Death, Taxes and Cast doing a gig at The Limelight. Except, it wasn’t Cast, it was John Power on his own, and it was at Mandela Hall.
For me, it would be my first visit to the newly rebuilt Mandela Hall, although I already had a nosey about the Student Union Complex in early October. This would be my first concert there.
I can’t actually remember much about their performance, if they good or bad or somewhere inbeteeen.
If I needed refreshing, they were very good.
Turns out, they were also organising the event, with their singer Paul Doherty being the brains behind Foodstock.
They arrived on stage in branded bibs that staff were wearing, no time to change.
As fans waited for John Power, an automated playlist of 90s classics played out over the speaker.
The song that was being played as John Power entered the stage was Walking On The Milky Way by OMD. Quite ironic as they were the last band I saw play at Mandela Hall.
Power entered the stage sipping on a glass of wine, preparing to sing songs that have aged like a fine wine.
As he was in a Student Union Bar, I have my doubts that he was sipping on a fine wine.
His involvement in this was simple, he was asked.
Literally, just asked if he fancied coming along and he said yes.
Power praised the spirit of the festival, and wants to do his own version.
Straight to the point, playing the hits of Cast, songs such as Finetime, Alright, Walkaway and Flying.
At the end, he threw his setlist into the crowd, being caught by someone celebrating her birthday.
The big sash saying “Birthday Girl” on it was a bit of a giveaway.
February 2018 began with a trip to The Limelight, a first proper concert of the year, to see Shed Seven supported by John Power.
That was followed the following midweek by a trip to Warrenpoint to see Linfield take on Warrenpoint Town.
The following Saturday, was Linfield’s 0-0 draw with Dungannon Swifts.
The following week was very busy, with Paul Weller at Ulster Hall followed by Ulster v Edinburgh and then Cliftonville v Linfield.
The weekend after that was a trip to the seaside, to see Linfield take on Ards.
That was then followed by a midweek trip to Windsor Park to see Linfield lose to Glenavon.
Around that time, it was getting cold. So cold, there was the possibility of snow. That didn’t come until March 1st, so you’ll have to wait until next month’s round-up to see that.
Arriving on stage ten minutes late sipping a cup of tea, John Power told the crowd at The Limelight that he was “Caught unaware”, as he was joined by bandmate Jay Lewis, as half of Cast supported Shed Seven.
Back at the end of last year, Shed Seven were on tour, named Shedvember or Shedcember depending on the month, with Cast as the support act.
That tour didn’t include a Belfast gig. This was a bonus gig added when their Dublin gig was postponed, and half of Cast were able to make it to Belfast to support The Sheds as they finished off the tour a bit later than anticipated.
The cup of tea that Power was sipping from featured the artwork to Screamadelica, and Power stated that it belonged to Bobby Gillespie, that he left it there. He didn’t say if it had been in The Limelight since 2013 or 2016.
Power asked the crowd if they wanted hits, they replied yes, so he gave them hits.
Finetime lost a bit through the absence of drums, but still sounded brilliant. What we had was a condensed acoustic singsong through Cast’s back catalogue – Sandstorm, Live The Dream, Guiding Star and Free Me.
Flying was cut short to accommodate other songs, as a voice from the side was telling Power that the set was almost over, to which he replied “Eight minutes? Let’s make it ten”
Power and Lewis left the stage and didn’t return. The last time Cast played The Limelight, they played no encore, which caused a bit of unrest. Thankfully, there was no unrest this time. We were all perfectly warmed up for Shed Seven.
It might seem like The Limelight is hosting a month long 90s revival festival, as I headed there for the third time in just over a week, this time to see Cast, just over a year since they were last in Belfast, also at The Limelight, in October 2015.
Unsurprisingly, it was a hits heavy set, it’s easy to forget that they had ten Top 20 singles between 1995 and 1999.
The highlight for me was Finetime, which sounds as good live as it does on record. One of my favorite songs ever, not just amongst Cast songs.
Their hits during their chart heyday were always catchy, with the crowd being able to recognise and sing along within seconds of the band starting to play.
It’s wasn’t all old stuff, there were some new songs as well, as the band have a new album out in February called Kicking Up The Dust, with the title track being played as well as Birdcage and Roar. Birdcage was the highlight of the new songs played.
John Power took the time to tell the crowd about his walk around Belfast earlier that day, that all he could see was people wearing Christmas Jumpers, hitting home for him that Christmas is approaching.
As the band played their final song, John Power said “See you soon” and walked off the stage. Each band member left individually leaving drummer Keith O’Neill the last one on stage, entertaining them with a drum solo.
If Cast split up again, he could always go on a solo tour.
Then, followed confusion, as the fans awaited what the expect an encore. It soon became apparant there was going to be no encore, which prompted boos from a section of the crowd.
Belfast is a city of poets and thinkers with a unique grasp of the English language, and a gentleman beside me eloquently summed up his thoughts when he shouted at the empty stage “THAT’S FUCKING SHITE ………. SO IT IS”
It was a disappointing end to an otherwise decent gig.
Analogue Boy In A Digital World 