Playing solo in the Pines: Bell X1's David Geraghty on his new solo album

The Irish rock equivalent of hell freezing over occurred last year when Bell X1 were joined on stage by their former collaborator Damien Rice. The Kildare band were marking their 20th anniversary with a run of valedictory shows. Rice had been a key part in their origin story as their first lead singer (when they went as Juniper).

He left under dramatic circumstances to became a globally-successful solo artist. At Vicar Street, there was a sense of old wounds finally healing. He was heart-warming evidence that, in rock’n’roll as in life, no bridge is beyond mending and that sometimes the past can just be the past.