Want to dance shamelessly in a room full of masked figures falling around in hysterics? Want to witness jaw-dropping beauty 10 seconds before bursting out laughing? A Meltybrains concert is like skydiving into an ocean: once you’re in it, you can’t help but be moved.
That’s a dramatic statement, but I refuse to take it back – you lose yourself amongst waves of souls that cannot help but be joyful, elated by the most colourful of musical palettes, before waking up outside the door of the venue, bodies abandoned by a gentle swash upon a sandy beach, your head somewhere high above the clouds wondering what in the world just happened.
Meltybrains go from sounding beachy and Hawaiian to making metallic spaceship engine noises within a few bars, the crowd falling from the band’s trademark conga line into giddy, ecstatic confusion. They may be classically-trained musicians but it could never be doubted that their performances are far more visceral in nature than strict and structured.
There’s something for everyone here: the bloke in the corner wondering whether to call this section math-rock or post-punk, the headbangers covering you in their sweat as their locks explore your face, the jokers and the lovers, the party goers and the corner-huggers.
The last time I saw Meltybrains I left the gig with a torn t-shirt and a smile that would take hours to shrug off. What do you go to a gig for? Whatever your answer may be, I’d bet my ears that you’ll find what you’re looking for here. As part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, for one night only on September 18th, Meltybrains will join forces with visual projection artists Algorithm that is sure to make the Abbey Theatre sear like the beautiful summer we’ve just had. Say goodbye to it in style.
