There are few better settings for an artist called Kate Nash to strip things back than Cleere’s Bar & Theatre. On 5 October, the historic Kilkenny venue played host to Nash’s Intimate Irish Shows tour, delivering exactly what the title promised: a close up, characterful night where the distance between performer and audience seemed to disappear.
Opening the evening were Derry acoustic singer-songwriter duo Tessio, who made an assured impression with a set built around warmth, harmony and understated songwriting. Their acoustic approach suited the room perfectly, drawing the audience in rather than demanding attention, and providing an engaging introduction to the evening ahead.
When Kate Nash took to the stage, the atmosphere shifted almost instantly. With a career spanning nearly two decades, Nash has amassed the kind of catalogue that can move effortlessly between sharp observational humour, romantic vulnerability and full on indie-pop exuberance. In the intimate surroundings of Cleere’s, those qualities felt particularly vivid.
The stripped back setting allowed Nash’s personality to become as important as the songs themselves. Stories, humour and candid moments between numbers gave the performance a wonderfully conversational quality, while the familiar songs carried an added emotional weight without the scale and spectacle of a larger venue.
What made the night work so well was its sense of connection. This wasn’t simply an artist performing to a room, it felt more like Nash had invited the audience into her world for the evening. Cleere’s compact surroundings amplified every lyric, laugh and musical detail.
For fans, the Intimate Irish Shows tour offered something beyond nostalgia, a chance to experience Kate Nash’s songs in their most immediate and human form. In Kilkenny, it proved that sometimes smaller really is better.
Tessio photos & set-list:
Set-list:
Wastin
Knock Upon My Door
Tara
Hey Doll Baby
She Used To Love Me
Hang It On My Back
Kate Nash photos & set-list:
Set-list:
Famine (Sinéad O’Connor cover)
Cailín
Take Me to a Higher Plane
Mouthwash
Spilt Milk
Freedom of Me
Germ
You’re So Cool, I’m So Freaky
Free My Pussy
Rage
Foundations
Photos & words – Ian Mc Donnell @mcgigmusic
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