Stereo MCs / EMF – at Cyprus Avenue, Cork 13.12.2024

To Cork then, on a Friday before Christmas, for what the casual observer might cruelly describe as two one hit wonders from thirty years ago.
Indeed, some 34 years ago, I saw both these bands on the same bill. Thronged with people of a certain age, dazzling in their sparkly christmas attire, there’s a party atmosphere in Cyprus Avenue.
Long since freed from commercial pressures and no longer weighed down by the heft of being that Unbelievable band.

EMF are a band having fun, and that’s infectious; a blast through their back catalogue, interspersed with covers; I’m a believer that they released with Vic Reeves, a medley of rave anthems,
and more curiously, a version of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough, but there’s enough of their own material to remind that they actually had other hits apart from the one you’re thinking of.
The band are curiously polite, checking if they are allowed to swear, before doing so profusely.

Stereo MCs go early with the big hit but they take a somewhat more serious approach than EMF’s high jinks, but the set is well received nonetheless; half from the Mercury nominated hit album, and half from the rest of the back catalogue.

EMF photos and set-list:

Set-list:
The Day the Music Died
I Believe
Lies
Reach for the Lasers
Children
Long Summer Days
Just Can’t Get Enough (Depeche Mode cover)
Unbelievable
I’m a Believer (Neil Diamond)
Inside
EMF

Stereo MCs photos & set-list:

Set-list:
Fade Away
Everything
Black Gold
Pressure
Connected
Changes (Adam Port)
On 33
Elevate My Mind
Step It Up
Place (Adam Port)
Running
Lost in Music
Creation
The Here & Now
Deep Down & Dirty
Ground Level
________________
The End
Sketch


Photos & words – Ian Davies – @shootspeedkilllight