The first time I saw The 4 of Us was at the Vicar St in 2006, in and around the time they were promoting the Fingerprints album.
In truth I had missed much of the band’s early successes and with the exception of ‘Mary’ I knew little of their early work. A proper introduction came via their 2003 album ‘Heaven and Earth’, which I rank without exaggeration, as a top 10 favourite album.
They played the Empire Music Hall in Belfast earlier this year as part of a 25th anniversary tour and as a full ensemble and tonight I joined them for an acoustic set as part of the EastSide Arts Festival where they played at the magnificent Strand Arts Centre – the Art Deco homage to the bygone shipbuilding era of East Belfast.
A stunning location for a stunning performance.
The 20-song set began with ‘She Hits Me’ from their ‘Man Alive’ album – hard to believe that the song was a top 40 hit over 20 years ago. It could have been a track from their new as-yet unreleased album and there is a real freshness to their music and you can tell that they just love their day job.
The Murphy brothers share the stage as best friends and are a wonderful compliment to each other – Brendan’s voice is captivating and charming and Declan’s guitar work is a joy to listen to whether it’s the rhythmic strumming or the more intricate playing.
The set list incorporated a few cover versions – The Beatles’, ‘Blackbird’, Tennessee Ernie Ford’s ’16 Tons’, James Taylor’s ‘Traffic Jam’ and their cap tip to Van Morrison on his 70th birthday weekend with ‘And It Stoned Me’. In between they played a selection from their back catalogue including the beautiful ‘Sunlight’ and ‘You Make Me Feel’ from ‘Heaven and Earth’, ‘Blue’ and ‘Into Your Arms’ from 2006 ‘Fingerprints’ and a couple from their forthcoming new album ‘Sugar Island’ which sounds like a compulsory buy.
And of course they played ‘Mary’.
Tonight’s show started at 7.30pm and was over by 9.00pm and whilst there may only have been 100 or so in The Strand Arts Centre tonight, this was easily one of the most enjoyable gigs I have ever attended.
Serious.
The 4 of Us are a very enduring part of the Irish music scene and certainly deserve to be given the widest stage possible. Theirs is the material of movie soundtracks, romantic playlists, Sunday morning chill out or the perfect accompaniment to a home-cooked meal with a few good friends.
Whichever, The 4 of Us are very good.