Reviews

Live music: The Blades - The Olympia, Dublin

Paul Cleary’s appearance at a tribute to the late Radiators frontman Phil Chevron in the Olympia last August came as a complete surprise. His brief set was so rapturously received that he finally agreed to reform his first band, The Blades — after a mere 27 years.

At their comeback gig, The Blades opened with ‘The Last Man in Europe’. At 54, Cleary seems to have aged little since his band’s late ’70s/early ‘80s heyday, and he still has the charisma and self-confidence of old. The Blades’ classic singles seem just as timeless. ‘Hot For You’, ‘Ghost of a Chance’, ‘The Bride Wore White’: the three-minute pop songs are just as perfect now as when they first graced the airwaves way back when.