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Enclosed are a collection of reviews - in some kind of chronological order! - of gigs i have attended and what i thought about them. Hope the info is useful or of interest you any readers! As ever - any feedback greatly appreciated.
Please note - any links to versions of the songs are meant for reference and are not made on that specific night of the tour!
Enclosed are a collection of reviews - in some kind of chronological order! - of gigs i have attended and what i thought about them. Hope the info is useful or of interest you any readers! As ever - any feedback greatly appreciated.
Please note - any links to versions of the songs are meant for reference and are not made on that specific night of the tour!
Pama Outernational. Simply The Best.
Pama International Live
Norwich Arts Centre, 16th December
On the back of a successful tour with The Specials, Pama International gave this small Norwich crowd a fully committed energetic performance to promote their strong new album Pama Outernational. The opener ‘Lovely Wife’ was an upbeat start to proceedings and although they were a bit distracted by the time curfew that caught them by surprise the band gave 100%. A sound rhythm section and lively lead singer and keyboardist had most of the crowd jumping by the up beat ‘Neither High Nor Dry’. But any stragglers were in full swing by the excellent Ska number ‘Pennywise pound fool’. Despite time constraints the ecstatic crowd demanded and received a worthy encore the funky reggae of ‘It’s All About The Money’ and the buoyant singalong ‘Wherever You Lead’ gave a fitting climax to an exciting night.
Norwich Arts Centre, 16th December
On the back of a successful tour with The Specials, Pama International gave this small Norwich crowd a fully committed energetic performance to promote their strong new album Pama Outernational. The opener ‘Lovely Wife’ was an upbeat start to proceedings and although they were a bit distracted by the time curfew that caught them by surprise the band gave 100%. A sound rhythm section and lively lead singer and keyboardist had most of the crowd jumping by the up beat ‘Neither High Nor Dry’. But any stragglers were in full swing by the excellent Ska number ‘Pennywise pound fool’. Despite time constraints the ecstatic crowd demanded and received a worthy encore the funky reggae of ‘It’s All About The Money’ and the buoyant singalong ‘Wherever You Lead’ gave a fitting climax to an exciting night.
It's Just plain Fun! But I want that Tongue!
Bad Manners
The Academy, Dublin 13th December
Only a few fortunate people do not have to work for a living and there can be few better (or arguably worse?) ways to make a living than as a performer and entertainer. Whenever your job demands social interaction though, enjoyment is hard to fake. From the 16 year old keyboard player to the fifty one year old lead singer, this band match the crowd dance for dance and note for note. If it was not for the comical and charismatic presence of Buster Bloodvessel, the only mainstay of this good time ska pop band Bad Manners, this line-up could be mistaken for a teenage tribute band. However such a strange set up doesn’t negate this evening’s unadulterated fun, good time ska song and dance. The set list has been honed over years and includes very few new tracks, but that’s not why people are here. They are here to dance and party. As Buster reminds us at the beginning of the evening’s proceedings ‘This Is Ska’. It is not about the characters on stage, but the fun off it and Bloodvessel is a great facilitator for this. With his boundless energy and a lively and impressive tongue he curls his way through ‘My Girl Lollipop’ and ‘Lorraine’, before taking a well earned break. It is just a shame that we were then given an unnecessary comedy punk interlude by Max Splodge (‘Nellie the Elephant’, ‘Hurry Up Harry’ ‘Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please’). The second half of the show continues where the opening left off. ‘My Skinhead Girl’ and ‘Woolly Bully’ sent the whole audience dancing (one random skinhead girl even on stage) before the inevitable pinnacle: the albeit predictable trilogy of ‘Special Brew’, ‘Lip Up Fatty’ and of course ‘Can Can’ set up a sweaty climax to a great night. No fancy set list, no new album promotion, just professional musicians doing what they do well and giving this party crowd what they want – “Christmas starts here Dublin”.
The Academy, Dublin 13th December
Only a few fortunate people do not have to work for a living and there can be few better (or arguably worse?) ways to make a living than as a performer and entertainer. Whenever your job demands social interaction though, enjoyment is hard to fake. From the 16 year old keyboard player to the fifty one year old lead singer, this band match the crowd dance for dance and note for note. If it was not for the comical and charismatic presence of Buster Bloodvessel, the only mainstay of this good time ska pop band Bad Manners, this line-up could be mistaken for a teenage tribute band. However such a strange set up doesn’t negate this evening’s unadulterated fun, good time ska song and dance. The set list has been honed over years and includes very few new tracks, but that’s not why people are here. They are here to dance and party. As Buster reminds us at the beginning of the evening’s proceedings ‘This Is Ska’. It is not about the characters on stage, but the fun off it and Bloodvessel is a great facilitator for this. With his boundless energy and a lively and impressive tongue he curls his way through ‘My Girl Lollipop’ and ‘Lorraine’, before taking a well earned break. It is just a shame that we were then given an unnecessary comedy punk interlude by Max Splodge (‘Nellie the Elephant’, ‘Hurry Up Harry’ ‘Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please’). The second half of the show continues where the opening left off. ‘My Skinhead Girl’ and ‘Woolly Bully’ sent the whole audience dancing (one random skinhead girl even on stage) before the inevitable pinnacle: the albeit predictable trilogy of ‘Special Brew’, ‘Lip Up Fatty’ and of course ‘Can Can’ set up a sweaty climax to a great night. No fancy set list, no new album promotion, just professional musicians doing what they do well and giving this party crowd what they want – “Christmas starts here Dublin”.
The Lovely Lily
Lily Allen
The O2, Dublin
8th December
View: Centre Back, At the mixing desk!
Lily Allen performed to probably the largest headline crowd in her career, and this Dublin crowd were grateful. Although she did little engagement with the crowd as such – though her concession was pouring and handing out pints of Guinness from the stage!
Part way through the set took on a jazz room feel both in stage and sound with ‘Who’d Have Known’ through to ‘Dreams’. Then perhaps not surpisingly the evening got political with ‘Kabul Shit’. The popular zenith of the evening was reserved for the well-liked ‘Smile’ and ‘The Fear’ whilst an unnecessary interlude from Professor Green did enable Allen to give us a great version of the SOS Bands ‘Just Be Good To Me’
The female heavy audience liked the encore of Britney’s ‘Womanizer’, before Allen left the stage to ‘Fuck You’. Potentially a wry nod at the Dublin audience for climax, but returned to finish the set with a great version of ‘It’s Not Fair’
The O2, Dublin
8th December
View: Centre Back, At the mixing desk!
Lily Allen performed to probably the largest headline crowd in her career, and this Dublin crowd were grateful. Although she did little engagement with the crowd as such – though her concession was pouring and handing out pints of Guinness from the stage!
Part way through the set took on a jazz room feel both in stage and sound with ‘Who’d Have Known’ through to ‘Dreams’. Then perhaps not surpisingly the evening got political with ‘Kabul Shit’. The popular zenith of the evening was reserved for the well-liked ‘Smile’ and ‘The Fear’ whilst an unnecessary interlude from Professor Green did enable Allen to give us a great version of the SOS Bands ‘Just Be Good To Me’
The female heavy audience liked the encore of Britney’s ‘Womanizer’, before Allen left the stage to ‘Fuck You’. Potentially a wry nod at the Dublin audience for climax, but returned to finish the set with a great version of ‘It’s Not Fair’
Sonic Boom Boom, if you like that sorta thing
Sonic Youth
Live Vicar St, 6th December
View: Off centre, middle.
A Capacity crowd crammed into Vicar Street for the first, much anticipated performance by Sonic Youth in Dublin for well over a decade, and in return were treated to a top notch performance. The band confessed early on they had missed the sound check, but without that admission we would have been unaware. Famous for their experimental alternative tunings and screaming feedback, tonight’s show had it all, though in a clinical way that has been perfected by a band who have been recording and touring together for the nearly 30 years. Their recently released sixteenth studio album, The Eternal, is widely considered the best in years and although this featured heavily the track list was still an eclectic and unpredictable mix, from ‘Anti Orgasm’ to ‘Poison Arrow’. Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo held the front of stage admirably. Kim’s shouting vocals powerfully bringing out some songs live – especially on ‘Shadow Of A Doubt’. The standard noisy sound which they have been indulging in since their 80’s Underground success, and eventual indie anti heroes of the Nineties, was prevalent. The crowd may have been a bit subdued but both they and the band seemed to enjoy the show even if the audience consensus was that they could have dropped in a few older tracks for fans.
James Masterson
Live Vicar St, 6th December
View: Off centre, middle.
A Capacity crowd crammed into Vicar Street for the first, much anticipated performance by Sonic Youth in Dublin for well over a decade, and in return were treated to a top notch performance. The band confessed early on they had missed the sound check, but without that admission we would have been unaware. Famous for their experimental alternative tunings and screaming feedback, tonight’s show had it all, though in a clinical way that has been perfected by a band who have been recording and touring together for the nearly 30 years. Their recently released sixteenth studio album, The Eternal, is widely considered the best in years and although this featured heavily the track list was still an eclectic and unpredictable mix, from ‘Anti Orgasm’ to ‘Poison Arrow’. Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo held the front of stage admirably. Kim’s shouting vocals powerfully bringing out some songs live – especially on ‘Shadow Of A Doubt’. The standard noisy sound which they have been indulging in since their 80’s Underground success, and eventual indie anti heroes of the Nineties, was prevalent. The crowd may have been a bit subdued but both they and the band seemed to enjoy the show even if the audience consensus was that they could have dropped in a few older tracks for fans.
James Masterson
We Are Su - Perb
WASP Live
Button Factory, 4th December
The defining part of WASP’s heavy metal wall of sound is Blackie Lawless’ effortless, shrill, screaming vocal. Indeed we were treated to a truly raucous opener with driving guitar, the progressively titled ‘On Your Knees’. From the outset of this gig it was clear the crowd and band were in euphoric mood. ‘Love Machine’ kept the audience in jubilant spirit, and proved to be a well-liked choice. The constant promo videos running on the projector screen behind were a bit unimaginative, but worked well, albeit often showing the band at their artistic height.
That said, even the opening track off their new album, ‘Crazy’, proved popular, sticking to the well worked formula that has been successful for 25 years for these ageing rockers. The follow up and title track ‘Babylon’s Burning’ is a solid song and supports the claim that this is their strongest album in years. But the apocryphal sentiments and visual iconography, as a comment on warmongers, are not a little ironic given Blackie Lawless recent vocal, relatively politically right wing, views (http://lifeinabungalo.com/2008/11/03/blackie-lawless-on-barack-obama/comment-page-1/). Indeed the band is now largely a vehicle for their lead singer, as other members have come and gone over the decades. Despite previously turbulent times the current line up has been stable since 2006 and on this album and tour they seem to gel well.
Midway through the set they reverted back to the stalwart (and Blackie’s own favourite) tracks from The Crimson Idol album, including the truly exceptional ‘Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the Rue Morgue)’ and ‘The Idol’.
Whilst the crowd, and band, loved most of the set ‘Helldorado’ did lose them part way through, however such minor detours did not detract from an excellent night of metal mayhem. The fleet footed Native American screecher and his band of troubadours were still able to skip around the stage in their usual light manner and keep the large and enthusiastic crowd entertained. A top night for rockers old and new.
Button Factory, 4th December
The defining part of WASP’s heavy metal wall of sound is Blackie Lawless’ effortless, shrill, screaming vocal. Indeed we were treated to a truly raucous opener with driving guitar, the progressively titled ‘On Your Knees’. From the outset of this gig it was clear the crowd and band were in euphoric mood. ‘Love Machine’ kept the audience in jubilant spirit, and proved to be a well-liked choice. The constant promo videos running on the projector screen behind were a bit unimaginative, but worked well, albeit often showing the band at their artistic height.
That said, even the opening track off their new album, ‘Crazy’, proved popular, sticking to the well worked formula that has been successful for 25 years for these ageing rockers. The follow up and title track ‘Babylon’s Burning’ is a solid song and supports the claim that this is their strongest album in years. But the apocryphal sentiments and visual iconography, as a comment on warmongers, are not a little ironic given Blackie Lawless recent vocal, relatively politically right wing, views (http://lifeinabungalo.com/2008/11/03/blackie-lawless-on-barack-obama/comment-page-1/). Indeed the band is now largely a vehicle for their lead singer, as other members have come and gone over the decades. Despite previously turbulent times the current line up has been stable since 2006 and on this album and tour they seem to gel well.
Midway through the set they reverted back to the stalwart (and Blackie’s own favourite) tracks from The Crimson Idol album, including the truly exceptional ‘Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the Rue Morgue)’ and ‘The Idol’.
Whilst the crowd, and band, loved most of the set ‘Helldorado’ did lose them part way through, however such minor detours did not detract from an excellent night of metal mayhem. The fleet footed Native American screecher and his band of troubadours were still able to skip around the stage in their usual light manner and keep the large and enthusiastic crowd entertained. A top night for rockers old and new.
Marillion. Less Is Sometimes More: If in doubt just look at Steve! (h)
Marillion Live
Button Factory, 3rd December
With no support for tonight’s gig Marillion came on early and did two short acoustic sets, which caught a few fans by surprise. But that didn’t faze this hard working band; hardly imaginative in their set order – they played their newest album in its original order from start to finish (hey if it was good enough for the album....). But they are never ones to rest on their laurels - despite the fact that the new album may be recycling old songs, the tracks are all arranged in a new and inventive manner. As Steve Hogarth, the lead singer, gleefully declared “its great fun to look over my shoulder and see Pete playing xylophones and Mark playing the glockenspiel, its like a room full of mad professors whilst were working!”
So from dulcitone to harmonium the band were in full experimental swing from ‘Go!’ onwards. Hogarth seems to be enjoying himself, right down to hitting his own miniature cymbal whilst the band were on good form, for this homecoming of sorts for Dublin-born boy Mark Kelly. Second up ‘Interior Lulu’ prompted the first early cheer as generally the warm, but understated audience listened respectfully to new interpretations of fan favourites. The brief interweaving of Talking Heads ‘Crosseyed and Painless’ before ‘If My Heart Were A Ball’ proved a pleasant surprise that few in the audience recognised. Whilst the only new song on Less Is More ‘It’s Not Your Fault’ certainly came into it’s own on stage as distinct from the recorded version. Steve Hogarth’s over affected vocal style can be a bit infuriating, but as the evening’s songs progressed and the band relaxed into a rockier sound, this became less irritating!
The applauding audience were pleased with the new reworkings but the real excitement of the night was held over for the post interval acoustic versions of other popular tunes. An acoustic version of ‘Beautiful’ proved one of the most popular choices of the evening. For the first time live on this tour fans were treated to a version of ‘This Train Is My Life’ which, despite the bands reservations, seemed to work. Whilst local favourite ‘Easter’ (inspired by W.B. Yeat’s poems) prompted resounding cheers from a cross section of the small crowd.
The normally reticent Steve Rothery was his usual introverted self – exceptional guitar but no overt interaction with the crowd. (Dubbed by Hogarth as the “Get out of jail free guitar solo” – which he used to great effect on ‘Quartz’ and the climax of the evening ‘Three Minute Boy’).
This album and tour are unlikely to put pay to the ‘Scottish heavy metal band’ moniker some still label them with and but might just have won over a few more fans.
James Masterson
1) Go!
2) Interior Lulu
3) Out of this world
4) Wrapped up in time
5) The Space
6) Hard As Love
7) Quartz (SR Solo)
8) Cross Eyed and Painless (Talking Heads)
9) If My Heart Were A Ball
10) It’s Not Your Fault
11) The Memory of Water
12) 21st Century
No cannibal setc
1) Cover MY Eyes (Pain and Heaven)
2) Beautiful
3) This Train (FIRST TIME ACOUSTICALLY) This Train is my Life
4) ?
5) 80
6) Gazpacho
Encore
7) Easter (Local favourite)
8) Answering Machine
9) 3 minute boy (SR Solo)
Button Factory, 3rd December
With no support for tonight’s gig Marillion came on early and did two short acoustic sets, which caught a few fans by surprise. But that didn’t faze this hard working band; hardly imaginative in their set order – they played their newest album in its original order from start to finish (hey if it was good enough for the album....). But they are never ones to rest on their laurels - despite the fact that the new album may be recycling old songs, the tracks are all arranged in a new and inventive manner. As Steve Hogarth, the lead singer, gleefully declared “its great fun to look over my shoulder and see Pete playing xylophones and Mark playing the glockenspiel, its like a room full of mad professors whilst were working!”
So from dulcitone to harmonium the band were in full experimental swing from ‘Go!’ onwards. Hogarth seems to be enjoying himself, right down to hitting his own miniature cymbal whilst the band were on good form, for this homecoming of sorts for Dublin-born boy Mark Kelly. Second up ‘Interior Lulu’ prompted the first early cheer as generally the warm, but understated audience listened respectfully to new interpretations of fan favourites. The brief interweaving of Talking Heads ‘Crosseyed and Painless’ before ‘If My Heart Were A Ball’ proved a pleasant surprise that few in the audience recognised. Whilst the only new song on Less Is More ‘It’s Not Your Fault’ certainly came into it’s own on stage as distinct from the recorded version. Steve Hogarth’s over affected vocal style can be a bit infuriating, but as the evening’s songs progressed and the band relaxed into a rockier sound, this became less irritating!
The applauding audience were pleased with the new reworkings but the real excitement of the night was held over for the post interval acoustic versions of other popular tunes. An acoustic version of ‘Beautiful’ proved one of the most popular choices of the evening. For the first time live on this tour fans were treated to a version of ‘This Train Is My Life’ which, despite the bands reservations, seemed to work. Whilst local favourite ‘Easter’ (inspired by W.B. Yeat’s poems) prompted resounding cheers from a cross section of the small crowd.
The normally reticent Steve Rothery was his usual introverted self – exceptional guitar but no overt interaction with the crowd. (Dubbed by Hogarth as the “Get out of jail free guitar solo” – which he used to great effect on ‘Quartz’ and the climax of the evening ‘Three Minute Boy’).
This album and tour are unlikely to put pay to the ‘Scottish heavy metal band’ moniker some still label them with and but might just have won over a few more fans.
James Masterson
1) Go!
2) Interior Lulu
3) Out of this world
4) Wrapped up in time
5) The Space
6) Hard As Love
7) Quartz (SR Solo)
8) Cross Eyed and Painless (Talking Heads)
9) If My Heart Were A Ball
10) It’s Not Your Fault
11) The Memory of Water
12) 21st Century
No cannibal setc
1) Cover MY Eyes (Pain and Heaven)
2) Beautiful
3) This Train (FIRST TIME ACOUSTICALLY) This Train is my Life
4) ?
5) 80
6) Gazpacho
Encore
7) Easter (Local favourite)
8) Answering Machine
9) 3 minute boy (SR Solo)
Gomez
Academy, 28th November
With Ireland winning the Rugby earlier in the day this 30-something crowd were in buoyant mood for tonight’s Gomez gig at The Academy. At their height in the late 90’s, the band were one of the ‘great white hopes’ of British Indie. Rasping vocals of Ian Ball are always a joy to listen to. Whilst the trio of him, Ben Ottewell and Tom Gray on shared vocals and guitarists works well. Their sound, Americana from the north of England works well.
Tonight they are lucid and very relaxed – helped no doubt by the fact that this is the last night of their current tour and, as they proudly announce, is their third sell out gig of the year in Dublin.
From the uplifting opening’s of Tijuana Lady, greeted with a resounding cheer, to the final chords of the encore for Revolutionary Kind, the band and crowd were in celebratory mood. Singing along to ‘Whipping Piccadilly’ and the rousing ‘Rhythm & Blues Alibi’saw the crowd and band in full swing. That said they did get carried away and lost the crowd part way through the set, but won them back with a powerful version of their most recent single ‘Airstream Driver’.
Whilst they had a track selection they did not deviate from, despite loud audience requests, they did play a cross section of songs from all of their albums, spreading some 12 years. That, and an upbeat performance, meant the crowd left happy and as for the next tour – Bring It On.
1) Tijuana Lady
2) Hamoa Beach
3) If I ask you nicely
4) (really works together)
5) Ping One Down
6) Meet Me In The City
7) girlshapedlovedrug
8) ?
9) Rhythm & Blues Alibi lyrics
10) ?
11) (She’s high, she’s fine)
12) ?
13) Bring It On
14) Airstream Driver (single off new LP)
15) Whippin' Piccadilly
16) (Win this to see it anyway)
17) Detroit Swing 66
18) Revolutionary Kind
Little Boots live
Academy, 27th November
View: Balcony, left of centre, inline with the stage.
Cute little English pixie in high heels Little Boots (Victoria Hesketh) brought her brand of Electro pop to Dublin in the same week as synth pop legend Gary Numan. Little Boots gave us an hour’s set of her debut 2009 album Hands, playing everything except the title track off the LP. Ironically, towards the end of her short set she apologised “I really don’t have any other songs”, but was still able to give us a new track, a soft piano based ballad ‘Echo’ inspired by Twilight. Disappointingly, there was no cover of Freddie Mercury’s ‘Love Kills’ (which is already a collector’s item). Overall the set was sharp and fast moving; from a striped down piano version of ‘Ghost’ for starters through to an extended version of ‘Stuck On Repeat’ for encore. No Phil Oakley appearance for ‘Symmetry’, instead the energetic Hesketh put in full vigour moving around the stage encouraging a crowd sing-along. The Lily Allen-esque ‘New In Town’ won any stragglers in the audience over, and everyone enjoyed the other singles from the album ‘Earthquake’ and ‘Remedy’.
Her intelligent technology based synth pop gave this young crowd an entertaining hour of pop tunes.
James Masterson
Track listing
1) Ghost
2) New In Town
3) Tune Into My Heart
4) Click
5) Mathematics
6) Symmetry
7) Heart’s Collide
8) Earthquake
9) Meddle
10) Remedy (extended version)
Encore
11) Echo
12) Stuck On Repeat
Steve Earle
Olympia 17th November 2009
It has been 21 years since Steve Earle first played in this venue, and since that time he has compounded his status as something of a popular rock/country legend, especially in these parts.
Earle may have been an understudy to Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark but he is still a man who has been covered by everyone from Percy Sledge to The Pretenders (as well as someone who has an album of his own in the Rolling Stone top 500 of all time). But none of this mattered tonight, this was for ‘my teacher and mentor Townes...’. It is a shame therefore that the sound was a bit tinny and hollow on the opening few tracks, then went haywire on the eighth track in the set ‘My Old Friend The Blues’, however it subsequently stabilized. Although having said that one must have some sympathy for the sound man who had to adjust to Steve’s regular changes of instrument (guitars and mandolins).
They are four months into this long tour and that seemed slightly to take its toll slightly on Earle, who was tired and seemed in part to be going through the motions.
This tour is on the back of his Townes album (earlier in the year), so it was to be expected that the majority of the tracks would be Townes Van Zandt. As Earle himself said, this is the best received tour in a long while - somewhat frustrating for someone who professes to be a singer song writer himself!
The fact that this was an all seated gig made for an atmospheric experience. However, Steve’s own song writing qualities apart, he lacks the fragility of Townes Van Zandt or many of the other bastions of modern folk. ‘Brand New Companion’ in his guttural bluesy style worked well, but ‘Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold’ lost something of its vulnerability. However, ‘Rex’s Blues’, a track not on the album captured some of the spirit of what it must have been like to see Townes at his height.
At one point, presumably when heckled from the crowd for a specific track, he replied “I actually have more than one song about the West of Ireland you know. True to his word a few tracks later he dropped in his political commentary ‘Dixieland’.
Indeed other of his own songs featured including of course ‘Fort Worth Blues’ written about Townes himself. Whilst the poignant first song Earle wrote sober (‘Goodbye’) garnered both awe and a respectful silence.
Then no real surprises when he tore through ‘Galway Girl’ with a nod to the track which Mundy (in the audience) had recently brought back to public consciousness and re-affirmed its status as a standard. (“A Standard in this country is worth 5 anywhere else” he somewhat sycophantically announced)
‘City of Immigrants’ reminded us of the mans own strong political and moral opinions - a big human rights campaigner it was no surprise there was an Amnesty International stand as you came in (http://www.amnesty.org/). However ‘Way Down In The Hole’ and the fantastic climax of ‘Copperhead Road’ reminded us that he has balanced that with a deserved commercial success. Overall a good gig, but a little frayed around the edges from the months on the road.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Walked 47 miles of barbed wire for ……. (not who do you love)
2) Colorado Girl (TVZ)
3) Rex’s Blues (not on the TVZ LP though!)
4) Fort Worth Blues (written about TVZ Earle Song)
5) Pancho and Lefty
6) Brand New Companion (really bluesy version)brought out the harmonica and the blues that was TVZ
7) Guy pulled his pistols and washed and spit in the street ?
8) My Old Friend the Blues
9) Someday
10) Taneytown
11) Goodbye ( first song penned sober) (respectful silence)
12) Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
13) Marie (TVZ)
14) Billy and Bonnie
15) City of Immigrants (2007)
16) Dixieland (corina)
17) Galway Girl ("Cider Never passed my lips!") (Song become a standard, One standard here in Ireland is worth 5 in any other country!!)
18) Lungs Tell the World we tried (TVZ)
19) To Live’s to Fly
Encore
20) Way Down In The Hole (Tom Waits penned)
21) Hey little girl its your Tennessee Daddy, cant get famous on 37$ and a guitar ??
22) Copperhead Road
Yusuf Islam, O2
15th November
Crowds turned out in their thousands last Sunday for the near sell out Irish debut of Yusuf Islam, even still better known as Cat Stevens. And according to Yusuf’s own admission because of the price paid - he was trying to give us “a show and a half”. Hence the show was very much a tale of two extremes. He opened with a selection of 10 tracks old (Lillywhite) and new (Avoid The City After Dark). This pleased the maturer sections of the crowd who were more keen on the classics. However, with little explanation the second half kicked off with a 40 minute Musical featuring the songs of Cat Steven’s but performed by actors, amongst them Noel formerly of Hear’say. Swathes of loyal legions at the front politely applauded whilst the fair weather fans after a greatest hits set were unsettled.
Many were obviously put out by the lack of their author performing the songs for the first time in Dublin, indeed someone shouted out ‘Bring Cat Stevens Back’ without a hint of irony that we had not seen Cat Stevens all night! Instead Steven Demetre Georgiou under the new name Yusuf came back onstage to give us a civilised, sincere and peaceful performance which was in stark contrast to a small but vocal section of the audience.
By the time he returned a small section of the crowd had left in disgust, others had vehemently applauded the challenging Musical. With Cat Back we were treated to a healthy mix of old and new. Classic tracks like Peacetrain and Moonshadow sat comfortably alongside great new tracks such as All Kind’s Of Roses, plus a reworking of Lilywhite. The climax of the evening was Ronan Keating coming on to duet for a classic version of Father and Son which Keating did not detract from!
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Lilywhite
2) The Wind
3) Thinking ‘Bout You
4) Where Do The Children Play
5) Boots & Sand
6) Fill My Eyes
7) Roadsinger
8) Midday (Avoid City After Dark)
9) Sitting
10) I Think I See The Light
[Interval]
11+) “Moonshadow” the Musical
12) Miles from Nowhere
13) Don’t Be Shy
14) Glass World
15) Bad Brakes
16) Moonshadow
17) Peace Train
Encore
18) All Kinds of Roses
19) Lilywhite (2009)
20) Tuesday’s Dead
21) Father and Son (with Ronan Keating)
The Buzzcocks
Dublin Academy. 24 Oct 2009
View: Centre left.
Pioneering power driving legends of punk return to Dublin for another storming set – this time steeped exclusively in their first two classic LP’s. From Another Music In A Different Kitchen through Love Bites we were treated to a set list almost comparable with the albums, and very little banter in between. From the classic ‘Love Battery’ to the driving ‘Sixteen Again’ the band never let up, nor did the fanbase. The evening’s excitement reached fever pitch for the 30 minute, albeit slightly contrived, encore. From ‘Orgasm Addict’ through ‘What Do I Get’ and ‘Everybody’s Happy Nowadays’ Shelley’s vocals were their usual eccentric style whilst Diggle’s ‘axe swinging’ Pete Townshend guitar style kept the crowd enthralled. With the 6 song climax the evening came to a suitable pinnacle. It may have been over 30 years ago today, but the songs have lost none of their vitality. These are the pioneers of an exciting age for music, still touting their wares, surely we need other keepers of the flame to come and grasp the mantle, but until then – this classic ensemble will soldier on well.
James Masterson
SET LIST
1) That’s What
2) (Ringing phone intro) Got running Back
3) Try and Get Away
4) Got a who, who who
5) Love Battery
6) Alright Ok
7) Pigeon blow /
8) Autonomy
9) I Need
10) ? ?
11) Real World
12) Ever Fallen In Love
13) Operator’s Manual?
14) Nostalgia
15) Just Lust
16) Sixteen Again
17) Walking Distance
18) Love Is Lies
19) Nothing Left
20) Understated solo out off stage. ESP
Encore
21) Orgasm Addict
22) What Do I get
23) I Don’t Mind
24) Promises
25) Everybody’s happy nowadays
26) Harmony In My Head
Sharon Shannon & the Big Band
Dublin, National Concert Hall, 22nd Oct 2009
View: Centre Middle, Bang in the middle of the stalls.
Sharon Shannon was joined by Jerry Fish and Carol Keogh for an evening celebrating the release of her new album. With help from the Cartoon Thieves, Shannon and her band entertained with traditional music with a themed American twist to match the new release. Jigs and reels still abounded with tracks like ‘Howya Horse’ and ‘Hillbilly lily and Buffalo Benji’ from the new album plus, of course, the compulsory ‘Blackbird’. But these were balanced by Jerry Fish and Carol Keogh’s vocal tracks ‘Let’s Drink For Ones Dead’ and ‘Summer Sands’ respectively. However Keogh also did a poor barroom jazz version of Nick Drake’s ‘Northern Sky’ - a Reba Macintyre style ‘lift music’ reinvention for the tragic icon of the 70’s.
The duelling banjo and Spanish guitar track and even a backing band solo track gave the group ample indulgence, whilst Sharon, despite the draw, as ever deftly ensured she was not the focus.
The standout track from the new album Saints and Scoundrels (Waterboys apart) ‘Mama Lou’, proved to have staying power and sat comfortably alongside ‘Galway Girl’ for encore. This final ‘yehah’ proved a fitting climax to a great night’s blend of trad and pop.
James Masterson
Track list
Cartoon Thieves
1) ?
2) White Wash Station Blues (on LP)
3) How long have you known me (blues)
4) ?
5) Jack O Diamonds style
6) Clancy Sea shanty Haul Away Joe
Sharon Shannon Set
1) Jigs and Reels
2) Howya Horse? (LP Track)
3) Hillbilly lily and buffalo Benji (LP Track)
4) Aggie (waltz) Sally May Menia (My darling Clementine)
5) ?
6) Carol Keogh – Summer Sands ? (LP Track)
7) Northern Sky (Nick Drake) (with more of a barroom jazz sound)
8) Duelling Banjo and Spanish guitar
9) Don’t Give Up On Me (Jack Electric guitar guy song – Gary Moore Blues style)
10) Let’s Drink For Ones Dead (W/Jerry Fish)
11) True Friends (Jerry Fish and audience up holding hands)
12) Rogue Melody (Nothing Will Tear Us Apart) Jerry Fish and Carole Keogh
13) BlackBird
14) ?
Encore
15) Mama Lou
16) Galway Girl (sung by the sound man!)
Paul Brady
National Concert Hall
23 Aug 2009
View: Centre, Middle.Balcony
After a phenomenal support slot from Ann Marie O ‘Grady Paul Brady came out with his brand of simple singer songwriter. He opened with a beautiful version of ‘Beyond the Reach of Love’. Next up was a great version of the song from at least the 14th Century – ‘Lord Thomas and the Fair Ellender’ – though the adaptation he played was a more recent Appalachian interpretation: a nod to the recently deceased Mike Seeger. However, he rocked out after that with an energetic acoustic version of his classic track ‘Busted Loose’. As he got into the show he began strutting around the stage with one of his three guitars and striking the occasional Elvis pose. ‘Paradise Is Here’ is probably more famous by Tina Turner, and his original version tonight was marred by a crackling mike at the keyboard, but that didn’t detract majorly. Surrounded by a piano, keyboard, 3 guitars, a balalaika and mandolin Brady’s musical talent shined through as he picked up instruments at apparent randomness to tear into songs from his back catalogue. Having claimed to have forgotten that he ever played ‘Wearing the Britches’ until he stumbled across it on YouTube, he certainly enjoyed being reacquainted with it. A healthy selection of four new songs, including the exciting ‘Rainbow’ was generally greeted with resounding approval, though ‘Mother And Son’, live at least, was not of his normal caliber.
The night climaxed in the ever popular ‘The Island’ and ‘The World Is What You Make It’ before two encores including, of course, ‘The Lakes of Pontchartrain’. No ‘Arthur MacBride’, but overall the audience left happy. Overall an exciting and quality evening
James Masterson
1) Beyond the reach of love
2) Lord Thomas and the Fair Ellender
3) Busted Loose (from hard station LP)
4) Paradise is Here (tina Turner) (from Primitive Dance) – but probably TT version more famous.
5) Nothing But the Same Old Story (Look Out /Can’t wait till Saturday night)
6) Rainbow (new)
7) Nobody Knows
8) Wearing the Breeches
9) Out the Door and Over the wall (From Welcome here fine stranger)
10)The Jolly soldier
11)The Blarney Pilgrim
12)Mother and Son (new)
13)Money To Burn (new)
14)Oh what a world (with Will Jennings)
15)Follow On (Want me for a friend)
16)The Island
17)Crazy Dreams (Somebody elses dreams get you nowhere)
18)The World Is What You Make It (Hannibal – Life;s what you make it)
Encore
19)One today (?) From Keyboard to Piano ?????????????
20)The Lakes of Pontchartrain
Encore 2
21)Helpless Heart (This helpless heart will always belong to you)
Ann Marie O’Grady (supporting Paul Brady)
NCH Dublin, 23 Aug 2009
Seldom do I feel compelled to write a review of a support act. They are generally good enough – but there to do the warm up for the headline artist and are building up their experience and repertoire. But every so often a singer comes along who has latent talent as well as inexperience!
It was a brave move for Ann Marie O’Grady to start your set with an A cappella song (no physical or psychological protection from your guitar). But her song Patterns was a good start to capture an otherwise apathetic audience. Track two - Turn It Up, Take It Out proved she could also carry strong vocals over a guitar. She played only a handful of her own tracks, instead played well selected covers of Britney’s Hit Me Baby One More Time and Suspicious Minds, which she attributed to Elvis, which ensured she kept the crowd entertained and well enlivened in preparation for Paul Brady. One of the highlights though was her own song Losing You – a well constructed upbeat song.
Having had a track covered by Francis Black (Sometimes love) was quite an achievement – but probably won’t be the last of this young woman’s achievements.
Frighteningly she was not even playing that many tracks from her albums – check her our live if you get a chance.
1) Patterns
2) Turn It Up, Take It Out
3) Somewhere only We Know (Keane)
4) Sometimes Love (covered by Francis Black)
5) Hit me baby one more time
6) Losing You ****
7) Suspicious Minds
Luka Bloom, with Eddi Reader
National Concert Hall 22 Aug 2009
View: Centre, Middle, Balcony
Luka Bloom, in conjunction with Eddi Reader, gave this large Dublin crowd and exciting evening of thought provoking songs old and new. All delivered in a fun and exciting manner. Early on Luka had the crowd in the palm of his hand with a beautiful rendition of ‘Make You Feel My Love’, with the added romantic feel by the dedication of it to two wedding anniversary couples in the audience.
The humourous observation that his desire to write a song for a film was fulfilled when he wrote ‘Exploring the Blue’ two days after seeing the film in the cinema didn’t detract from the beauty of the track. Performed live this song was enchanting and grandiose; set to a 14 piece orchestra which complemented the range and depth of the song and the performer. Alongside this, ‘Water Ballerina’ and ‘Monsoon’ there were lots of songs about beaches, seas, sand and mermaids - from a man from landlocked Kildare! But as he conceded himself as he performed ‘I Can Hear Her, Like Lorelei’ that was probably the first song written about Koblenz’s Lorelei, from Kildare at least!
Juxtaposed back to back versions of the ‘City of Chicago’ (emigration) and ‘No Matter Where You Go, The You Are’ (immigration) worked well to remind Ireland of her history and the hypocrisy of xenophobia.
Eddi Reader may have fluffed the intro to ‘John Anderson, My Joe’ and called a halt to proceedings to gracefully bring it back to the start. But her energy and child-like enthusiasm beamed as she danced behind the mike. With the help of some excellent track selections (including ‘Dragonflies’ and ‘Moon River’) she was in danger of nearly stealing the show. However Bloom’s songwriting and powerful performance meant he maintained centre stage and ensured this sedate Dublin crowd left happy. A raucous rapping version of ‘I’m A Bog Man’ and a lively version of ‘You Couldn’t Have Come At A Better Time’, with Reader on backing vocals, ensured an exciting and excellent night of song.
1) Water Ballerina
2) Primavera (Augustus Gleef?)
3) Make You Feel My Love
4) Where is My Tribe
5) EastBound Train
6) I Can Hear Her, Like Lorelei.
7) Here and Now
8) Exploring the Blue
9) Love Is A Place (With ER for Christina Noble)
10)ER The Wild Mountainside
11) ER Moon river (Johnny Mercer Track)
12)ER Dragonflies
13)ER New York City
14)ER John Anderson, My Joe
15)ER You’re Welcome Willy Stewart
Part 2
16)I’m A Bogman
17)City Of Chicago (emigration)
18)No Matter Where you go you’re there (Immigration)
19)I’m On Your Side
20)Dream in America (Through The Eyes of Love I see your face)
21)Gone To Pablo
22)Monsoon
23)Perfect Groove (Looking For the perfect song, I’m gonna sing to you )
24)You Couldn’t have come at a better time (with ER)
Encore
25)My Sunny Sailor Boy (With ER)
26)Don’t Be Afraid of the light (that shines on you)/
Booker T and his Band
Dublin, Vicar Street 20th July. 2009
View: Stage Right, in the stalls.
Booker T and his trusted Hammond B3 gave a sparse Dublin crowd their brand of instrumental and vocal classic tracks, plus some excellent ones off his new album, Potato Head. A strange mix of musicians, including former Black Crowes Guitarist Mark Ford and the tattooed blues devotee Ronnie James (Webber) on Bass, all gave 100% but Booker T’s crushing and overwhelming organ sound drove the evening’s performance. The beautiful ‘She Breaks’ initially captured the crowd, but ‘Green Onions’ got the show moving early on. The first vocal track was halfway through the evening – his own version of ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’. Despite only smiling between songs (the concentration during songs was obvious) he seemed to genuinely enjoy the concert – recounting with glee the fact that the BBC had picked up on his ‘Soul Limbo’ for their ‘cricket music’(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJlc7dmv6Mo). A strange cover of OutKast’s ‘Hey Ya!’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMVmlSVcBR4) was warmly received and ‘Time Is Tight’ climaxed this exciting show. However after the lights had gone up and people started to go home the irrepressible Booker and his band came back on with two joyous covers ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ and ‘Hold On I’m Coming’. But even before then tonight’s show had already ensured this small but loyal crowd left happy.
© James Masterson
Allen Touissant.
Whelans, Dublin, Monday 13th July 2009
‘Tonight I’m going to perform some songs I wrote for others, some I didn’t write but glad I didn’t and other’s I wish I had’ declared the legendary writer Allen Toussaint to a jam packed crowd at Whelans. Whilst the set that followed was steeped in songs he has written for others, it did include a few surprise tracks. Some of his own tunes were unfortunately blended into two medleys part way through the set. ‘A Certain Girl’, ‘Mother in Law’, ‘Fortune Teller’ plus ‘Working in a Coalmine’ and ‘Wrong Number’ were all lost in medley’s but in some cases these actually worked well together. Especially for ‘Fortune Teller’, which was played in near entirety anyway(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWfVRh5JI-Y).He name checked a number of artists who had covered his songs, including Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead) who had taken his ‘Get Out Of My Life Woman’ into the charts. His mention of Bonnie Raitt’s cover versions of his songs seemed out of place – until the end of the show when he gave us a stunning version of the Marty Robbins classic Country anthem “El Paso”, which the crowd gleefully joined in on harmonies. However, the climax of the evening was a beautifully soft but rolling version of Southern Nights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGAFOz5GA8I), with an elongated introduction where he described summer evenings as a child sitting on the porch of his grandparent’s house. Without any touch of banal sentimentality or contrived storytelling this brought a tear to the eye of many in the crowd. A great night of song.
© James Masterson
WhiteDenim
Academy 2, Dublin Thursday 26th June 2009
White Denim came to the small Dublin Academy 2 for one night only. With its low ceiling it is not a great venue for sound, but this power driving rock trio gave full gusto regardless. Far heavier live than their first album suggests they gave a driving guitar rock more reminiscent of LedZeppelin and Aerosmith, than their more simple studio and garage recordings. Famously dismissed CD age as pretty worthless their vinyl-only debut EP, tracks proved the most popular – especially Let's Talk About It .They started the set with mainly tracks from the new album (Fit), whilst towards the end started to drop in more tracks from the better known debut. ‘Shake Shake Shake’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eYwkkujr5Yand) 'I Can Tell You’ really got the crowd going. However they lost the crowd a bit when they played a medley of songs, rather than each song outright, and technical problems seemed to dog the band, for which they apologies for all evening. ‘All consolations’ was rousing and got a good reaction from the crowd. ‘Migration Wind’ showed off James Petralli’s abilities as a guitarist, before ‘Let’s Talk About It’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRAslAwaRzU) closed the show suddenly. No encore, short sharp and to the point. A great rocking night.
© James Masterson
RY COODER & NICK LOWE
Dublin, Olympia Theatre, 11th June 2009
In some ways tonight is an unlikely partnership – softly spoken, mild mannered Englishman, Nick Lowe and screaming guitared, ostentatious Californian, Ry Cooder - on the same stage. Both are exceptional song writers and tonight they prove that together they are also great performers, who compliment each other. Besides, with the track selection, both played to their strengths. Nick Lowe opened the vocals on the Ry Cooder track Fool Who Knows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woZvkfITE_Y). Unfortunately due to illness, accomplished accordionist Flaco Jiménez was not able to join them for this, the opening night of the European tour. But in his absence we were treated to an exceptional guest on tin whistle, The Chieftan’s Paddy Maloney, for a great version of Boomer’s Story and later the climax of the evening, There’s a Bright Side Somewhere.
Ry Cooder looks old for his years, but his animated face belies a man who adores his trade. He may have fluffed a couple of early songs, but is good enough to cover it up – and besides – all mistakes were out the way by the third track! The highlight of the evening was Cooder’s version of Arthur Alexander’s Go On Home, which had the crowd hanging on his every word. Some in the audience would have liked a few more Nick Lowe tracks, (though we got What's so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQei40cMboQ, amongst others)
but this was Cooder’s evening. Whilst neither disappointed, it was Cooder, with his skilled vocals, and ultimately his great mastery of the guitar, who was the show’s highlight. A lively, but sparse crowd (perhaps owing to high ticket prices), were not going to let anything get in the way of a great nights entertainment possibly because it has been fifteen years since Cooder last performed in Ireland. By the end they even stayed well into the night demanding the second encore that never came.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Fool Who knows
2) Fool by a cigarette / Feelin good
3) Vigilante man
4) Losing boy
5) ?
6) Every Woman I Know (Crazy 'Bout Automobiles),
7) One of those days
8) Go Home Girl
9) Crying In My Sleep
10)Down in Hollywood
11)The Very Thing that makes you Rich (Makes Me Poor) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTSaHk8Jx9g)
12)My Name Is Buddy
13)Peace, Love and Understanding
14)Teardrops Will Fall
15)Boomer’s Story (with Paddy Maloney)
Encore
16)He’ll Have To Go.
17)There’s A Bright Side Somewhere (with Paddy Maloney)
George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
Olympia, Dublin 31/05/2009
Mick Jagger is reputed to have said that all you need to play rock ‘n’ roll is three chords and a lot of energy. Whilst the Stones are a great example of this success story, one of the greatest purveyors of the art is George Thorogood and the Destroyers. What they do they do competently but ultimately, as their own moniker acknowledges, they are the world’s greatest Bar band. Nothing exceptional, just the pinnacle of entertaining, good time rock ‘n’ roll. Superbly selected cover versions (John Lee Hooker’s‘One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer’ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmgOrhELXs] / Hank William’s ‘Move It On Over’) mixed with the occasional quality self penned number thrown in (‘Bad to the Bone’) make the evening an exciting, fun filled one.
In the heat of the moment George Thorogood described the Olympia as ‘the world’s greatest venue’. And for one summers evening in late May maybe it was just that. On the last night of European leg of their current tour George and his Delaware Destroyers gave their large Dublin fan base a rocking evening of all the standards. From the opening track ‘Rock Party’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHUz-xEYbaQ everyone was in the mood to boogie and he had the crowd dancing in the aisles (security allowing!). For the rest of the evening the track listing differed little from their classic 1986 Live album.
His facial expressions and ducking and diving guitar style keep the crowd entertained, whilst the hastily choreographed band moves of dipping their guitars and saxophone in time, maintain the vein of good time rock n roll with a rebellious twist. They even gave us what they described as “sophisticated rock” with their humourous ‘Get A Haircut’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOCDoKsXjP0). The second encore and the management allegedly giving ‘permission’ to extend the curfew felt a bit contrived, but the crowd were pleased to see the evening climax in local (Commitments) favourite ‘Treat Her Right’ followed by ‘Madison Blues’. He genuinely appeared not to want to leave the stage – coming back on three times to enjoy the audience adulation.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Rock Party
2) Who Do You Love
3) The Fixer
4) Night time
5) I Drink Alone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysXMAOgEIq4)
6) One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
7) Cocaine Blues (aka Bad Lee Brown)
8) The Sky Is Crying
9) Get a Haircut
10) Bad To The Bone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYPcY15JaWY)
11) Move it on over
Encore
12) Price I pay
13) You Talk Too much
Encore 2
14) Treat her right
15) Madison Blues
Scott Matthews.
Whelans, Dublin 28th May 2009
Scott Matthews is a softly spoken Wolverhampton lad who found favour, and limited fame, through Mark Radcliffe and the new svengali for breaking careers – Jools Holland. On stage alone Matthews is hardly the most charismatic, instead allowing his music to do all the talking. He manages to carry this off with the sympathy of the crowd, all the time playing on the fragility of the singer songwriters. With a vocal style and range similar to Eddie Vedder (without the rock edge) or at points Terry Callier (though perhaps less wispy) his performance is entertaining. He has also drawn valid comparisons with Jeff Buckley and Ray Lamontagne, suffering at points from a lack of elocution and diction. Perhaps the lack of diction is one of his stronger traits as he is very intense when leaning into the microphone. Indeed at points he boils over into the maudlin and low toned – especially on ‘Fractured’. (‘Fractured arms from pulling you up/Your life weighs a ton”) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqT7Tpn4KWk). Also getting the balance of guitar selection is not one of his strong points. Throughout the set he juggles at least 6 guitars, including a 12 string which at points he looks almost uncomfortable in playing. Although he does shine when performing ‘12 Harps’, a song he originally recorded with Robert Plant.
Special mention should be made for the strangest occurrence at a gig ever. As Matthews turned to make another guitar change, a lone female voice cried “Show us your Pubes!” For giving everyone a laugh it certainly succeeded but for building an intense powerful atmosphere poor Matthews was back to square one. However he pulled it back masterfully – by not obliging the audience member (phew) and instead persevering with some of the stronger tracks from his two albums. The Ivor Novello winning ‘Elusive’ proved popular(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27l7QCLfFC4&feature=fvst), here he stuck consistently with the 6 string acoustic and gave us the more traditional folk of ‘Passing Strangers’ (including harmonica)(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_MfNkOpbHc&feature=fvst). It was the tracks which he stayed most faithful to on the albums that sounded the best. Thirty something before his debut he has found fame and will mature into a solid performer but tellingly he only seemed to relax as the show climaxed in a quick, almost duty bound encore of ‘Earth To Calm’.
© James Masterson
Presidents of United States
Vicar St, Dublin. 3rd April 2009
View; Centre Back.
Humourous raconteurs of fun the Presidents appeared in Dublin for the second time in 12 months to promote their 6th studio album. Perhaps predictably, despite the album being out for the full year, the ‘new’ tracks were greeted with respectful silence rather than warm familiarity. However the bands ability to balance old and new kept the crowd fully entertained for the whole evening. Opening track Lunatic of Love was closely followed by the classic Kitty, whilst Lump (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48Mjj-XQCE) and Peaches were tactfully dropped during at timely points in the set.
The climax of the evening however was back to back cover versions of a very different nature – MC5’s Kick out the Jams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtxo2onKXyY) followed by Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star.
High octane energy and excitement were the order of the day and both were delivered with gusto and professionalism. This mad Seattle three piece never shy from just enjoying themselves and their enthusiasm is infectious. This large appreciative crowd certain caught the bug.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Lunatic to Love
2) Kitty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMsMpbZAkzA)
3) Ladybug
4) Bad Times
5) You’ve all got to love somebody
6) Sharpen up the Fangs (?)
7) Lump
8) ? Fry pucke?
9) Mixed up SOB
10) Dunebuggy
11) Volcano
12) Old Man on the Back Porch
13) Flames in Love
14) Nobody tagged that chicken (?)
15) I will survive
16) Peaches
17) Kick out the Jams
Encore
18) Video Killed the Radio star
19) Deleter
20) Mobile Home
21) We’re Not gonna make it
The Wailers
UCD, Dublin, 12th February 2009
View: Centre Back.
Coming on stage two hours late hardly ingratiated the band to the well oiled student crowd, however they seemed unperturbed focusing on testing all their material in Dublin for two warm up dates before the forthcoming international tour later in the year. Celebrating the Exodus album in its entirety, this was a tribute gig with an undeniably exceptional cast. Most notably the living legend Aston Barrett and the lead singer one time solo artist Elan Atias. Despite the presence of greatness The Wailers really are a shadow of the original institution. So Much Things To Say was an early highlight, but the stronger flip side of the album was always going to included the more obvious crowd pleasers, however perhaps predictably no classic magic. A great show for those seeking a one stage removed tribute, but unlike Motown back catalogue, reggae requires a powerful lead voice to succeed, and whilst Elan is competent he is no Bob!
© James Masterson
Eddi Reader
The Academy, Dublin 21st Feb 09
View: Off Centre at the Front,
Eddi Reader’s relaxed, comfortable set belies a lady in love with song. ‘A whore for a good song’ as she herself admits. From the new ‘Dean Martin-esque Waltz – ‘Dragonflies’, to the traditional Robbie Burns ‘Lazy Lindsay’, she shows she is comfortable with her entertainer status.
A good version of ‘The Moon is Mine’ (with Roy Dodds on Drums) sat comfortably alongside Declan O’Rorke’s haunting love song ‘Galileo’.
It is therefore a shame that the relaxed evening of pleasure climaxed in a poor, rushed version of ‘You Send Me’, dominated by a preoccupied and distracted Brian Kennedy on guest vocal. Reader seemed genuinely caught unaware at the promoters clear intention to get her off stage before her set was over. A shame, because an acoustic rendition of ‘Perfect’ may well have topped off a superb evening.
© James Masterson
Billy Bragg
Vicar St, Dublin 2009
View: Balcony, centre middle.
Billy Bragg, people’s poet and England’s greatest politician that never was! Opinionated, considered and eloquent his gigs have matured from purely music to a word and music affairs. Where the traditional folk musician will have anecdotes about the next song Bragg’s interludes are political rallying calls against injustice and for a better world. From anyone else they would wear thin, but he floats smoothly from one powerful ballad (Must I Paint you a Picture) to a ballsy rock blues anthem (NPWA) taking every crowd member with him. It is impossible to come away from a Bragg gig not moved. From the new Farm Boy to Power in a Union his ability to inspire appears limitless, whilst his ability to entertain remains undiminished. The Milkman of Human Kindness sums up his generosity from the stage.
As he concedes one man and a guitar may not change the world, but the Clash certainly changed his and he hopes that just maybe someone in the 1000 strong sell out crowd will experience the same earth shattering experience. I think every single one did.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) The world turned upside down
2) Farmboy
3) Greetings to the new brunette
4) A lover sings
5) Ingrid Bergman
6) Way over yonder in the minor key
7) Must I paint you a picture
8) Milkman of human kindness
9) No power without Accountability
10) Sexuality
11) Goodbye to all my friends (new song only on promos)
12) Sin City (Gram Parsons) accompanied by Otis Gibbs
13) Don’t you remember you told me you loved me Baby (Carpenters)
14) Don’t Think Twice (Dylan)
15) The Saturday Boy
16) Accident Waiting to Happen
17) Old Clash Fan Fighting
18) I keep faith
19) Power in a Union
20) Great leap forward (updated with Roy Keane and recession lyrics)
Encore
21) Levi Stubb’s Tears
22) Change is gonna come
23) A New England
Judas Priest
The O2 Arena, Dublin 10th February 2009
Heavy metal thrives on melodrama and pomp. The theatre of absurd and overindulgence are key and few do it better than one time controversial Judas Priest.
Tonight their brand of overblown screams and shrieks, in the hammer and anvil vein was very much in Dublin.
The international crowd for this opening night of the tour welcomed their idols with arms aloft to the new look O2. Solid support from Testament and Megadeth the headline band did not disappoint. With thrones, capes, flags and the obligatory bike on stage Spinal Tap would have been proud. It is in the overblown nature of heavy metal that much of the entertainment lies. Metaphors are not subtle and fantasies are lived out, but then on any stage metaphors cannot be too subtle!
Judas Priest’s brand of metal is heavy on guitar and the operatic voice of lead singer. Rob Halford, who left the band only in turn to replace the tribute singer a few years later, worked hard frequently popping up from under the Gothic stage. Clouded in smokescreens the band head banged in time. All these entertaining theatrics were overlooked by the painted image of Nostrodamus. Heavy Metal does not set out to be taken serious, merely to entertain, and perhaps it is its success in this that makes it so compelling.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Prophecy
2) Metal Gods
3) Eat Me Alive
4) Hammer and the Anvil
5) Build my funeral Pyre
6) Breakin the law
7) Messenger of death
8) Angel
9) Protector
10) Rock Hard, Rock Free
11) The sinner (sin after sin)
12) Drum solo
13) Hell Bent for Leather
14) Mean machine
15) You got another thing coming
Academy, 28th November
With Ireland winning the Rugby earlier in the day this 30-something crowd were in buoyant mood for tonight’s Gomez gig at The Academy. At their height in the late 90’s, the band were one of the ‘great white hopes’ of British Indie. Rasping vocals of Ian Ball are always a joy to listen to. Whilst the trio of him, Ben Ottewell and Tom Gray on shared vocals and guitarists works well. Their sound, Americana from the north of England works well.
Tonight they are lucid and very relaxed – helped no doubt by the fact that this is the last night of their current tour and, as they proudly announce, is their third sell out gig of the year in Dublin.
From the uplifting opening’s of Tijuana Lady, greeted with a resounding cheer, to the final chords of the encore for Revolutionary Kind, the band and crowd were in celebratory mood. Singing along to ‘Whipping Piccadilly’ and the rousing ‘Rhythm & Blues Alibi’saw the crowd and band in full swing. That said they did get carried away and lost the crowd part way through the set, but won them back with a powerful version of their most recent single ‘Airstream Driver’.
Whilst they had a track selection they did not deviate from, despite loud audience requests, they did play a cross section of songs from all of their albums, spreading some 12 years. That, and an upbeat performance, meant the crowd left happy and as for the next tour – Bring It On.
1) Tijuana Lady
2) Hamoa Beach
3) If I ask you nicely
4) (really works together)
5) Ping One Down
6) Meet Me In The City
7) girlshapedlovedrug
8) ?
9) Rhythm & Blues Alibi lyrics
10) ?
11) (She’s high, she’s fine)
12) ?
13) Bring It On
14) Airstream Driver (single off new LP)
15) Whippin' Piccadilly
16) (Win this to see it anyway)
17) Detroit Swing 66
18) Revolutionary Kind
Little Boots live
Academy, 27th November
View: Balcony, left of centre, inline with the stage.
Cute little English pixie in high heels Little Boots (Victoria Hesketh) brought her brand of Electro pop to Dublin in the same week as synth pop legend Gary Numan. Little Boots gave us an hour’s set of her debut 2009 album Hands, playing everything except the title track off the LP. Ironically, towards the end of her short set she apologised “I really don’t have any other songs”, but was still able to give us a new track, a soft piano based ballad ‘Echo’ inspired by Twilight. Disappointingly, there was no cover of Freddie Mercury’s ‘Love Kills’ (which is already a collector’s item). Overall the set was sharp and fast moving; from a striped down piano version of ‘Ghost’ for starters through to an extended version of ‘Stuck On Repeat’ for encore. No Phil Oakley appearance for ‘Symmetry’, instead the energetic Hesketh put in full vigour moving around the stage encouraging a crowd sing-along. The Lily Allen-esque ‘New In Town’ won any stragglers in the audience over, and everyone enjoyed the other singles from the album ‘Earthquake’ and ‘Remedy’.
Her intelligent technology based synth pop gave this young crowd an entertaining hour of pop tunes.
James Masterson
Track listing
1) Ghost
2) New In Town
3) Tune Into My Heart
4) Click
5) Mathematics
6) Symmetry
7) Heart’s Collide
8) Earthquake
9) Meddle
10) Remedy (extended version)
Encore
11) Echo
12) Stuck On Repeat
Steve Earle
Olympia 17th November 2009
It has been 21 years since Steve Earle first played in this venue, and since that time he has compounded his status as something of a popular rock/country legend, especially in these parts.
Earle may have been an understudy to Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark but he is still a man who has been covered by everyone from Percy Sledge to The Pretenders (as well as someone who has an album of his own in the Rolling Stone top 500 of all time). But none of this mattered tonight, this was for ‘my teacher and mentor Townes...’. It is a shame therefore that the sound was a bit tinny and hollow on the opening few tracks, then went haywire on the eighth track in the set ‘My Old Friend The Blues’, however it subsequently stabilized. Although having said that one must have some sympathy for the sound man who had to adjust to Steve’s regular changes of instrument (guitars and mandolins).
They are four months into this long tour and that seemed slightly to take its toll slightly on Earle, who was tired and seemed in part to be going through the motions.
This tour is on the back of his Townes album (earlier in the year), so it was to be expected that the majority of the tracks would be Townes Van Zandt. As Earle himself said, this is the best received tour in a long while - somewhat frustrating for someone who professes to be a singer song writer himself!
The fact that this was an all seated gig made for an atmospheric experience. However, Steve’s own song writing qualities apart, he lacks the fragility of Townes Van Zandt or many of the other bastions of modern folk. ‘Brand New Companion’ in his guttural bluesy style worked well, but ‘Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold’ lost something of its vulnerability. However, ‘Rex’s Blues’, a track not on the album captured some of the spirit of what it must have been like to see Townes at his height.
At one point, presumably when heckled from the crowd for a specific track, he replied “I actually have more than one song about the West of Ireland you know. True to his word a few tracks later he dropped in his political commentary ‘Dixieland’.
Indeed other of his own songs featured including of course ‘Fort Worth Blues’ written about Townes himself. Whilst the poignant first song Earle wrote sober (‘Goodbye’) garnered both awe and a respectful silence.
Then no real surprises when he tore through ‘Galway Girl’ with a nod to the track which Mundy (in the audience) had recently brought back to public consciousness and re-affirmed its status as a standard. (“A Standard in this country is worth 5 anywhere else” he somewhat sycophantically announced)
‘City of Immigrants’ reminded us of the mans own strong political and moral opinions - a big human rights campaigner it was no surprise there was an Amnesty International stand as you came in (http://www.amnesty.org/). However ‘Way Down In The Hole’ and the fantastic climax of ‘Copperhead Road’ reminded us that he has balanced that with a deserved commercial success. Overall a good gig, but a little frayed around the edges from the months on the road.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Walked 47 miles of barbed wire for ……. (not who do you love)
2) Colorado Girl (TVZ)
3) Rex’s Blues (not on the TVZ LP though!)
4) Fort Worth Blues (written about TVZ Earle Song)
5) Pancho and Lefty
6) Brand New Companion (really bluesy version)brought out the harmonica and the blues that was TVZ
7) Guy pulled his pistols and washed and spit in the street ?
8) My Old Friend the Blues
9) Someday
10) Taneytown
11) Goodbye ( first song penned sober) (respectful silence)
12) Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
13) Marie (TVZ)
14) Billy and Bonnie
15) City of Immigrants (2007)
16) Dixieland (corina)
17) Galway Girl ("Cider Never passed my lips!") (Song become a standard, One standard here in Ireland is worth 5 in any other country!!)
18) Lungs Tell the World we tried (TVZ)
19) To Live’s to Fly
Encore
20) Way Down In The Hole (Tom Waits penned)
21) Hey little girl its your Tennessee Daddy, cant get famous on 37$ and a guitar ??
22) Copperhead Road
Yusuf Islam, O2
15th November
Crowds turned out in their thousands last Sunday for the near sell out Irish debut of Yusuf Islam, even still better known as Cat Stevens. And according to Yusuf’s own admission because of the price paid - he was trying to give us “a show and a half”. Hence the show was very much a tale of two extremes. He opened with a selection of 10 tracks old (Lillywhite) and new (Avoid The City After Dark). This pleased the maturer sections of the crowd who were more keen on the classics. However, with little explanation the second half kicked off with a 40 minute Musical featuring the songs of Cat Steven’s but performed by actors, amongst them Noel formerly of Hear’say. Swathes of loyal legions at the front politely applauded whilst the fair weather fans after a greatest hits set were unsettled.
Many were obviously put out by the lack of their author performing the songs for the first time in Dublin, indeed someone shouted out ‘Bring Cat Stevens Back’ without a hint of irony that we had not seen Cat Stevens all night! Instead Steven Demetre Georgiou under the new name Yusuf came back onstage to give us a civilised, sincere and peaceful performance which was in stark contrast to a small but vocal section of the audience.
By the time he returned a small section of the crowd had left in disgust, others had vehemently applauded the challenging Musical. With Cat Back we were treated to a healthy mix of old and new. Classic tracks like Peacetrain and Moonshadow sat comfortably alongside great new tracks such as All Kind’s Of Roses, plus a reworking of Lilywhite. The climax of the evening was Ronan Keating coming on to duet for a classic version of Father and Son which Keating did not detract from!
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Lilywhite
2) The Wind
3) Thinking ‘Bout You
4) Where Do The Children Play
5) Boots & Sand
6) Fill My Eyes
7) Roadsinger
8) Midday (Avoid City After Dark)
9) Sitting
10) I Think I See The Light
[Interval]
11+) “Moonshadow” the Musical
12) Miles from Nowhere
13) Don’t Be Shy
14) Glass World
15) Bad Brakes
16) Moonshadow
17) Peace Train
Encore
18) All Kinds of Roses
19) Lilywhite (2009)
20) Tuesday’s Dead
21) Father and Son (with Ronan Keating)
The Buzzcocks
Dublin Academy. 24 Oct 2009
View: Centre left.
Pioneering power driving legends of punk return to Dublin for another storming set – this time steeped exclusively in their first two classic LP’s. From Another Music In A Different Kitchen through Love Bites we were treated to a set list almost comparable with the albums, and very little banter in between. From the classic ‘Love Battery’ to the driving ‘Sixteen Again’ the band never let up, nor did the fanbase. The evening’s excitement reached fever pitch for the 30 minute, albeit slightly contrived, encore. From ‘Orgasm Addict’ through ‘What Do I Get’ and ‘Everybody’s Happy Nowadays’ Shelley’s vocals were their usual eccentric style whilst Diggle’s ‘axe swinging’ Pete Townshend guitar style kept the crowd enthralled. With the 6 song climax the evening came to a suitable pinnacle. It may have been over 30 years ago today, but the songs have lost none of their vitality. These are the pioneers of an exciting age for music, still touting their wares, surely we need other keepers of the flame to come and grasp the mantle, but until then – this classic ensemble will soldier on well.
James Masterson
SET LIST
1) That’s What
2) (Ringing phone intro) Got running Back
3) Try and Get Away
4) Got a who, who who
5) Love Battery
6) Alright Ok
7) Pigeon blow /
8) Autonomy
9) I Need
10) ? ?
11) Real World
12) Ever Fallen In Love
13) Operator’s Manual?
14) Nostalgia
15) Just Lust
16) Sixteen Again
17) Walking Distance
18) Love Is Lies
19) Nothing Left
20) Understated solo out off stage. ESP
Encore
21) Orgasm Addict
22) What Do I get
23) I Don’t Mind
24) Promises
25) Everybody’s happy nowadays
26) Harmony In My Head
Sharon Shannon & the Big Band
Dublin, National Concert Hall, 22nd Oct 2009
View: Centre Middle, Bang in the middle of the stalls.
Sharon Shannon was joined by Jerry Fish and Carol Keogh for an evening celebrating the release of her new album. With help from the Cartoon Thieves, Shannon and her band entertained with traditional music with a themed American twist to match the new release. Jigs and reels still abounded with tracks like ‘Howya Horse’ and ‘Hillbilly lily and Buffalo Benji’ from the new album plus, of course, the compulsory ‘Blackbird’. But these were balanced by Jerry Fish and Carol Keogh’s vocal tracks ‘Let’s Drink For Ones Dead’ and ‘Summer Sands’ respectively. However Keogh also did a poor barroom jazz version of Nick Drake’s ‘Northern Sky’ - a Reba Macintyre style ‘lift music’ reinvention for the tragic icon of the 70’s.
The duelling banjo and Spanish guitar track and even a backing band solo track gave the group ample indulgence, whilst Sharon, despite the draw, as ever deftly ensured she was not the focus.
The standout track from the new album Saints and Scoundrels (Waterboys apart) ‘Mama Lou’, proved to have staying power and sat comfortably alongside ‘Galway Girl’ for encore. This final ‘yehah’ proved a fitting climax to a great night’s blend of trad and pop.
James Masterson
Track list
Cartoon Thieves
1) ?
2) White Wash Station Blues (on LP)
3) How long have you known me (blues)
4) ?
5) Jack O Diamonds style
6) Clancy Sea shanty Haul Away Joe
Sharon Shannon Set
1) Jigs and Reels
2) Howya Horse? (LP Track)
3) Hillbilly lily and buffalo Benji (LP Track)
4) Aggie (waltz) Sally May Menia (My darling Clementine)
5) ?
6) Carol Keogh – Summer Sands ? (LP Track)
7) Northern Sky (Nick Drake) (with more of a barroom jazz sound)
8) Duelling Banjo and Spanish guitar
9) Don’t Give Up On Me (Jack Electric guitar guy song – Gary Moore Blues style)
10) Let’s Drink For Ones Dead (W/Jerry Fish)
11) True Friends (Jerry Fish and audience up holding hands)
12) Rogue Melody (Nothing Will Tear Us Apart) Jerry Fish and Carole Keogh
13) BlackBird
14) ?
Encore
15) Mama Lou
16) Galway Girl (sung by the sound man!)
Paul Brady
National Concert Hall
23 Aug 2009
View: Centre, Middle.Balcony
After a phenomenal support slot from Ann Marie O ‘Grady Paul Brady came out with his brand of simple singer songwriter. He opened with a beautiful version of ‘Beyond the Reach of Love’. Next up was a great version of the song from at least the 14th Century – ‘Lord Thomas and the Fair Ellender’ – though the adaptation he played was a more recent Appalachian interpretation: a nod to the recently deceased Mike Seeger. However, he rocked out after that with an energetic acoustic version of his classic track ‘Busted Loose’. As he got into the show he began strutting around the stage with one of his three guitars and striking the occasional Elvis pose. ‘Paradise Is Here’ is probably more famous by Tina Turner, and his original version tonight was marred by a crackling mike at the keyboard, but that didn’t detract majorly. Surrounded by a piano, keyboard, 3 guitars, a balalaika and mandolin Brady’s musical talent shined through as he picked up instruments at apparent randomness to tear into songs from his back catalogue. Having claimed to have forgotten that he ever played ‘Wearing the Britches’ until he stumbled across it on YouTube, he certainly enjoyed being reacquainted with it. A healthy selection of four new songs, including the exciting ‘Rainbow’ was generally greeted with resounding approval, though ‘Mother And Son’, live at least, was not of his normal caliber.
The night climaxed in the ever popular ‘The Island’ and ‘The World Is What You Make It’ before two encores including, of course, ‘The Lakes of Pontchartrain’. No ‘Arthur MacBride’, but overall the audience left happy. Overall an exciting and quality evening
James Masterson
1) Beyond the reach of love
2) Lord Thomas and the Fair Ellender
3) Busted Loose (from hard station LP)
4) Paradise is Here (tina Turner) (from Primitive Dance) – but probably TT version more famous.
5) Nothing But the Same Old Story (Look Out /Can’t wait till Saturday night)
6) Rainbow (new)
7) Nobody Knows
8) Wearing the Breeches
9) Out the Door and Over the wall (From Welcome here fine stranger)
10)The Jolly soldier
11)The Blarney Pilgrim
12)Mother and Son (new)
13)Money To Burn (new)
14)Oh what a world (with Will Jennings)
15)Follow On (Want me for a friend)
16)The Island
17)Crazy Dreams (Somebody elses dreams get you nowhere)
18)The World Is What You Make It (Hannibal – Life;s what you make it)
Encore
19)One today (?) From Keyboard to Piano ?????????????
20)The Lakes of Pontchartrain
Encore 2
21)Helpless Heart (This helpless heart will always belong to you)
Ann Marie O’Grady (supporting Paul Brady)
NCH Dublin, 23 Aug 2009
Seldom do I feel compelled to write a review of a support act. They are generally good enough – but there to do the warm up for the headline artist and are building up their experience and repertoire. But every so often a singer comes along who has latent talent as well as inexperience!
It was a brave move for Ann Marie O’Grady to start your set with an A cappella song (no physical or psychological protection from your guitar). But her song Patterns was a good start to capture an otherwise apathetic audience. Track two - Turn It Up, Take It Out proved she could also carry strong vocals over a guitar. She played only a handful of her own tracks, instead played well selected covers of Britney’s Hit Me Baby One More Time and Suspicious Minds, which she attributed to Elvis, which ensured she kept the crowd entertained and well enlivened in preparation for Paul Brady. One of the highlights though was her own song Losing You – a well constructed upbeat song.
Having had a track covered by Francis Black (Sometimes love) was quite an achievement – but probably won’t be the last of this young woman’s achievements.
Frighteningly she was not even playing that many tracks from her albums – check her our live if you get a chance.
1) Patterns
2) Turn It Up, Take It Out
3) Somewhere only We Know (Keane)
4) Sometimes Love (covered by Francis Black)
5) Hit me baby one more time
6) Losing You ****
7) Suspicious Minds
Luka Bloom, with Eddi Reader
National Concert Hall 22 Aug 2009
View: Centre, Middle, Balcony
Luka Bloom, in conjunction with Eddi Reader, gave this large Dublin crowd and exciting evening of thought provoking songs old and new. All delivered in a fun and exciting manner. Early on Luka had the crowd in the palm of his hand with a beautiful rendition of ‘Make You Feel My Love’, with the added romantic feel by the dedication of it to two wedding anniversary couples in the audience.
The humourous observation that his desire to write a song for a film was fulfilled when he wrote ‘Exploring the Blue’ two days after seeing the film in the cinema didn’t detract from the beauty of the track. Performed live this song was enchanting and grandiose; set to a 14 piece orchestra which complemented the range and depth of the song and the performer. Alongside this, ‘Water Ballerina’ and ‘Monsoon’ there were lots of songs about beaches, seas, sand and mermaids - from a man from landlocked Kildare! But as he conceded himself as he performed ‘I Can Hear Her, Like Lorelei’ that was probably the first song written about Koblenz’s Lorelei, from Kildare at least!
Juxtaposed back to back versions of the ‘City of Chicago’ (emigration) and ‘No Matter Where You Go, The You Are’ (immigration) worked well to remind Ireland of her history and the hypocrisy of xenophobia.
Eddi Reader may have fluffed the intro to ‘John Anderson, My Joe’ and called a halt to proceedings to gracefully bring it back to the start. But her energy and child-like enthusiasm beamed as she danced behind the mike. With the help of some excellent track selections (including ‘Dragonflies’ and ‘Moon River’) she was in danger of nearly stealing the show. However Bloom’s songwriting and powerful performance meant he maintained centre stage and ensured this sedate Dublin crowd left happy. A raucous rapping version of ‘I’m A Bog Man’ and a lively version of ‘You Couldn’t Have Come At A Better Time’, with Reader on backing vocals, ensured an exciting and excellent night of song.
1) Water Ballerina
2) Primavera (Augustus Gleef?)
3) Make You Feel My Love
4) Where is My Tribe
5) EastBound Train
6) I Can Hear Her, Like Lorelei.
7) Here and Now
8) Exploring the Blue
9) Love Is A Place (With ER for Christina Noble)
10)ER The Wild Mountainside
11) ER Moon river (Johnny Mercer Track)
12)ER Dragonflies
13)ER New York City
14)ER John Anderson, My Joe
15)ER You’re Welcome Willy Stewart
Part 2
16)I’m A Bogman
17)City Of Chicago (emigration)
18)No Matter Where you go you’re there (Immigration)
19)I’m On Your Side
20)Dream in America (Through The Eyes of Love I see your face)
21)Gone To Pablo
22)Monsoon
23)Perfect Groove (Looking For the perfect song, I’m gonna sing to you )
24)You Couldn’t have come at a better time (with ER)
Encore
25)My Sunny Sailor Boy (With ER)
26)Don’t Be Afraid of the light (that shines on you)/
Booker T and his Band
Dublin, Vicar Street 20th July. 2009
View: Stage Right, in the stalls.
Booker T and his trusted Hammond B3 gave a sparse Dublin crowd their brand of instrumental and vocal classic tracks, plus some excellent ones off his new album, Potato Head. A strange mix of musicians, including former Black Crowes Guitarist Mark Ford and the tattooed blues devotee Ronnie James (Webber) on Bass, all gave 100% but Booker T’s crushing and overwhelming organ sound drove the evening’s performance. The beautiful ‘She Breaks’ initially captured the crowd, but ‘Green Onions’ got the show moving early on. The first vocal track was halfway through the evening – his own version of ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’. Despite only smiling between songs (the concentration during songs was obvious) he seemed to genuinely enjoy the concert – recounting with glee the fact that the BBC had picked up on his ‘Soul Limbo’ for their ‘cricket music’(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJlc7dmv6Mo). A strange cover of OutKast’s ‘Hey Ya!’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMVmlSVcBR4) was warmly received and ‘Time Is Tight’ climaxed this exciting show. However after the lights had gone up and people started to go home the irrepressible Booker and his band came back on with two joyous covers ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ and ‘Hold On I’m Coming’. But even before then tonight’s show had already ensured this small but loyal crowd left happy.
© James Masterson
Allen Touissant.
Whelans, Dublin, Monday 13th July 2009
‘Tonight I’m going to perform some songs I wrote for others, some I didn’t write but glad I didn’t and other’s I wish I had’ declared the legendary writer Allen Toussaint to a jam packed crowd at Whelans. Whilst the set that followed was steeped in songs he has written for others, it did include a few surprise tracks. Some of his own tunes were unfortunately blended into two medleys part way through the set. ‘A Certain Girl’, ‘Mother in Law’, ‘Fortune Teller’ plus ‘Working in a Coalmine’ and ‘Wrong Number’ were all lost in medley’s but in some cases these actually worked well together. Especially for ‘Fortune Teller’, which was played in near entirety anyway(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWfVRh5JI-Y).He name checked a number of artists who had covered his songs, including Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead) who had taken his ‘Get Out Of My Life Woman’ into the charts. His mention of Bonnie Raitt’s cover versions of his songs seemed out of place – until the end of the show when he gave us a stunning version of the Marty Robbins classic Country anthem “El Paso”, which the crowd gleefully joined in on harmonies. However, the climax of the evening was a beautifully soft but rolling version of Southern Nights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGAFOz5GA8I), with an elongated introduction where he described summer evenings as a child sitting on the porch of his grandparent’s house. Without any touch of banal sentimentality or contrived storytelling this brought a tear to the eye of many in the crowd. A great night of song.
© James Masterson
WhiteDenim
Academy 2, Dublin Thursday 26th June 2009
White Denim came to the small Dublin Academy 2 for one night only. With its low ceiling it is not a great venue for sound, but this power driving rock trio gave full gusto regardless. Far heavier live than their first album suggests they gave a driving guitar rock more reminiscent of LedZeppelin and Aerosmith, than their more simple studio and garage recordings. Famously dismissed CD age as pretty worthless their vinyl-only debut EP, tracks proved the most popular – especially Let's Talk About It .They started the set with mainly tracks from the new album (Fit), whilst towards the end started to drop in more tracks from the better known debut. ‘Shake Shake Shake’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eYwkkujr5Yand) 'I Can Tell You’ really got the crowd going. However they lost the crowd a bit when they played a medley of songs, rather than each song outright, and technical problems seemed to dog the band, for which they apologies for all evening. ‘All consolations’ was rousing and got a good reaction from the crowd. ‘Migration Wind’ showed off James Petralli’s abilities as a guitarist, before ‘Let’s Talk About It’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRAslAwaRzU) closed the show suddenly. No encore, short sharp and to the point. A great rocking night.
© James Masterson
RY COODER & NICK LOWE
Dublin, Olympia Theatre, 11th June 2009
In some ways tonight is an unlikely partnership – softly spoken, mild mannered Englishman, Nick Lowe and screaming guitared, ostentatious Californian, Ry Cooder - on the same stage. Both are exceptional song writers and tonight they prove that together they are also great performers, who compliment each other. Besides, with the track selection, both played to their strengths. Nick Lowe opened the vocals on the Ry Cooder track Fool Who Knows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woZvkfITE_Y). Unfortunately due to illness, accomplished accordionist Flaco Jiménez was not able to join them for this, the opening night of the European tour. But in his absence we were treated to an exceptional guest on tin whistle, The Chieftan’s Paddy Maloney, for a great version of Boomer’s Story and later the climax of the evening, There’s a Bright Side Somewhere.
Ry Cooder looks old for his years, but his animated face belies a man who adores his trade. He may have fluffed a couple of early songs, but is good enough to cover it up – and besides – all mistakes were out the way by the third track! The highlight of the evening was Cooder’s version of Arthur Alexander’s Go On Home, which had the crowd hanging on his every word. Some in the audience would have liked a few more Nick Lowe tracks, (though we got What's so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQei40cMboQ, amongst others)
but this was Cooder’s evening. Whilst neither disappointed, it was Cooder, with his skilled vocals, and ultimately his great mastery of the guitar, who was the show’s highlight. A lively, but sparse crowd (perhaps owing to high ticket prices), were not going to let anything get in the way of a great nights entertainment possibly because it has been fifteen years since Cooder last performed in Ireland. By the end they even stayed well into the night demanding the second encore that never came.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Fool Who knows
2) Fool by a cigarette / Feelin good
3) Vigilante man
4) Losing boy
5) ?
6) Every Woman I Know (Crazy 'Bout Automobiles),
7) One of those days
8) Go Home Girl
9) Crying In My Sleep
10)Down in Hollywood
11)The Very Thing that makes you Rich (Makes Me Poor) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTSaHk8Jx9g)
12)My Name Is Buddy
13)Peace, Love and Understanding
14)Teardrops Will Fall
15)Boomer’s Story (with Paddy Maloney)
Encore
16)He’ll Have To Go.
17)There’s A Bright Side Somewhere (with Paddy Maloney)
George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
Olympia, Dublin 31/05/2009
Mick Jagger is reputed to have said that all you need to play rock ‘n’ roll is three chords and a lot of energy. Whilst the Stones are a great example of this success story, one of the greatest purveyors of the art is George Thorogood and the Destroyers. What they do they do competently but ultimately, as their own moniker acknowledges, they are the world’s greatest Bar band. Nothing exceptional, just the pinnacle of entertaining, good time rock ‘n’ roll. Superbly selected cover versions (John Lee Hooker’s‘One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer’ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmgOrhELXs] / Hank William’s ‘Move It On Over’) mixed with the occasional quality self penned number thrown in (‘Bad to the Bone’) make the evening an exciting, fun filled one.
In the heat of the moment George Thorogood described the Olympia as ‘the world’s greatest venue’. And for one summers evening in late May maybe it was just that. On the last night of European leg of their current tour George and his Delaware Destroyers gave their large Dublin fan base a rocking evening of all the standards. From the opening track ‘Rock Party’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHUz-xEYbaQ everyone was in the mood to boogie and he had the crowd dancing in the aisles (security allowing!). For the rest of the evening the track listing differed little from their classic 1986 Live album.
His facial expressions and ducking and diving guitar style keep the crowd entertained, whilst the hastily choreographed band moves of dipping their guitars and saxophone in time, maintain the vein of good time rock n roll with a rebellious twist. They even gave us what they described as “sophisticated rock” with their humourous ‘Get A Haircut’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOCDoKsXjP0). The second encore and the management allegedly giving ‘permission’ to extend the curfew felt a bit contrived, but the crowd were pleased to see the evening climax in local (Commitments) favourite ‘Treat Her Right’ followed by ‘Madison Blues’. He genuinely appeared not to want to leave the stage – coming back on three times to enjoy the audience adulation.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Rock Party
2) Who Do You Love
3) The Fixer
4) Night time
5) I Drink Alone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysXMAOgEIq4)
6) One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
7) Cocaine Blues (aka Bad Lee Brown)
8) The Sky Is Crying
9) Get a Haircut
10) Bad To The Bone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYPcY15JaWY)
11) Move it on over
Encore
12) Price I pay
13) You Talk Too much
Encore 2
14) Treat her right
15) Madison Blues
Scott Matthews.
Whelans, Dublin 28th May 2009
Scott Matthews is a softly spoken Wolverhampton lad who found favour, and limited fame, through Mark Radcliffe and the new svengali for breaking careers – Jools Holland. On stage alone Matthews is hardly the most charismatic, instead allowing his music to do all the talking. He manages to carry this off with the sympathy of the crowd, all the time playing on the fragility of the singer songwriters. With a vocal style and range similar to Eddie Vedder (without the rock edge) or at points Terry Callier (though perhaps less wispy) his performance is entertaining. He has also drawn valid comparisons with Jeff Buckley and Ray Lamontagne, suffering at points from a lack of elocution and diction. Perhaps the lack of diction is one of his stronger traits as he is very intense when leaning into the microphone. Indeed at points he boils over into the maudlin and low toned – especially on ‘Fractured’. (‘Fractured arms from pulling you up/Your life weighs a ton”) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqT7Tpn4KWk). Also getting the balance of guitar selection is not one of his strong points. Throughout the set he juggles at least 6 guitars, including a 12 string which at points he looks almost uncomfortable in playing. Although he does shine when performing ‘12 Harps’, a song he originally recorded with Robert Plant.
Special mention should be made for the strangest occurrence at a gig ever. As Matthews turned to make another guitar change, a lone female voice cried “Show us your Pubes!” For giving everyone a laugh it certainly succeeded but for building an intense powerful atmosphere poor Matthews was back to square one. However he pulled it back masterfully – by not obliging the audience member (phew) and instead persevering with some of the stronger tracks from his two albums. The Ivor Novello winning ‘Elusive’ proved popular(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27l7QCLfFC4&feature=fvst), here he stuck consistently with the 6 string acoustic and gave us the more traditional folk of ‘Passing Strangers’ (including harmonica)(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_MfNkOpbHc&feature=fvst). It was the tracks which he stayed most faithful to on the albums that sounded the best. Thirty something before his debut he has found fame and will mature into a solid performer but tellingly he only seemed to relax as the show climaxed in a quick, almost duty bound encore of ‘Earth To Calm’.
© James Masterson
Presidents of United States
Vicar St, Dublin. 3rd April 2009
View; Centre Back.
Humourous raconteurs of fun the Presidents appeared in Dublin for the second time in 12 months to promote their 6th studio album. Perhaps predictably, despite the album being out for the full year, the ‘new’ tracks were greeted with respectful silence rather than warm familiarity. However the bands ability to balance old and new kept the crowd fully entertained for the whole evening. Opening track Lunatic of Love was closely followed by the classic Kitty, whilst Lump (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48Mjj-XQCE) and Peaches were tactfully dropped during at timely points in the set.
The climax of the evening however was back to back cover versions of a very different nature – MC5’s Kick out the Jams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtxo2onKXyY) followed by Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star.
High octane energy and excitement were the order of the day and both were delivered with gusto and professionalism. This mad Seattle three piece never shy from just enjoying themselves and their enthusiasm is infectious. This large appreciative crowd certain caught the bug.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Lunatic to Love
2) Kitty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMsMpbZAkzA)
3) Ladybug
4) Bad Times
5) You’ve all got to love somebody
6) Sharpen up the Fangs (?)
7) Lump
8) ? Fry pucke?
9) Mixed up SOB
10) Dunebuggy
11) Volcano
12) Old Man on the Back Porch
13) Flames in Love
14) Nobody tagged that chicken (?)
15) I will survive
16) Peaches
17) Kick out the Jams
Encore
18) Video Killed the Radio star
19) Deleter
20) Mobile Home
21) We’re Not gonna make it
The Wailers
UCD, Dublin, 12th February 2009
View: Centre Back.
Coming on stage two hours late hardly ingratiated the band to the well oiled student crowd, however they seemed unperturbed focusing on testing all their material in Dublin for two warm up dates before the forthcoming international tour later in the year. Celebrating the Exodus album in its entirety, this was a tribute gig with an undeniably exceptional cast. Most notably the living legend Aston Barrett and the lead singer one time solo artist Elan Atias. Despite the presence of greatness The Wailers really are a shadow of the original institution. So Much Things To Say was an early highlight, but the stronger flip side of the album was always going to included the more obvious crowd pleasers, however perhaps predictably no classic magic. A great show for those seeking a one stage removed tribute, but unlike Motown back catalogue, reggae requires a powerful lead voice to succeed, and whilst Elan is competent he is no Bob!
© James Masterson
Eddi Reader
The Academy, Dublin 21st Feb 09
View: Off Centre at the Front,
Eddi Reader’s relaxed, comfortable set belies a lady in love with song. ‘A whore for a good song’ as she herself admits. From the new ‘Dean Martin-esque Waltz – ‘Dragonflies’, to the traditional Robbie Burns ‘Lazy Lindsay’, she shows she is comfortable with her entertainer status.
A good version of ‘The Moon is Mine’ (with Roy Dodds on Drums) sat comfortably alongside Declan O’Rorke’s haunting love song ‘Galileo’.
It is therefore a shame that the relaxed evening of pleasure climaxed in a poor, rushed version of ‘You Send Me’, dominated by a preoccupied and distracted Brian Kennedy on guest vocal. Reader seemed genuinely caught unaware at the promoters clear intention to get her off stage before her set was over. A shame, because an acoustic rendition of ‘Perfect’ may well have topped off a superb evening.
© James Masterson
Billy Bragg
Vicar St, Dublin 2009
View: Balcony, centre middle.
Billy Bragg, people’s poet and England’s greatest politician that never was! Opinionated, considered and eloquent his gigs have matured from purely music to a word and music affairs. Where the traditional folk musician will have anecdotes about the next song Bragg’s interludes are political rallying calls against injustice and for a better world. From anyone else they would wear thin, but he floats smoothly from one powerful ballad (Must I Paint you a Picture) to a ballsy rock blues anthem (NPWA) taking every crowd member with him. It is impossible to come away from a Bragg gig not moved. From the new Farm Boy to Power in a Union his ability to inspire appears limitless, whilst his ability to entertain remains undiminished. The Milkman of Human Kindness sums up his generosity from the stage.
As he concedes one man and a guitar may not change the world, but the Clash certainly changed his and he hopes that just maybe someone in the 1000 strong sell out crowd will experience the same earth shattering experience. I think every single one did.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) The world turned upside down
2) Farmboy
3) Greetings to the new brunette
4) A lover sings
5) Ingrid Bergman
6) Way over yonder in the minor key
7) Must I paint you a picture
8) Milkman of human kindness
9) No power without Accountability
10) Sexuality
11) Goodbye to all my friends (new song only on promos)
12) Sin City (Gram Parsons) accompanied by Otis Gibbs
13) Don’t you remember you told me you loved me Baby (Carpenters)
14) Don’t Think Twice (Dylan)
15) The Saturday Boy
16) Accident Waiting to Happen
17) Old Clash Fan Fighting
18) I keep faith
19) Power in a Union
20) Great leap forward (updated with Roy Keane and recession lyrics)
Encore
21) Levi Stubb’s Tears
22) Change is gonna come
23) A New England
Judas Priest
The O2 Arena, Dublin 10th February 2009
Heavy metal thrives on melodrama and pomp. The theatre of absurd and overindulgence are key and few do it better than one time controversial Judas Priest.
Tonight their brand of overblown screams and shrieks, in the hammer and anvil vein was very much in Dublin.
The international crowd for this opening night of the tour welcomed their idols with arms aloft to the new look O2. Solid support from Testament and Megadeth the headline band did not disappoint. With thrones, capes, flags and the obligatory bike on stage Spinal Tap would have been proud. It is in the overblown nature of heavy metal that much of the entertainment lies. Metaphors are not subtle and fantasies are lived out, but then on any stage metaphors cannot be too subtle!
Judas Priest’s brand of metal is heavy on guitar and the operatic voice of lead singer. Rob Halford, who left the band only in turn to replace the tribute singer a few years later, worked hard frequently popping up from under the Gothic stage. Clouded in smokescreens the band head banged in time. All these entertaining theatrics were overlooked by the painted image of Nostrodamus. Heavy Metal does not set out to be taken serious, merely to entertain, and perhaps it is its success in this that makes it so compelling.
© James Masterson
Track listing
1) Prophecy
2) Metal Gods
3) Eat Me Alive
4) Hammer and the Anvil
5) Build my funeral Pyre
6) Breakin the law
7) Messenger of death
8) Angel
9) Protector
10) Rock Hard, Rock Free
11) The sinner (sin after sin)
12) Drum solo
13) Hell Bent for Leather
14) Mean machine
15) You got another thing coming
