Live music review: MTV Crashes Cork at Cork City Hall

Four days of live music that saw 35 mostly Irish bands play free and reasonably priced gigs in venues around Cork city climaxed with this gig from London house duo Gorgon City and electronic soul sensation Jessie Ware under the banner of MTV Crashes Cork.

The show is to be broadcast to 161 countries on December 12 . It was time for Cork to shine. Or rather ‘Kark’ as the background graphics had it between acts as they switched between MTV Cork and MTV Kark.

Well, when MTV were in Cork before, they visited the late clubbing mecca Sir Henry’s and, presumably deciding Leeside is a house music town, returned with Gorgon City. The Londoners, accompanied by a live drummer and three vocalists, ran through an uptempo set that had the mostly young crowd giving it their best moves, particularly during the energetic ‘Ready For Your Love’.

The contrast between them and the sophisticated Sade-indebted delivery of Jessie Ware would be an interesting one. Backed by a four-piece band, she strolled casually onstage and launched into ‘Running’.

Those who had been giving it socks now nodded their heads, gurned into their phones and flicked Vs at the swivelling camera cranes overhead. Jessie approved, telling them: “Keep it up. I love it!”

She induced mass hip swinging and gyrating during the limping groove of’ ‘Kind Of… Sometimes… Maybe’, while ‘Want Your Feeling’ had the crowd bouncing. The applause that greeted the final soaring notes of the smoochy ‘Say You Love Me’ showed that she really had crashed Cork’s heart.