LIVE FROM THE PIT: Meryl Streek

“And how can this story not break your heart?”

This line from the track Terence, shouted into the audience, did not feel like a statement but a genuine, pleading question to the world. 

MERYL STREEK stepped up onto the stage from the audience, not the last time he was amongst the crowd during the set, as the intro to The Beginning played

“We should not have 150,000 vacant homes,” set the tone for what was about to come, as MERYL paced back and forth across the stage like a barely-contained tiger. Punk guitars drove over electronic soundscapes to take control of the audience and insisted on movement, on action. The lyrics were clearly the focus, the point of it all, but at no point did the set feel like a sermon; it was too raw for that, and there was no moral lesson or even call to action coming at the end. Maybe there was some brief comfort from being in a dark, loud room with people who were frustrated at the same things you were frustrated at; that is what was offered there. 

Though the lyrics shouted about Irish stories, that deep frustration at the systems caused them to reach out to the audience. Predatory gambling businesses, landlords, corruption, and cover-ups; if anything, MERYL STREEK’s specificity about the cases in his lyrics just highlighted how common these stories are, and how angry the public should be about that. 

Diving into the audience again and again, everything about the performance felt off-the-cuff and energetic without forgetting the music itself. It was an impressive balance, never felt over-produced and never lost the thread that kept the sold-out venue moving throughout. Achieving this with a full live band would be notable, but MERYL STREEK was on stage by himself, and the sheer force of his energy filled the entire room all by itself. The show powered forward at an unstoppable pace, and it took us until the next morning to realise that at no point the thought of, “I wish he had a live band with him,” occurred, which is, frankly, the biggest compliment the artist can get.

Words and photos: Adam North