Fionn Regan's trips to Brighton are always a pleasure to behold, not least because he manages to draw a far more attractive crowd than any other artist. This visit was no disappointment, shaggy haired, well-dressed boys cradled effortlessly beautiful girls in their arms in anticipation of the tiny Irishman's appearance. Diverting attention away from the tall girl whose blond locks tumble carelessly down her back is no mean feat but Gloria Cycles succeed with ease. Their fronting boy/girl duo competing for who can be the more striking, him looking like a chipper fighter pilot with wartime quiff, regimented moustache and piercing eyes whilst her slender frame, glitzy shoulderpads and angular hair style receive equal attention. Both their look and music is difficult to pin down, shifting from one genre to another with barely a stop for breath keeps the early arrivers on their toes and entertained.
A short interlude follows with an interesting mix of dubstep and country played to the assembled Regan fans and attention is drawn away from the stage transition to a girl with huge round eyes and skin as pale and pure as the driven snow. Danny And The Champions Of The World make a valiant attempt to snatch the focus back but with only four of their huge band the delicate acoustic songs available on their myspace sound bare. They happen to also be Fionn's backing band for this tour and they excel at this duty, even the red head with a cute gold hair band can't negate the headliners presence. He appears clad in circulation threatening trousers, collarless paisley shirt and a waistcoat propping up his huge bowl of hair that bobs around enthusiastically with even the slightest movement of his head. His set is a fair split between new material that will presumably appear on his forthcoming 'The Shadow Of An Empire' album and old favourites that elicit verbal appreciation from the crowd. His new material is a lot more energetic than the old, whilst still the frontman he merges more with the band allowing the instrumentation to grab the fore as often as his distinctive lyrics. The vibrancy of these songs is driven by a new anger that's present in 'Violent Demeanour' containing the lyrics "I have a violent demeanour" which Fionn spits out with a snarl. This new style acts as juxtaposition to his earlier work but he's undoubtedly at his best when Danny & Co dismount from the stage and allow him to expose his heart with just a guitar for company. In these moments he can really draw the crowd in as he disappears into a world of his own and leads them with him. He performs a couple of solo songs and the spell is only broken when the band join him again and close the set out. Surprisingly even the encore doesn't show any signs of favourite 'Be Good Or Be Gone' appearing. It finally finds its place in the second encore where Fionn has decided out of the two he's going to be good because the sound guy is telling him he should have been gone ten minutes ago. He opts for a Gibson 'Flying V' for his classic and closes the night on a new acoustic track about the Napoleonic War full of his trademark wit, intelligent rhyme and nonsensical structure to everybody's delight.
Fionn Regan - Be Good Or Be Gone on Spotify
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