London
2 November 2026
A chilly early November evening saw Dublin’s One Leg One Eye return to London, specifically this time to Oxford Street’s 100 Club, currently wedged downstairs between an Ann Summers and a confectionery store. It’s a weird area, and getting weirder, and having the 100 Club still there almost seems like a last-ditch defence against the West End’s ever-increasing commercialisation.
Inside the venue it is only half-full, and many of those clearly Irish. I’m still not convinced the new wave of Irish folk is really taking off this side of the Irish Sea, which is a shame but I’m hoping this changes soon. Support is provided courtesy of Evelyn Gray, who gives us some acoustic balladry and very nice it is too, if a little quaint for my tastes. A few more gig-goers have arrived in the meantime, but the venue is never close to being full. Of course, being a Monday doesn’t help either.
Soon enough One Leg One Eye stalk onto the stage, Ian Lynch to the right on pipes, hurdy-gurdy and electronic gizmos; George Brennan to the left on keyboards and more assorted devices. A mournful pulsing drone introduces “Glistening She Emerges” from the first album, slowly building to a glorious doomy majesty accompanied by Lynch’s pipes. It’s thrilling stuff, the sort of music that raises the hairs on the back of your neck.
Also off the first album is the second song of the set, “I’d Rather Be Tending My Sheep”, a favourite of mine, Lynch’s voice tailor-made to add its own resonant drone to the accompanying instruments while remaining one of the more traditionally delivered numbers in the set. It’s actually quite minimal really, without ever feeling sparse. Beautiful, hypnotic and spine-tingling.
“Many Are My Names Besides” from the new album Crone, brings to the stage Olwen Fouéré, who reprises her frankly terrifying role of the Morrigan from The Ulster Cycle. An insistent drone accompanies Fouéré’s occult invocation, largely provided by Lynch’s hurdy-gurdy this time. Thrilling, frightening and absorbing in equal measure.
The next song of the set I don’t recognise, neither from the band’s two albums nor from the folk songbook more generally, but what follows is “Bold And Undaunted Youth”, a traditional tune and a highlight of the first album. A brooding lament, the tragic tale of a young blade from Dublin who, you guessed it, dies too soon. It’s devastatingly delivered by Lynch’s vocals and accompanying hurdy-gurdy, all laid over Brennan’s doom-laden rhythm.
The final song of the night is “What Birds Will Bear Away In Their Claws”, also the last song on Crone. Electronic squiggles and bleeps lay the foundation for a rising drone before Lynch’s pipes take centre stage with a traditional, and somewhat unexpectedly jaunty, melody. Nevertheless, the drone remains, at times emerging from the background like an air-raid siren and finally pushing the pipes into the background.
The drones break down into a chaotic maelstrom before Olwen Fouéré comes back to the microphone again, to end the performance with a sinister rendition of WB Yeats’s apocalyptic poem The Second Coming. As a final statement, both for this gig and these times, it is perfect: “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
I’m not sure the 100 Club is the right venue for this; it lacks the atmosphere for a band like One Leg One Eye, whose performances are all about mood and setting. When they come to London again, I’d love to see them in St John’s Chapel in Hackney or The Union Chapel in Islington. Still, they were great, very much one of the most exciting bands out there now and wherever they play next, I will surely be there.
-Dave Pettit-
