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Rostrevor-born singer-songwriter Matt Benson who took part in last year’s Iúr Cinn Fleadh joined a mighty line-up of bands and artists who rocked Warrenpoint at the Spring Bank Holiday bonanza Blues On The Bay.
A member of George Ezra’s band, Matt has performed on some of the world’s biggest stages and supported award-winning band Kila at Newry’s 2025 Fleadh. This time round, he commanded the stage at the Skylite Room, Duke Street, on Bank Holiday Monday partly by sharing stories from his touring days. ‘I have a story behind each song,’ he admitted. Those tales included driving across the Arizona desert and breaking wind on the tour bus.
However, Matt is a serious artist in his own right as well as a very entertaining storyteller. He performed tracks from his excellent debut album Sit Back Down Again and tried out some brand new compositions with the home crowd.
Some of his friends and family were in the audience including his three-month-old son Oscar. ‘That would explain why I’m a bit tired,’ Matt joked.
With the soulful balladry of John Legend and the introspective melodies of an early Elton John, Matt had the audience in the palm of his hand.
Even though he kept saying he was nervous, Matt was also comfortable and confident enough to create loops using his audio workstation as he added layers of piano, vocal and even some delicious freewheeling notes on the trombone. When people responded with loud applause, Matt was visibly relieved to find his new material and improvised sequences worked.
Just as he is a multi-instrumentalist, Matt was also multi-layered emotionally during the gig. One minute he was hilarious warning us that the Apocalypse is coming, led by robot armies and the next minute he was deeply moving, talking about the loss of his older sister Catherine. He sang his album’s title track Sit Back Down Again, which is about that experience. ‘What grief does to a family is insane,’ he said. ‘It’s like a nuclear bomb going off in the house.’
Some material displayed a darker edge of the human condition, such as what he called his ‘horror song’ The Well Dressed Gentleman. One chilling line said, ‘I’m not so well dressed on the inside’. It is a very well crafted composition with a brooding atmosphere.
Matt also paid a warm tribute to his late father with the song Glory. ‘When I was 19 years old, dad took me aside one day and said, “I think it’s time for you to go and have adventures with your life”,’ Matt told the audience. ‘I took my trombone and went to London.’ In Matt’s own words, the message of the song is ‘you should go for it, go for your dreams and do your best’.
In keeping with his father’s mantra, Matt led us on an adventure in sound. What a great night at an excellent festival in sun-kissed County Down. Blues On The Bay also featured a stunning set from Galway legend Mary Coughlan whose jazzy sounds were boosted by some blistering guitar work from Jimmy Smyth. Indeed, there was a whole host of strong performers at the weekend spectacular, including Pat McManus, The Unholy Gospel Band and the Bluez Katz Blues Band.
