Happy Mondays create cheery Tuesday in Cork gig

Every band needs a Bez. In fact, there’s a case to be made that every workplace in the country could do with the Happy Mondays’ vibes man. Somebody to jump up with a pair of maracas and shake up the energy when things begin to flag.

Sat, 07 Dec, 2019 - 00:00

Des O’Driscoll

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The 55-year-old gets the loudest cheer of the seven band members as he takes to the stage at a packed opener to a three-date Irish tour. It’s not long before he’s into his trademark gyrations and gurnings — presumably his jaws working off the muscle memory of an era when him and singer Shaun Ryder went through more chemicals than an average factory in Ringaskiddy.

Clad in black jacket and black baseball cap, the vocalist himself is a bit more of a brooding presence as he works through the band’s back catalogue. Ryder does remind us that he used to live in Cork, a period in the mid-1990s when he was in a relationship with Oriole Leitch, daughter of folk singer Donovan.

The Cork gig is somewhat a game of two halves. ‘Kinky Afro’ and ‘Loose Fit’ are conspicuously decent among the early part of a set that chugs along without reaching any great heights. The band’s scruffy indie-funk occasionally gets into a groove, with backing vocalist Rowetta providing some melody to complement Ryder.

Proceedings really take off for the final quartet of songs that began with ‘24 Hour Party People’ from 1987. ‘Hallelujah’ and their cover version ‘Step On’ follow as magnificent reminders of how the group — with the help of a bit of polish from the likes of Paul Oakenfold — really did plug into something special in their heyday. A collision of a mad, laddish energy with a drug-fuelled youth culture that had dancing at its heart.

An encore of ‘Wrote For Luck’ closes out the gig and sends the Cork crowd home in flying form, delighted that the Happy Mondays had created a rather cheery Tuesday.