Somebody’s Child - Sebright Arms Review: The last show of the year, but the start of the best yet

14 Dec

An artist who has been long underrated is about to get his moment.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

“Alright London, it’s good to be back. This is our last gig of the year, let’s make it count”

It may be the year's last performance for Somebody’s Child, but it’s also the start of something significant for the rising artist. Cool as ever, there are jokes that they all just fancied a night out, and what better way than throwing a show? You can’t blame them either - it’s been a busy year, and now two of the five reside in the capital, far from their Dublin hometown.

Across 2024, Somebody’s Child has touched down at festivals worldwide and played venues big and small, this being the most intimate (in fact) for four years. Since their debut album, they’ve also toured with War On Drugs - which feature on Cian’s t-shirt proudly on this night.

Sebright Arms is known for a couple of things, an unmatched community spirit and frankly sweaty gigs in the basement. There wasn’t a better place Somebody’s Child could have ended the year, previewing new tracks and dancing away to a wealth of previous indie hits already under his belt.

As a stage presence, this is the most dynamic we’ve seen of the artist, last catching his electric TRNSMT set in July. Cian boldly commanded the room, several times entering the crowd, marching around the stage and thrashing his guitar in a frenzy.

The band were much the same, they were either riding a high of adrenaline or becoming a tight unit. How about both? London was treated to a lengthy setlist, with highlights Jungle, Hold Me Like You Wanna and The Lover taking centre stage. The former featured a hugely extended guitar intro and outro, which captivated everybody’s attention. It’s still surprising that Jungle hasn’t taken off as a bigger indie track after all these years, maybe it’ll rise its head as a hidden gem one day.

When it comes to new music, the setlist was bursting with it. That was, of course, one of the points of the evening. There were four tracks off his sophomore album, Last Night I Held Your Hand, Porcelain, Irish Goodbye and our favourite Time Of My Life.

“We’ve got a record out in March and it’s the proudest thing I’ve been a part of” explains Cian.

The takeaway from the evening was quite simple. An artist who has been long underrated was about to get his moment. It may be the last show of the year, but it’s the beginning of the best one yet.

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