Other Voices Derry/Londonderry - Damien Dempsey, SOAK, Savages & Neil Hannon

Derry/London Derry welcomes Other Voices to its new temporary home for the first night of three musical festivities.

It's happening. For ten years, Other Voices has coaxed others to the westerly tip of Dingle, Kerry for a celebration of music and song with the TV cameras on proceedings.

Other Voices then became the subject of the coaxing as Derry UK/Londonderry City Of Culture team invited Other Voices to its hometown.

Last night, the months of hard work and preparation could be seen, and most importantly heard, in venues of the city as the likes of The Depravations, September Girls, Droids, Neon Wolf and Seven Summits welcomed all with song.

Like Dingle, where the St. James Church offers the intimacy required for the singers and players to perform for the camera, The Glassworks building on Great James Street housed the main event where Damien Dempsey, SOAK, Savages and Neil Hannon performed. Its church hall environs were a familiar comfort to Other Voices regulars and the extra capacity and size allowed a slightly more relaxed atmosphere to permeate the room.

The big man from Dublin, Damo Dempsey was first up and he took to his place on the stage in the habit of his former pursuit as an amateur boxer, exhaling deeply, broadening those shoulders and looking like a man keening to jab the microphone.

A formidable figure he may be but he lays out a relatable realism in his work. His songs are about the virtue of 'Patience', his friends who committed suicide because they couldn't/wouldn't talk to someone 'Chris And Stevie', and the importance of keeping yourself positive 'Bustin' Out Of Here' ("as my buddy Sparky told me 'don't beat yourself up Damo, there's plenty of people that'll do that for you'," he explained from the stage.) "Singing is therapeutic, so sing your heart out," he offers before playing his well-known song "Sing All Your Cares Away". Damo offered solace in a now hopeful place and inspires others to express themselves.

Bridie Monds-Watson aka SOAK was the first to admit her timing couldn't be better. After not much more than a year of writing folk songs as a 16-year-old, she was invited to Other Voices in Dingle in December (watch).

In the 70 days or so that have passed, her visibility has increased tenfold in the UK music industry. Those days have emboldened Bridey's spirit and performance too. In Dingle, she sat to sing. In her hometown venue of the Glassworks last night, she stood. From confidently meek to commandingly singing her heart out. Her youthfulness is apparent and endearing but its the simplicity of songs like 'Explosion' that is her biggest asset.

The only thing that would have made the set better was if Bridey's promise of donning a Dragon suit to play if she reached enough Twitter followers. She did but alas, the suit didn't arrive in time.

While SOAK is helping a city with a troubled past redefine itself with fresh voices, a hometown veteran Neil Hannon wastes no time in addressing the city's naming dispute in elegant fashion with his Divine Comedy 1998 Fin De Siecle song 'Sunrise'.

"I was born in Londonderry / I was born in Derry City too / Oh what a special child / To see such things and still to smile / I knew that there was something wrong / But I kept my head down and carried on."

After that stirring rendition, Hannon was joined by his partner in banter Thomas Walsh and his band Pugwash who served as backing band for a set which featured songs from The Divine Comedy's discography - 'Bad Ambassador', 'A Lady Of A Certain Age' , 'At The Indie Disco' and the rollicking travel-centric highlight 'National Express'.

There was even time for a 'Meeting Mr Miandad' from Walsh and Hannon's Duckworth Lewis Method album about cricke. Of course, with Hannon and Walsh, the witty banter is centre stage but it never gets in the way of a good tune.


In between the local heroes, London's Savages served up a set of austere rock inspired by '80s Manchester. The influence of Joy Division and their ilk is all over the gothic cold wave tones of the band from the razor thin bass notes to the jarring guitar riffs. They have a magnetising drummer too, whose robotic rhythms were central to the performace.

Singer Jehnny Beth takes her cue from the jittery stage presence and paleness of Ian Curtis and the nervous energy of Suicide's Alan Vega but adds a far-reaching choral range of a trained singer to create a voice all her own. Savages stood out with their jutting intensity.