The Academic @ Iveagh Gardens, Dublin 19/07/2019

The Academic gave a lesson to much more established bands with their second sell-out show in successive years at Iveagh Gardens. Our writer Garrett Stack reports…

This was my first time seeing The Academic live and shame on me as they have played almost everywhere.

I was expecting a crowd of mostly females in their early 20’s but to my surprise the sold-out show had attracted fans of all ages, though the first few rows were full of young fans who knew every word that was sung by frontman, Craig Fitzgerald.

When they played the first couple of songs; ‘Fake ID‘ and ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends‘, I realised that the songs have got into my subconscious from daytime airplay. This is followed up by ‘Small Town Lovers‘, a power ballad for the post-Millennial generation.

A rendition of Olé, Olé, Olé from Fitzgerald and the audience echoed it back, although it was quickly cut short when the band kicked into ‘Friday, I’m in Love‘ by The Cure.

The audience were only warming up when their big-hitter, ‘Bear Claws‘ got the audience bouncing in groups.

On a side note, it is well worth checking out the Live Looper version of ‘Bear Claws’ below.

The band hit us with another new song ‘Girlfriends‘. Following up the new track, they promised to play beyond the curfew as they rode high on the atmosphere.

It’s only when you see The Academic perform live that you begin to realise why they have achieved so much in just over five years.

In what was a superb 2018 for the band, they supported The Rolling Stones At Croke Park and their debut album, Tales from the Backseat went straight into the Irish Charts at No. 1. They then went on to sell out Iveagh Gardens last summer as well.

2019 has been no different as they headlined the Marquee in Cork earlier this summer. Before coming full circle for another sold out show in Iveagh Gardens again.

All photos by Garrett Stack. Check out the full gallery below.