Shooting Our Mouths Off

The third and final date of the band’s Irish run took place in Emo, County Laois, where they headlined Forest Fest. Despite not taking to the stage until 11pm, the crowd showed no signs of flagging as they closed out Saturday night.

‘Johnny Yen’ opened for the second time on this short run, ensuring the night got off to a high-energy start. Its driving rhythm set the tone perfectly and, with ‘Ring the Bells’, ‘Waltzing Along’ – complete with Tim’s first trip to the barrier – and the punchy ‘What’s the World’ following, there was no sign of that energy dipping.

A Saturday night festival set is a tricky one at the best of times, but James didn’t lean too heavily on nostalgia. While staples like ‘Say Something’ and ‘Getting Away With It’ were there, so were album tracks. ‘Zero’ made another appearance after being one of the highlights in Killarney, while ‘Heads’ packed one hell of a punch. ‘Beautiful Beaches’ completed a clean sweep by appearing at all three Irish shows this week, its infectiously catchy bass-line and uplifting melody contrasting with its lyrics about the Californian wildfires. Presumably because of the festival’s strict curfew, Debbie and Dave’s drum battle was sadly absent.

‘Stay’ dropped out of the set for the first time this week, leaving ‘Way Over Your Head’ as the only Yummy track. James’ lighting and visuals are always impressive, but they looked particularly striking on the Forest Fest stage, especially during ‘Way Over Your Head’ and ‘Nantucket’. Still unreleased, ‘Nantucket’ has recently settled into the role of encore opener, but here it appeared around two-thirds of the way through the set. Cinematic as ever, the multilayered track received a great reaction, though it still feels better suited to opening the encore. It’s a song that deserves to stand on its own before the final run of crowd favourites.

After the ever-unifying ‘Sometimes’, Tim checked with the crew how much time they had left before explaining that, rather than leaving the stage before the encore, the band would make the most of every remaining minute. All they asked in return was for the crowd to give them the same energy they would have if they’d left and come back on. A closing pairing of anthems, ‘Sit Down’ and ‘Laid’, brought the night to an emphatic end, with the former being led by the crowd for the opening two verses before Tim took over, making his way stage right to interact with fans.