They’d been moving in ever decreasing circles for a while now. Both spent last summer on the festival circuit. At one point, Gerry Cinnamon was added to the line-up at TRNSMT, performing about halfway through the day, on the main stage when Liam Gallagher was top of the bill. Their proper collision was a two man show in a storm. It happened on Sunday.
The Irish rain in Cork had been persistant. A deluge. The kind of weather that can put a blanket of gloom over a place.
The streets and lanes in the city were quiet. The pubs were not.
Liam’s crowd was here. Oasis covers were overtaken by tracks from his first solo album as they swept towards the stadium.
There were veterans and there were new arrivals. Haircuts, Pretty Green, Stone Island, bravado and excitement not yet dampened by the inclement weather.
A sizeable and vocal faction were here to see a new chanter.
Gerry Cinnamon has been whipping crowds into a frenzy across the UK and Europe, playing to larger and larger crowds. He had the support slot tonight.
The instant reaction Gerry elicits from a Glasgow crowd is now replicated far and wide. It’s a rare enough thing these days.
Just before he was due on stage, the stadium was around half empty and silent.
There were some locals bunched together near the front. A calm evening in County Cork.
Then a few things happened all at the same time. There was a slight hint of sun. Just a glimmer. The stage and arena didn’t look quite as grey.
Then the pubs emptied. Not entirely, but enough that, suddenly, in the space of a few minutes, the entire pitch area was covered in people.
Gerry Cinnamon just sauntered on to stage. A quick few chords, a bounce to the left and to the right. That’s all it took.
The crowd were off with Gerry as their conductor, leading them through tracks they seemed to know as if they were their own.
Pyro and tops off and pints spilt and group hugs and arms in the air.
So it continued, ebbing and flowing, reaching a crescendo for Belter, before becoming a party at the end for Discoland.
Then he was gone. One man and his guitar made way for the headliner, Liam Gallagher. He arrived like a Shockwave, revelling in the occassion, prowling the stage, picking a fight with the microphone, keeping the crowd on their toes, drilling through new songs and old anthems, with some assistance from former Oasis bandmate Paul Arthurs.
The sunshine was out now. At least in the stadium.
Both performers will be in Glasgow later this year. Gerry Cinnamon performs at TRNSMT on 12th July. On the same day, tickets go on sale for Liam Gallagher’s gig at The Hydro on 14th November.
Gerry Cinnamon Setlist
- Lullaby
- Sometimes
- Fortune Favours The Bold
- What Have You Done
- Diamonds In The Mud
- Belter
- Kampfire Vampire
- Canter
- Discoland
