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Ciaran MacFeely, aka Simple Kid, has a problem. Approximately 30 seconds into the first half of a two-part set, his keyboard has screwed up. Hence the "electronica" part of the set has to be abandoned and replaced by an extended one-hour alt-country set. D'oh...still, while his band set up behind him, the Kid quickly keeps us all entertained by playing former single "Average Man" to the tune of "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath. Respect.
Having served his early time with late '90s glam-punks the Young Offenders, Ciaran is now clearly taking more of his cues from Beck than Marc Bolan and he and his band put on an extremely competent showing tonight with tunes like "Staring At The Sun", "I'm From The Country" (formerly "I Am Rock") and "Kids Don't Care" getting a more melodic overhaul and sounding none the worse for it. Add to that some excellently heartfelt renditions of old C&W standards "The Miners' Refrain" and Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" and those claims that MacFeely might well be the British answer to Mr Hansen seem a lot less ridiculous than you might think.
He finishes off by inviting members of the audience up on stage for a Simple Kid karaoke. Like most of his set tonight, it shouldn't work but it does. And there, in one short sentence is the reason why Simple Kid is a true star in every sense of the word. The world may not know it yet but with the Top 40 now broken, one can but hope that it's only a matter of time before it does.
Review and pic by Andy James
