Oneside @ Ri Ra Irish Pub

The guys from Oneside traveled down to Ri Ra Irish Pub in Bethesda Maryland on August 15th to play a couple dates in Maryland and Delaware. This was our first opportunity to see the band perform in a bar setting and we were quite impressed. They played three one hour sets - displaying a vast inventory of originals and covers in their repertoire. There was also a good crowd consisting or regulars and friends\relatives of the band - most staying for the last set. Having to travel the next morning, we regrettably only witnessed the first two sets. The first contained many of their originals from First to Last, including "The Letter", "Gotta Go", "Lisa", and "Out of My Tree". The set also contained a few covers we've heard previously (John Prine's Paradise", The Band's Ophelia, and Johnny Cash's "Cocaine Blues") as well as a few new ones: their version of Paul Simon's "If You Be My Bodyguard" was fantastic.

Their second set showed that they were just warming up. They played a Rolling Stones - Paul Simon medley which got the crowd singing and dancing, followed by a few originals, "Last Radio", "Lisa", and "Oh Sun". The later was awesome - the raw version is much better than the polished studio version on the CD. We really liked this band after watching their performance at FloydFest, but in a smaller bar setting - they are really rockin'. They excel in this environment and should only improve as they gain more stage presence. This setting also allows you to focus on their unique sound - the combination of drums, bass guitar, electric guitar and banjo: not bluegrass, not completely rock - just Oneside.