Bell X1 review: With 'Good Bones' album on the way, Marquee gig feels like a carnival
Bell X1's Paul Noonan live on stage at Live at the Marquee in Cork tonight. Tonight isn't just a victory lap, mind. The band are deep into work on album number nine. Picture: Chani Anderson
The grey skies miraculously clear to allow a shock of blue and proper sunshine to warm the stones as the crowds amble along the Centre Park Rd towards Cork's big top and the open arms of Bell X1.
Town had a carnival feel about it on Friday night.
There's a gang of primary school teachers on their staff night out slurping 99s, gangs with sunglasses enjoying pints outside The Idle Hour and Goldbergs, and tans and teeth everywhere as Cork turns out for Bell X1.
The band need little introduction to this crowd. Four Choice Music Prize nominations and three Irish No 1 albums tell you they're no novelty act, and 2023's proved there's plenty left in the tank. No pigeon-holing these lads — with their genre-hopping set, each one is a crowd-pleaser.
Tonight isn't just a victory lap, mind. The band are deep into work on album number nine, , recorded with producer Josh Kaufman and engineer D James Goodwin at Dreamland Studios in upstate New York.
And where else would you want to debut it, but Ireland's real capital? Cork is among the first crowds anywhere to hear it take shape live.
goes down a storm with the crowd, and the new material sits comfortably alongside the old favourites.
Bright and propulsive was how the band described the lead single — and that describes the buzz in the tent perfectly.
There's a quiet poignancy hanging over this album cycle too. Vocalist Paul Noonan has spoken about making the record in the wake of losing their friend and collaborator Glenn Keating, a process he's described as heightened and cathartic. The Irish Cancer Society is collecting at all their shows in Glenn Keating's memory.
The hits arrive to the adoring crowd, favourites raising the roof include , , and .
It is though that nearly takes the big top off.
Frontman Noonan is in fine fettle, chatting easily with the crowd. He tells us they're coming here for 20 years. And indeed, it's mostly a midlife crowd, those who have followed the band through the venues and the years.
That unmistakable chemistry shows up exactly where you'd expect it, especially when he introduces as a song about the people who make you feel everything is going to be OK, and the tent swing their hearts and their hands towards him.
There's something about The Marquee that suits a band like this — intimate enough for the quieter songs, big enough to let the choruses fly. The sound quality felt patchy at times, but nothing that spoiled the experience.
Bell X1 didn't need to work hard for this crowd; they'd already won them over years ago.
With still to come and dates in Dublin and Galway still ahead this summer, here's to a continued upswing.
June 23 sees the next gig at The Marquee, Two Door Cinema Club, which is sold out, and Five on June 24.
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