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Picture this

An explainer for people who don't know who Picture This are or how they sold out the 3Arena

“Am I out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.”

THIS MORNING, Athy duo Picture This managed to sell out a gig in Dublin’s 3Arena in three minutes and put on an extra date due to demand.

Fans took to social media to boast about securing the much sought after tickets while others bemoaned the scourge of Seatwave.

But there’s also a cohort of people who are utterly baffled by Picture This and their rapid ascension. ”How have two lads from Athy managed to come seemingly out of nowhere to headline festivals and sell out shows in the 3Arena? Who are they?”

Let’s start with the basics. Who even are Picture This?

Picture This are a band from Athy, Co. Kildare, comprised of singer Ryan Hennessy and drummer Jimmy Rainsford, who previously toured with Ryan Sheridan. The pair are childhood friends and began recording together in October 2015.

As for what their music is like? Think Kodaline, The Coronas or Ed Sheeran.

They seemed to appear out of nowhere. Did they?

Kind of.

Picture This landed their first big break when they released their song Take My Hand to YouTube. The enterprising duo recorded a video on an iPhone, shared it to YouTube  and Facebook where it quickly racked up millions of views. (It now has 2.6 million views on YouTube and 1.7 million views on Facebook.)

Picture This / YouTube

As Rainsford told Kildare Now at the time:

Ryan wrote the song and the two of us got together in my studio and recorded it. Then we had the idea for the video and we filmed the video in two days ourselves, with a friend of ours Rachel Eustace and we got it up online really quickly.

In other words, it was all fairly organic.

pt

Then what?

After developing a rabid online following, the duo played their debut Dublin show in April 2016. They subsequently embarked on a nationwide tour, playing everywhere from Portlaoise to Clonakilty.

Last August, they released their debut EP and it reached number one in Ireland. (Their debut album is scheduled for release on August 25th.)
https://www.facebook.com/BandPictureThis/videos/1754274068148000/

They performed at Electric Picnic last summer and received a rapturous response from the crowd, proving their success wasn’t merely a flash in the pan.

In October they signed a major deal with Republic Records. Beefore Christmas, they managed to sell out five dates in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, a fairly remarkable feat for two lads from Athy.

And the rest is history!

Who likes them?

As you might expect from a band that rose to fame on the internet, their fanbase definitely skews young. Think teens/millennials.

So you’re saying I’m just out of touch if I haven’t heard of them?

Pretty much.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Fair enough. So to recap: two lads from Athy make their name on the internet, tour the country and now headline the 3Arena?

In a nutshell, yes.

There you are now.

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