Olympia Theatre, Dublin
It started with 11-year-old Dean Lapongo wowing those who arrived early enough with his powerful version of
Stand By Me
and ended, more than five hours later, with a suitably chaotic finale featuring all the performers belting out the same song.
This marathon second annual Inspirations gig in aid of Barrettstown, the charity founded by actor Paul Newman that works to rebuild lives affected by childhood cancer, has a lot going for it. The concept is simple: each act performs three songs, two of which must be covers. Tying the threads of the evening neatly together was the amiable Ray D’Arcy.
Most of the highlights came early on and the more memorable were those who made an impact, not necessarily with their choice of covers but by their sheer level of energy. Ham Sandwich deserve an honourable mention, first for the showmanship of frontman Podge, as well as their fantastic take on Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. Jape also had the right idea, adding a much-needed measure of fun to proceedings and guiding the crowd through Africaby Toto and John Lennon's Jealous Guyfor the loudest singalongs. Duckworth Lewis Method put their cricket obsession aside and bowled everyone over with a pitch-perfect version of ELO's Mr Blue Sky. The headliners gave us more predictable inspirations, although how Paddy Casey managed to make Prince's When Doves Crysound like every other Casey song is a miraculous feat in itself.
Not your ordinary gig then and, for purely logistical and time reasons, the organisers (deserving of huge credit for the task involved) might think about culling the number of guests next year, but certainly a night’s entertainment that was greater than the sum of its parts.
