Sunday 19 June 2011

Dead Cat bouncing!

Review: Dead Cat Bounce at Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth, Saturday June 18.


THE name of this Irish band alone brings a smile to the face. But from the moment Dead Cat Bounce walked on to stage until the time they left, tears of laughter were streaming down my face - and the faces of the rest of the audience in the packed Kirkgate Centre at Cockermouth.


Their first number set the tone for the evening:  a song about someone trying to phone a former girlfriend - but who gets the wrong number. And when he finally tracks her down it's to tell her that she ought to get checked out at a sexually-transmitted diseases clinic ("It's not HIV but one of those itchy ones"). And then he asks to speak to her sister!


Other songs featured Christians in love, a narcoleptic blues player and a ballad about gay rugby players. It's easy to see why some might be upset by Dead Cat Bounce and, indeed, the couple sitting next to me didn't return for the second half. But for 99.9 per cent of the audience this was just one of the most uproariously funny acts seen in a long, long time.


Dead Cat Bounce could single-handedly (well, actually there's four of them) rescue Ireland from its catastrophic debt and quickly become the country's biggest export since Guinness or Daniel O'Donnell. Indeed one of their songs details the causes of the sub prime mortgage market crash (it seems we never learned the message of those giant heads on Easter Island!).


It takes more than funny lyrics to entertain an audience and these four guys are skilled musicians and terrific showmen to boot. 


If you hear rumour of Dead Cat Bounce performing anywhere near the Lake District again then start queuing at four in the morning for tickets to ensure you get to see one of the funniest live acts ever (unless you're a sensitive Christian, Rugby player or narcoleptic).


Alan Cleaver



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