Dermot Kennedy Ran the Gamut of Emotions on Tuesday

Tuesday night marked the return of Dermot Kennedy to North Texas. His Sonder Tour took over The Music Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, and we can confirm he was worth the three-year wait.

The nearly sold-out crowd erupted in cheers as Kennedy took the stage shortly after 9 p.m., opening the evening with “Blossom” from his latest album Sonder. Some folks in the incredibly diverse audience quietly soaked up the performance; some sang at the top of their lungs; all were mesmerized.
It was easy to see why. The biggest appeal of Kennedy is the unbridled vulnerability in his songs. His gritty voice tells a story through lyrics and rhymes that hit like poetry. Every note is masterfully crafted, nothing about his work is half-baked. His songs are relatable, earnest and hopeful.

Dermot spent a good portion of the evening center stage with his guitar, surrounded and silhouetted by large screens. While ripping into his acoustic guitar during big choruses, he accidentally popped a string early in the show. This might've been a problem for another performer, but Kennedy just brushed it aside and carried on, finishing his song before swapping out guitars.

Early in the evening, Kennedy took a moment to reminisce about a previous performance at Trees, about five years ago, before treating longtime fans to an older track from 2018 titled “Young and Free.”
Throughout the night he did his best to make sure he used the full stage, and with a venue this size it worked. It’s still small enough to feel intimate. We have a feeling he is about to outgrow venues this size, though.

Mid-set, Kennedy slowed things down and performed a couple of songs by himself on piano. The brief set included “Rome,” an emotional roller coaster about a fond memory with a loved one. It had everyone in The Pavilion teary-eyed and silent as he hit the beautiful falsetto notes at the end.

After his two-song piano set , Kennedy picked the tempo back up with tunes “Outnumbered” and “Better Days.” Both were clear frontrunners for audience favorites.
Throughout the night he kept chat to a minimum, sharing a couple of stories about what inspired a song here and there. But are we happy to report that he found time to ask the audience “Was Friday Night Lights a really big thing here? My dog of 10 years is named Riggins.” It’s a show about Texas high school football. Of course it was. Our counter question to Mr. Kennedy would be, “Are any of your songs inspired by the show?” I would bet there is at least one.

The biggest surprise and shakeup of format came when Kennedy got to the final songs, and he let the audience know. There was no fake, planned encore. Just a genuine artist shaking up the played-out tradition of walking off stage, waiting three minutes and coming back out.

Dermot Kennedy’s rise may appear meteoric to some who are just learning about this Irish singer/songwriter. But it has been anything but. Years of hard work busking and perfecting his music have led him to a seasoned, comfortable presence on stage.

He gave the audience everything he had on Tuesday. Running the gamut of emotions from gut-wrenching heartbreak to euphoric joy as he bashed out chords on the guitar, every line felt genuine and unforced. All he ever asked of the audience all night was to sing it back to him on a handful of songs. Ending the evening with a 4,000-person singalong to “Something to Someone,” he left the crowd with all the big feels and chills.