Saint Raymond brought his festival lead music to Dublin on Friday in order to play two separate shows, one that he was headlining and one as part of the Trinity Ball line-up. Support on the night came from Dublin outfit Darling who had an awkward set with the audience deciding to sit on the floor of the venue.
When Callum Burrows, a.k.a Saint Raymond, hit the stage, most people were up standing and anticipating what came to be an amazing set full of energy-driven songs. People seemed to take a while to adapt to the art of standing again for the first few songs however after sitting for Darling’s set!
Saint Raymond burst into life with his song ‘Letting Go’ though with a lot of movement especially coming from the guitarist on the left hand side of the stage.
After a quick introduction he moved straight into his next single ‘Everything She Wants’, which has been re-recorded for his new EP, ‘Ghosts’. This was followed by yet another new song, this one by the name of ‘Brighter Days’. This is when the crowd began to wake up and start to move to the music. A personal favourite of mine, ‘Thread’, was up next and this song erupted some members of the crowd into a dance frenzy with men jumping up and down and one couple even began to bump and grind to the rhythm of the music.
After acknowledging the burst of energy from these members of the crowd with a cheeky grin Saint Raymond roared into ‘Young Blood’, the lead song from his second EP. This song showcased the whole band as the festival-ready act they are the guitarists screamed along to the chorus along with Callum.
After a rendition of ‘Bonfires’ Callum moved into a slower song, ‘As We Are Now’, about his friends moving away from Nottingham to go to college. He then powered his way through the title track to his new EP, ‘Ghosts’, which showed a more mature sound to his music. The last song of the night was ‘Fall At Your Feet’ which included a very lively jam between the band at the end.
Overall Saint Raymond put on one hell of a show despite a particularly shy crowd. I anticipate big things for Saint Raymond and would not be surprised to see him coming back to Ireland to play the main Academy venue where he supported Haim recently on tour.
In anticipation of his new EP ‘Ghosts’ due out on the 12th of May make sure to check out the video for ‘Young Blood’ below.