Whelan’s of Dublin and the lives of those there were lit up spectacularly last night by local exceptional musicians Méabh Carron, Mella Carron and Darragh McGrath, or, as they’re collectively known, Carron, and their additional onstage band members when the outstanding trio trotted out onto the venue’s upstairs stage and treated the people present to their truly stellar second show of 2023, following a fab first show of the year in The Sound House of Dublin back in March.
The evening got off to an awesome start with some absolutely superb support by fellow Irish artist Michael Moloney, who spent a splendid half hour wowing spectators with his jaw-droppingly powerful vocal skills and impeccable guitar playing as he irreproachably belted out an inescapably captivating collection of covers and original offerings, including an incredibly touching tune titled “Home” that the extremely talented up and coming singer/songwriter composed for his cousin’s wedding, and the genuine love and depth he so obviously poured into that song – as well as every other self-created song he performed, and the marvellous passion he poured into all of his cover performances – really shined through.
Following that flawless warm-up showcase, the headlining stars of the night descended upon the stage and proceeded to treat attendees to close to an hour of totally and indescribably sublime music.
During the fifty or so minutes that they were in the spotlight, the outstanding trio that is Carron delivered a delightful selection of songs, ranging from tunes that brought attendees back to the band’s, well, roots with classic Carron compositions including “You and I” and tunes from their 2016 Roots EP such as “She’s Fire” to the likes of “Battles Lines”, “Even Sad Birds Sing”, “Numb”, and more recent offerings like “Lights Up”, among other spellbinding compositions, all of which were beautifully and stunningly harmoniously sung by the Carron sisters, with the two siblings’ tremendous vocals talents complementing each other perfectly. At the same time, the extremely impressive instrumental skills of both Méabh and Mella and the exceedingly skilful instrumental work of their guitarist/husband (of Méabh)/brother-in-law (of Mella), Darragh, mixed impeccably with the enormously moving singing and lyrics throughout each tune, with the remarkably majestic outcome of all the above being an absolutely terrific, massively impactful and hugely affecting live set by Carron and the trio’s additional onstage instrumentalists.
As a massive music lover, when it comes to concerts the only thing that fills me with more joy than witnessing a completely superlative live performance is witnessing a completely superlative live performance by a musician or band from my homeland, as it makes me immensely happy and proud to see fellow Irish people injecting excellence into the realm of music, and when it comes to Irish musicians, Méabh Carron, Mella Carron and Darragh McGrath are most definitely in the top tier of completely superlative performers and composers, as was once again evidenced by the genuinely breath-taking musical exhibition they put on in Whelan’s on the evening of Thursday July 20th. With their grippingly gorgeous and astonishingly wide-ranging singing skills, magnificently deep and meaningful and tremendously moving lyrics, astoundingly excellent and totally flawless instrumental talents, and altogether mesmerizingly mellifluous and enormously powerful assortment of awe-inspiring songs, this trio of top-notch artists added another absolutely mind-blowing show to their ever-expanding CV of truly awe-inspiring and unforgettable gigs this week, and I for one can’t wait to witness them showcase their considerable talents live again. If you haven’t seen Carron live yourself yet, do yourself a favour and rectify your error when next the opportunity presents itself. I guarantee you’ll be delighted if you do.
You can check out the video for Carron’s latest single, “Right Time”, below.
“Right Time” is also available to stream and download, along with the rest of Carron’s incredible creations, now.
The photos used in this article were taken by photographer Katherine Reyes.