Line-up

Venue

Middlesbrough Town Hall

Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QQ, Middlesbrough, UK

www.middlesbroughtownhallonline.co.uk

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Additional details

Tour name: BBC Proms North East

Concert in your area for Indie & Alt and Folk & Blues.

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Villagers biography

Villagers is an Irish indie folk band that crafts atmospheric arrangements to often disquieting lyrics, formed by Conor O’Brien in 2008 in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland.

Prior to forming Villagers, O’Brien had been in the avant-garde rock quartet The Immediate, before their disbandment in 2007. With only two rehearsals under their belt and set list composed entirely by O’Brein, Villagers’ debut performance arrived in 2008 with a show alongside The Chapters at Dublin Wheelan’s. The band’s debut release, the EP “Hollow Kind”, was issued in February 2009 and drew comparisons to Johnny Flynn, Eugene McGuinness, and Conor Oberst. The EP’s four tracks were all composed and recorded by O‘Brien and was supported by opening for Neil Young and Tracy Chapman.

With a growing appeal and a need to fill huge spaces with sound, O’Brien enlisted the help of Tommy Mclaughlin, Danny Snow, James Byrne and Cormac Curran. On top of Villagers touring with Neil Young and Tracy Chapman the group made appearances at a number of festivals in 2009 including Latitude, Oxegen, Indie-pendence, and Electric Picnic.

O’Brien’s debut album “Becoming a Jackal” was issued by Domino Records in 2010 to across the board critical acclaim. The record earned a nomination for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize, and the titled track won O’Brien the coveted Ivor Novello Best Song Musically and Lyrically award in 2011. After the release Villagers embarked on an extensive tour including dates in the U.S., an appearance on “Later… with Jools Holland, and shows at Meltdown, London, Electric Picnic, and Reading and Leeds Festivals.

In 2011 the group released the 12” vinyl “Live at the Workman’s Club”, which features O’Brien playing acoustically with minor piano accoutrements. Following a tour in support of Grizzly Bear at the tail-end of 2012, Villagers released their sophomore album “{Awayland}” in January 2013. Led by the single “The Waves”, “{Awayland}” reached No. 1 in the Irish Albums chart and No. 16 in the UK Albums chart, and was supported by a headlining tour.

Live reviews

I've been lucky enough to see Villagers play a few times, from small intimate shows at Village Underground to afternoon festival slots.

While he is ably assisted by his bandmates the main focus of a Villagers show are the intense vocals of Conor O'Brien. In the live setting the power of his delivery really comes across. You can almost feel every syllable he utters.

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themire

Growing up, folk music was always my favourite genre of music. My parents played it a lot around the house, and I was exposed to it almost daily. I’m still a huge fan of the genre, and hearing it combined with other musical elements is something that really excites me. The Unthanks do exactly this, and have completely mastered it. The duo, the Unthank sisters, have two incredibly studio albums under their belt, and are well known for pitting on an awesome show.

As well as their incredible vocal skills and ability to harmonise in a seemingly effortless manner, both all of the band members play an instrument, and they bring out an eclectic combination of tunes from their respective instruments in each track. Seeing them live was awesome, as we were able to see them switch between complex instruments, and it’s incredibly magical to watch this happen before your eyes.

They played a great variety of their tracks from both Here’s The Tender Coming, and Last, and when they played A Great Northern River, they got everyone on their feet, which was a great experience, and it made the audience totally immersed with the show.

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