Us here at RMI have been following Carlos’ career with interest ever since he first hit the scene as a 16 year old busker on the streets of Cork in 2018 so you can imagine our excitement when he announced on his Facebook page (which is just called Carlos Barat Musician in case you are wondering) that he was going to be playing in The Button Factory in Dublin.
He is known for his energetic live performances and I could certainly see why as he ran onto the stage with an enthusiastic cry of Hello Dublin! It is often hard for a solo performer to hold the attention of the audience, especially in this day and age with so much technology our attention spans are a lot worse but Carlos did a remarkable job of it.
He began his set with one of his most popular songs, Lesser, which tells the story of a young man being bullied in school inspired by Barat’s own experiences when he was younger and how he overcame it. An inspirational and moving performance.
The rest of the set was excellent , maybe with the exception of the inclusion of a new song Close the door which is a ballad which (or so it felt!) lasted for about 10 minutes and had a less than memorable tune. He finished with what is undoubtedly his most well known song If it was which had the audience singing along with tremendous enthusiasm.
I would say, based on the audience in the Button Factory and from what I have sen online that the primary audience for Carlos Barat consists of ,mainly teenage girls who are probably drawn to Barat not only because of his music but also his curly hair and tendency to remove his shirt towards the end of his gigs- I think it’s safe to say he attends the gym more than I do!
So would I recommend Carlos Barat to you? The answer is yes definitely he is an exciting live performer with a unique sound so go check him out!
Reviewing Music in Ireland 