Simple Kid comes home: Cork musician plays first hometown gig in 17 years
Simple Kid, aka Kieran McFeely: first hometown gig in 17 years at Cyprus Avenue this May
The original Young Offender is back in town. Kieran MacFeely - aka Simple Kid - is set for his first Cork headlining gig in 17 years.
Mac Feely will be headlining at Cyprus Avenue on Sunday May 5, with tickets to go on sale on Friday at 10am.
Having made a name for himself in mid-90s indie outfit The Young Offenders, Mac Feely struck out on a solo basis under the Simple Kid moniker in the early-2000s -
Debut album Simple Kid 1 came in for critical acclaim and commercial success, as single Truck On landed in the UK Top 40, while Mac Feely ended up playing Glastonbury and appearing on Later with Jools Holland.
When a second album coincided with changes at home and in the wider music business, however, Mac Feely quietly retired the name and began life as a teacher in the UK.
The Douglas musician told this writer last year: "Changes came along, and some of them were very hard, a lot of financial stuff, young kids coming along, so by the time I came up for air, I was a very different person, with a very different set of limitations. Instead of becoming an alcoholic and buying a Harley-Davidson or having an affair, I set about trying to work it out, really."
A 2018 excursion back into songwriting and home recording, however, resulted in the online return of the Simple Kid name in 2022 - and the self-release of a third self-titled album, comprised of songs written in the period, kickstarted a comeback.
His first Irish gig in over a decade came in for acclaim from gig-goers at Whelan's in Dublin last April.
"To a projected backdrop of 1970s and ‘80s pop-culture clips old singles ‘Truck On’, ‘The Average Man’ and ‘Serotonin’ are rapturously received, but deeper cuts - ‘Supertramps & Superstars’ and ‘The Commuter’ - also inspire mass singalongs," wrote Irish Examiner reviewer Paul McDermott.
"This was a triumphant return, the headful of Bolan-esque corkscrew curls may have long receded but there’s no doubting that the Kid is back."
- Simple Kid plays Cyprus Avenue on Sunday May 6, with support to be announced. Tickets on sale Friday at 10am via Eventbrite.
