Dexys in Dublin review: Theatrical performance as Kevin Rowland’s ever-singular vocal is tender and powerful

Dexys Midnight Runners

3Olympia★★★★☆

As Kevin Rowland and the rest of Dexys Midnight Runners walk on stage to Ennio Morricone’s Deborah’s Theme, the tone is set for a reflective yet celebratory exploration of a life’s journey.

The show opens with the dusky I’ll Always Love You, and Once a Man, Twice a Child has a moving intensity – an elegy for Rowland’s late father, it is tender and powerful, showcasing Rowland’s ever-singular vocal.

“Welcome home,” someone from the audience shouts up. “Bless ya, it’s good to be home,” Rowland replies, as they storm through much of Love, Dexys most recent record. From the silkiness of You’ve Got the Love to the playfulness of It’s Over Now, they roam around key musical influences with ease, folding in freckles of doo-wop, soul, Irish folk and punk.

Old Love is disarming, a waltzing, piano-led ballad about the complexities of ageing, it contains a shattering vulnerability, but Rowland has always been interested in exploring pressure points, others’ and his own, as he shouts “rise up!” in radiant protest on My Life in England, Pt 2.

Tracing Rowland’s terms of engagement, his own version of “rising up” over the decades is to be found in the dazzling instrumental The Teams that Meet in Caffs from 1980’s Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (where the brass section has never sounded better), to the stirring Liars A to E from 1982’s Too-Rye-Ay. A theatricality is woven into everything, but its presence only amplifies the truth of Dexys’ sound – with the brilliant covers of Curragh of Kildare and Van Morrison’s Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile) proving the point.

Rowland tells us that Burn it Down was a response to a racist in 1970s Birmingham “calling Irish people stupid”. It has never sounded more potent, partly because it is such a joyful riposte to hate – as he lists off some of our greatest writers, from George Bernard Shaw to Edna O’Brien, he roams around the stage like a man both possessed and self-possessed.

He has always had this self-possession, from codifying the aesthetics of the band to its sound, and we are brought back to its central tenets with the sloping brilliance of Geno. We are told that Geno Washington of The Ram Jam Band is still around and “still inspiring”, reminding us that Dexys often mine the most interesting references.

[ Kevin Rowland: ‘I wish I’d stuck to my guns more, not be influenced by people who didn’t get it’Opens in new window ]

As the familiar strains of the fiddle preface Come on Eileen, there is an explosion of collective thanks from the audience – it remains an exuberant gem of catharsis for the romantics. As the chants of “Geno” start up again in the crowd, Rowland and the rest of the band stride back on to the stage, and, visibly moved, he sings a verse a cappella, before switching to the epic, visionary creativity of This is What She’s Like. As he waves a Mayo jersey as well as goodbye, we are brought right back to the deep roots of his storied pilgrim’s journey.