“Never regret yesterday. Life is in you today, and you make your tomorrow.” That’s a bad quote from famous author/cult leader L. Ron Hubbard. It is not a bad quote because it was Hubbard who said it. No, it is bad because it proves that Hubbard was not only a kook but he obviously never went to concerts.
I find new music from a select few outlets I trust and recommendations from other artists I like on Instagram. It is not the easiest way to find new stuff and it means I miss some artists and albums. I manage. Except once.
In 2023 I stumbled across En Attendant Ana. They are an indie pop band with roots in punk rock and they are all from, and live in, France. With catchy hooks, fun music and the hypnotizing vocals of lead singer Margaux Bouchaudon, I was drawn into a love for the band’s music that I carry with me today.
That discovery was on a Monday. The day before, En Attendant Ana played their last show of a US tour that took place two hours up the highway in Cleveland. I am putting it lightly when I say I was distraught.
Over the next six months, I tried to fill the void. I bought all their albums and even found a couple of them in the overflow bins at Used Kids Records.
There was absolutely nothing I could do about missing the concert, except discover them a day or two earlier. Instead of researching time and alternate universes, I made a pact that I cannot miss concerts of European bands that I even partially enjoy. You never know when you will get that chance again, then add the geopolitical environment of the United States today and the likelihood of bands traveling to this country to lose money on a tour, and possibly not even make it out of the airport, lessens those odds greatly.
Tuesday night at A&R Music Bar, Orla Gartland blessed a nearly sold-out crowd with a set that you should regret missing. I almost did. Gartland’s music is new to me in the last month or so and my pact, like many things over the years, lacked some resolve. With other concerts close to it on my personal calendar, I was going to stay home and I am ecstatic that I ignored those thoughts.
The morning of the show, I paid more than I wanted to for a ticket (thank you PromoWest fees) and walked into what became my favorite concert of the year. That is not recency bias or a way to make you regret missing the concert even further.
Fightmaster opened up the night. E.R. Fightmaster played a 30-minute set with a second guitarist. Born in Cincinnati, Tuesday was as close to a home show Fightmaster had as they supported Gartland’s tour.
As purely a spectator to their prolific life in entertainment, I do not know anything they cannot do.
Fightmaster co-hosts the Jockular podcast, recently became the first non-binary cast member of Grey’s Anatomy and is a writer, producer and director. On top of that, Fightmaster also writes about sports. Add creating spectacular music to their resume.
They played through an abundance of fog, which required both musicians on stage to comment on it and drink more water than normal. As I watched, I wondered at moments how they could see what they were doing, but that is why people practice these things.
Early in the set, Fightmaster set the tone by warning the crowd that they have a kink for writing songs that make themselves cry. Through the set, they alternated between songs they classified as sad or horny, with some hard to classify.
“Emmett” was not one of those songs. It was the highlight of the set because of the sheer emotion of the lyrics and how it visibly impacted Fightmaster. It is a song written to their father about Fightmaster’s transition. With lines like “last time we were close, I was still a daughter,” which hit me like a gut punch.
“Maybe it’s not the ache that
Hurts anymore, it’s the lack of the ache
Did you know I changed my name?
But only the first, I kept ours the same”
The recorded version of Emmett on Fightmaster’s 2024 “Bloodshed Baby” EP uses a full band but with only the two guitars it elevated the lyrics to more of the forefront.
Sad or horny, each song featured the smooth vocals of Fightmaster that carried the listener through all sorts of stories of their life. They capped it off with “Bad Man” from the 2023 “Violence” EP, a song about taking a man’s love.
“He wants his free dinner, but it’s my time to eat
May not have good manners but I’ve been practicing ‘please’”
Then later in the song’s chorus:
“Your man thinks I’m a bad man and I’m sure he’s right
Well, your man’s gone for the weekend and I’m here tonight”
Time does not exist inside a concert venue. When technicians or the band are setting up equipment, and you are waiting for the next set to start, it takes forever. The minutes stand still. When Fightmaster started their set, it felt like it was over immediately because when the music hits right the numbers on the clock do not mean anything, it’s only the music.
After an agonizing 30 minutes of watching the clock, Gartland stepped onto stage to Bonnie Tyler’s classic “Holding Out for a Hero,” which is a great song and fitting for Gartland’s 2024 release “Everybody Needs a Hero,” the Irish indie pop singer’s second LP. It is also the first LP she released independently, which Gartland defined as “having less money.”
Gartland has an energy on stage that you cannot fake. At least nobody in the crowd could tell if she was, myself included. The singer/guitar player, with bass and drums backing all but one of the songs of the set, mastered the roller coaster style of set progression.
It began with “SOUND OF LETTING GO,” an industrial sounding pop song that went into the fast and driving of “Kiss Ur Face Forever.” Following a brief stint of songs that can go well on any party playlist, Gartland shifted to the acoustic guitar.
What also stood out about Gartland is how receptive the artist was with the audience. When she brought out the acoustic, a fan in the audience yelled for the song “Mine,” and Gartland did not laugh it off or nod her head. Instead, Gartland said it was coming up later in the set. Gartland had conversations from the stage. It was a band performing on a stage to a loaded room of people but she did not look past the people. Gartland played and interacted directly to their faces.
When the crowd hit levels of “woooo!” that I have not experienced in a while, Gartland sent the “woooo!” right back.
In terms of new music, Gartland played “Now What?” a new single from the upcoming deluxe edition of the 2024 LP. Then, Gartland thanked the crowd for the slower part of the set, including other new tracks and a few songs from her 2021 “Woman on the Internet” release. In return, Gartland played her lone cover of the night, Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova,” which the crowd ate up.
Gartland is not in the same stratosphere that Roan currently occupies, but it is not because of a lack of talent, work ethic and passion. Watch Gartland and no one can convince me otherwise that she cannot be as big as Roan.
After “Backseat Driver,” where Gartland brought two fans on stage to hold up signs for the sing and repeat portions of the evening, Gartland went back to her 2021 debut LP with “Zombie!” It required everyone in the crowd to bend down to the ground. I did not at first, but the peer pressure that motivated me to tell my knees they would not dictate where I can go worked.
Before the pre-encore set ended, the crowd booed Gartland, including her backing band. It was all in jest as Gartland warned the crowd that she was about to do the tried-and-true tradition of the encore. “Late to the Party” capped it off, an extended version that included a Gartland move to the drums where she showed that she can do no wrong.
To end the evening, Gartland played three tracks, which started with “Mine” to fulfill the earlier request. Gartland returned alone for that one, which she said means it was about to get emotional. The awareness to call out the tropes of concerts that everyone has come to accept and appreciate was a great touch throughout the night. Gartland shared her art with passion and emotion, but also did not take herself too seriously.
The three-song encore ended with a loud, deserved, ovation. I made my way to the merch table as quickly as I could, to beat the rush and go home to ice my knees since I bent down, but there were no records remaining to sell that night. In the world of regrets, it was a pretty small one.
