By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Tuesday 20 September, tour runs to 25 October 2022

SETLIST: I’ll Be Waiting; Not Usually Like This; F*cked Up All The Time; Endless Nights; Crocodiles; Make Believe; Both Of Us; Yellow; How Do You Know?; Hurt So Bad; Something About You; All For You

There is a magical moment during this gig when Ducrot steps away from his microphone, straps on an acoustic guitar and sits in the audience as he plays a song they will eventually sing along with.

• Read on for reasons including how to see Ducrot performing on his UK tour this year

We think it’s called How Do You Know? (see above) although it’s the refrain which goes something like: ‘I don’t know the words but I’m singing along’ which sees us and the audience joining in despite us never having heard it before.

Such is the charm of Ducrot, playing only his 3rd gig on this headline tour, at this sold-out venue while simultaneously finding himself with his 1st top 30 hit, a song of the week for us in August with the beautiful ballad All For You.

We look back on our notes from the gig the night afterwards and we’ve scribbled ‘Irish Ed Sheeran’. What we mean is that the Cork-born singer and multi-instrumentalist has a way of penning songs that tug at the heartstrings in an impressive voice with gorgeous falsetto while playing multiple instruments.

He’s also got the gift of the gab and we love his onstage banter riffing on his own perceived ‘dad bod’, girlfriends and friends he’s fallen out with.

He explains that he loved studying classical music but left college early because singing here right here, right now in this brilliantly intimate venue is what he really wanted to do.

He plays lots of new songs in this set that we’ve not found on iTunes and he teases that they will be released eventually once the kerfuffle around All For You has quietened and interest in the 25 or so songs he has released already on various platforms has peaked.

It’s not just musically pleasing and Ducrot wows those lucky enough to be in the front row of this venue by borrowing their cameraphones to take selfies from the stage before returning them.

He also charmingly dons a crocodile onesie for Crocodiles and we can tell the heartthrob has a strong female following because we can hear their voices joining in on some of the more catchy songs of which there are many.

A late song that draws on a real-life miscarriage experience shows an understanding of women that will likely send his popularity soaring and soon.

We came here without really knowing what to expect but now we can’t wait to see Ducrot performing again supporting Ella Henderson on her upcoming tour next month.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Cian Ducrot Tickets
• Have you heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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