Dublin band The Scope who have made a name for themselves from perfforming gigs online rather than in real venues, are travelling west this weekend to play a series of concerts in The Quays and in Frank O’Connors.
The band got their name from their unusual practise of performing concerts from their homes and broadcasting them on Periscope to thousands of fans online.
This unique connection to their fans has given them solid fan base, many of whom will be travelling west (and from overseas ) to see them on their Galway gigs this weekend. Indeed, one fan who has travelled from New Zealand to attend the gigs has been in Galway for the past two weeks and is looking forward to at last meeting her heroes in the flesh.
Member Jonathan Foley said the response to their online shows has been phenomenal.
“Billy Treacy (lead singer and guitarist ) was a guy in my class in primary school and having left school in 1983, we didn’t clap eyes on each other until about 30 years later when our paths crossed through music.
“I started playing percussion with Billy and some other musicians in various venues around Dublin and one evening in Flannery’s when we were playing with the talented Megan La Grande (Canadian fiddler ), she introduced us to the concept of Periscope, telling us that she had, the night before, played in her living room to an online audience of 50 people.
“We were intrigued by this and started ‘Scoping’ our gigs (it also eventually led to the band name ). The online live audience numbers varied from less than 100 up to over 23,000 when we recently got featured on Periscope while doing an impromptu ‘kitchen session’ around Christmas time.
“Over the course of our many broadcasts in the last few years, we have built up quite a following of fans from around the world. These fans got to know each other through our broadcasts and tune in to our broadcasts to chat among themselves and enjoy the music.
“Not only that, they have actually arranged to come together in Ireland to meet us and each other. At the moment, we have people coming from the US, New Zealand, Australia, UK, Brazil and, of course, Ireland - and we’re all coming to Galway on the weekend of March 23.
“I think it’s a great example of how music and social media/tech can bring people with a common passion from all over the world to gather in one place and finally meet face-to-face.
The Scope play a variety of music depending on the venue/audience, from ballads to rock and pop, jigs and reels as well as some original material.
“We’ve played in places where you couldn’t swing a cat up to Croke Park before the Dubs game in a double-header, so we’re looking forward to playing in such great venues in Galway,” he said.
