ocean Park Standoff, in support of last year’s self-titled EP (Hollywood Records), with an energetic half-hour set. The three (Ethan Thompson-vocal/guitar; Samantha Ronson- keys/guitar; Pete Nappi- drums) have been together less than five years, but have been making recent waves due to their biggest single-to-date, last year’s upbeat ‘Good News’.
Other set highlights included the New York subway-inspired song, ‘Tunnel Lights’, ‘If You Were Mine’ (originally collaborated on with Lil’ Yachty) and the set-closing ‘We Do’ which got the crowd singing along with its earworm chorus. Ronson is the sister of producer Mark Ronson, but the sounds aren’t too similar, with Ocean Park Standoff more built on four-minute pop songs with hooks (which is not a bad thing).
With new album Politics of Living barely out for two months and already clocking in at over 100 million streams on Spotify, it’s safe to say Irish quartet Kodaline has a lot of worldwide fans. You could easily count us among them as well, having followed the band by covering every area appearance beginning with their first US show as a support act in 2013. Supporting their first new record in three years, we were obviously happy they were making a return local stop.
With a busy summer capped off by playing to 21,000 fans at Malahide Castle in Dublin as well as sets at the Isle Of Wight and TRNSMT festivals, we considered ourselves fortunate to see them at the Varsity Theater, whose capacity is just shy of a thousand.
The band (vocalist/keys/guitarist Steve Garrigan, guitarist Mark Prendergast, bassist Jason Boland and drummer Vinny May) are justifiably proud of their third-full-length, playing seven of its twelve tracks over their eighty-five minute set, beginning with the albums opener ‘Follow Your Fire’, which had the crowd quickly clapping along.
2013’s ‘Brand New Day’ gave way to 2015’s ‘Ready’ as the set grew with momentum before things slowed down on the revealing ‘Honest’ and the new album’s lead single ‘Brother’, a song of bonding with its lyrics, “If you were drowned at sea, I’d give you my lungs so you could breathe”.
Kodaline’s songwriting often lean toward soaring anthems with a delicate touch of sentimentalism and emotion (which appeals especially to their female fans), with its Irish roots showing in many of the harmonies and arrangements. The all-ages crowd happily sung along with the “la, la, la’s” of ‘Head Held High’, shone their phone flashlights in the air for the wedding song, ‘The One’ as they sang the last verse back to Garrigan, and remained hushed during ‘Angel’, about a teenager that tragically passed away during a 2016 show.
We didn’t get the bagpipes as heard on the studio version of ‘I Wouldn’t Be’, but did get the expert four-part Clannad-like harmonies from the band, as drummer May left his kit to sing out front with the other three. “Sing it if you know it!” Garrigan said about hit ‘Love Like This’ but the crowd didn’t need any coaching, already singing and clapping along.
The 2016 song ‘Raging’ started out with simple keys and repeated lyrics but the Kygo collaboration quickly took flight in increased tempo without ever crossing over to EDM, and the set-closing ‘Love Will You Free’ capped the main set with a closing positive message, with each band member individually leaving the stage to applause and cheers.
The two-song encore began with the tearful ‘All I Want’, familiar to many from its placement in film for The Fault in Your Stars and on TV as in an episode of The Vampire Diaries. “I know it’s crazy to believe in silly things” Garrigan sang in the night’s closing ‘High Hopes’, only to be answered by the crowd singing the song’s chorus back to the band, “but I’ve got high hopes, it takes me back to when we started” and ending things on a very wishful and enthusiastic note.
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
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