To bad shit

The Irish’s second album Gurriers, “Nobody’s Coming To Save You”opens with the title track and closes with “Crybaby.” What we find in between is one of the albums of the season, although doubts are admitted depending on tastes, philias and phobias. On the other hand, opening with “Nobody’s Coming to Save You” and also closing with “Crybaby”, there is no doubt that their concert in Barcelona was one of the best in the venue so far this year.

What happened between one song and another was a discharge of authentic and furious energy, with just the right moments to take a breath and then return forcibly, to controlled chaos – on stage – and uncontrolled chaos – in the audience. Confident of themselves and of their new album, of which they performed absolutely all the songs, they only needed a few seconds – the forty or fifty of calm before the explosion with which the first song opens. “Nobody’s Coming To Save You”– to warn us that they had arrived not to take prisoners. With “Party Lines” – also the second piece of the concert – they already had us in their pocket.

Despite being young and with a rather short career, they not only show a strong and convincing attitude, but they sound overwhelming, with guitars that cut to the bone like a rusty knife would – hurting, tearing – and a rhythmic base that sometimes makes you dance or knocks you out with a nasty left blow. Each of its five components plays an essential role and shows a different personality, or at least visually different. Dan Hoff, its vocalist, launches phrase after phrase with the conviction of someone who knows that he is singing something important and not just intertwined phrases; Charlie McCarthy, with his queer aesthetic, keeps the machine going hand in hand with Pierce O’Callaghan, much less charismatic, but equally fierce; and guitarists Mark MacCormack and Ben O’Neill function as an unbeatable tandem, with MacCormack making as much noise as possible – the key to that squeaky, noise sound that characterizes much of their repertoire – and O’Neill providing effectiveness from his discretion.

Their second show in Barcelona – in 2025 they were part of the tenth anniversary of the Sala Upload – managed to hang the “sold out” sign and very deservedly so. The public’s response, as it could not be otherwise, was up to par and, at times, surprised the band members, with Dan Hoff who could not get out of his amazement at seeing people hanging upside down from the light structures of the room. Although it was not all scratches, there was also some space for caresses, those that represent both his most accessible song “Top of the Bill” “Come And See” (24) – of which they highlighted the best in this concert: “Nausea”, “Dipping Out”… – like “I Wish I Was” or “Crybaby”, in their forms, not in the bitterness of their lyrics.

Looking back, it was a good idea to dedicate our cover to them a few months ago, because it is evident that Gurriers still have a long way to go and because their live shows, somewhere between the original Fontaines DC and the less monolithic IDLES, deserve everything good we say about them.

And since it is fair to pay attention to the opening acts, we will say that other Irish people opened the night, Really Good Timewho came to present their first album, “Affirmations”published just a couple of months ago. They did not even remotely reach the heights of Gurriers, but they more than fulfilled their role. They sounded more forceful than in the studio, but were able to maintain the personality that some of their songs show. They connected, and that’s enough, although they still have a way to go. And it was funny to see the surprised face of his vocalist and guitarist when he saw the people’s response to his “Bob Dylan Was On Paw Stars in 2010.”