On February 18, Lightning 100 hosted Dermot Kennedy for an intimate secret show at East Iris Studios. Dermot Kennedy performed for a room of around 30 lucky Lightning 100 listeners under warm lighting and hanging tapestries.
Prior to the show, I had already heard some of Dermot Kennedy’s biggest songs and had liked them. Once I knew Lightning 100 had lined up a secret show with him, I took the time to listen through his newer releases and found myself inspired by his success. Dermot Kennedy has carved out a successful career with raw vocal performances and heartfelt, anthemic songs.
In one of the live rooms at East Iris Studios, Dermot Kennedy took the stage with two other performers—one on violin and the other switching between various acoustic instruments. Dermot had an easy confidence onstage and spoke with warmth and sincerity to the small audience. Dermot’s first song was called “Refuge,” and as it turns out, the song had actually been recorded in the very studio we were standing in and was set to be released in the next couple of days.
The first notes from his guitar were somber, accompanied by a violin made ethereal through guitar pedals. Dermot opened the song with the line, “We can’t know the end till it’s over.” The music felt layered and expansive, despite there being only three performers onstage. Then, in the climactic chorus, Dermot broke into his signature belt, and the whole room was in rapt attention.
To hear someone sing powerfully on the radio is one thing; hearing it live and in person proved to be something else entirely. Dermot Kennedy blew me away. With no production to lean on, he was even more moving live.
A highlight for me was his performance of “Carrickfergus,” a traditional Irish folk ballad about longing and homesickness dating back to the 18th century. The song starts with a melancholic guitar pattern quietly picking under a suspended violin line. Dermot sings the song as if it was written yesterday, and the 18th-century prose is channeled into living sorrow. It was during that song that I became a Dermot Kennedy fan. Anyone bringing the songs of ordinary people of centuries past into stadiums in the 21st century has my full support.
Click the link below to watch Demot Kennedy’s performance and Q&A.
Also, be sure to tune in to Lightning 100, and stop by the ticket window for a chance to win tickets to his upcoming show at the Ascend Ampitheater on October 11!
