Fionn Regan was nominated for a Mercury Music Award back in July and I thought it was great that an Irish guy with a good album was nominated. Unfortunately he didn’t win and the prize went to the Klaxons. I had seen him play a gig in the Savoy a while back so when he was advertised to play in Cyprus Avenue I booked tickets straight away. Fast forward several months to the 10th of November, the night of the gig. The support was an American singer/songwriter that gave up the American dream when he turned thirty to come to Ireland and pursue a career in music. He played some really good songs and explained that he had stayed in Ireland for longer than he originally had intended because he had met and married an Irish girl. He also said that he liked Irish women because they were so straight forward. At the end of the gig he further endeared himself to the crowd by throwing out a couple of free CDs. This was a good start to the night and the crowd were in good form. Shortly after the support act (whose name I unfortunately can’t remember) left the stage, Fionn Regan arrived. He played a few songs and then encountered a technical glitch with the sound system, so he played one song completely acoustically and without a microphone. It didn’t seem to faze him and the crowd even managed to stay quiet for it. He had an excellent drummer with him but the guy seems to make involuntary faces while drumming. The weird thing was that when he played the piano he kept a completely straight face, anyway I think he was probably the best drummer that I’ve seen in a while. Fionn played some more good songs and then after about 45-50 minutes he left the stage and everyone duly applauded until he came back on for an encore. The encore consisted of one song ‘Be Good or Be Gone’ and then he literally was gone off the stage carrying a little suitcase!!! I won’t be rushing to see Fionn Regan again if he can’t be arsed playing for a decent length of time despite the fact that he is a good musician.