Jeremy's Indie Music: Kodaline, Manchester Academy 3, 26th March 2013 7/10

It's impressive when the first support act gets the crowd singing along to songs they haven't heard before. Yet singer songwriter Gavin James from Dublin (above) won over the audience with his self-depreciating banter, and the song he played unplugged proved his lyrical vocal ability. Yet, I'd come to this gig to see the second support act, In The Valley Below from LA on their first tour of the UK. They've just returned from SXSW and their Hymnal EP, to be released on 1st April, had won me over with its mix of blusy rock, folk, and pop syths. This boy girl duo was accompanied by a drummer and keyboard player, and like The Civil Wars have fascinatingly varied backgrounds. When they met, Angie Mattson from Michigan was a pop singer songwriter, whilst Jeffrey Jacob from Tennessee was a hard rock guitarist.

Yet infuriatingly, the balance rendered the vocals practically inaudible for all but the final two songs, by which time the audience had lost interest. This is sad, since there was far more musical ambition here than the other two acts tonight, and their creativity is evident in the on stage persona. This manifested itself in the retro clothing and their expressions as they got lost in the music, instead of trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Yet they made a poor fit stylistically and geographically with the other acts, and I sensed an element of unease on stage as they performed to a somewhat bemused audience. This was reinforced by Kodaline's decision to bring only Gavin James on stage to join them for the final song.

The power of You Tube as a music discovery tool is illustrated by the fact that Kodaline is the first band I've seen since Florence last year that the waiter at my regular pre gig restaurant was familiar with. Their single All I Want has gained two million hits on You Tube and been used in a Google advert, whilst the band has also been featured on Grey's Anatomy. Lead singer Stephen Garrigan quickly established a warm rapport with the audience, and received several marriage proposals from the young audience. Their debut EP was released as recently as September, and an album In A Perfect World is in the works. Yet the confident performance and tight sound betrays the fact that they'd been performing since 2005 under their previous name 21 Demands, and gained a hit in the Irish Chart in 2007.

Kodaline's appeal is based on simple, memorable melodies rooted in their Irish heritage: at times, with Garrigan on acoustic guitar and mandolin, the atmosphere felt closer to Mumford and Sons than rock. The band was relatively static on the small stage, but they led the crowd in some heart warming sing alongs, most euphorically the closing All I Want. Yet I found it difficult to put the originality of last week's The Weeknd concert out of my mind. This is formulaic music, songs frequently starting as a slow ballad and speeding up to a stadium ready, harmonised chorus, with looping bass lines and a light guitar groove. There's a genuine desire to please the audience, but little attempt to challenge or stimulate their creativity.

This was a fun, uplifting night out, and Kodaline can't be blamed for treading the commercially successful path of Coldplay 10 years ago. Within its boundaries, this music is extremely well executed, and clearly provides much pleasure. The fact that Kodaline is no Sigur Ros or Grimes creatively is unlikely to inhibit their commercial or popular success, and my comments in no way imply a value judgement about the merit of different genres.

Kodaline's Set List