Damien Rice 20-02-07

as I heard someone say on the tram home - 'that was not just a gig....that was an evening with Damien Rice' and so it was.....the tiny irishman was in fine form and delivered a heartfelt and easy performance which I can unabashedly admit to loving. enough of you naysayers and your issues with blowers daughter being on every tv show from here till next year - seeing Damien live is sublime. it wasn't even the sad sorrowfest you might expect as he was quite chipper from start to finish, just having fun playing and singing and drinking a good australian red.

I arrived a bit late to catch countryman Fionn Regan (luckily have tickets to the solo show) but I was surprised to be in the Palais for the first time ever. this is a beautiful majestic old style theatre space and I figured it would be a great place for a gig, but really it probably is more suited for theatre. being confined to my chair got a bit much and I wished for the crush and huddle of the crowd where we could sway and get lost in the music together.

at any rate, such issues were soon forgotten - from the moment damien stepped out he held us all in the palm of his hand. almost everything I wanted to hear was offered up as he played long into the night. clearly he was having fun up there and unlike some gigs I was more than willing to let him go off into some crazy long vocal wandering or guitar riffs cause it was just so damn good. adding to the friendly 'lounge room' feel of things he just wouldn't stop talking - seeming to want to spend hours just talking about songs and whatever shit was going through his head. (I love that stuff, but still everyone else seems to want to come 'just for the songs' so were pushing him to get on with things.)

a lot of new favourites from the latest album (9) were played - of particular note coconut skins, elephant and the fabulous rootless tree - and of course from O "the song I wrote the moment that nothing else mattered" blowers daughter (which morphed into a fantastically sprawling version of creep and then back again.) also plenty of tunes which doesn't appear on albums but which I equally love such as the professor and the deliciously vicious woman like a man. I would have given anything to hear lonelily, but it's good to come away wanting more, and really there was plenty of stuff to make up for it. at one point damien decided it was time to write a song so after a few suggestions from the audience (purple, eyes, elizabeth!!??) we got to hear him compose before us. I'm not going to say it was a song to sell millions, but the boy sure knows a thing or two about making words and music work. at another stage he was clearly getting a bit weary so stepped of stage to enjoy his wine and let Thomas from the audience get up and have his own moment of glory. he then got back up with him and duetted to stand by me before taking control back. again I can't say that the performance was amazing (although I'm sure it would have made Thomas' night) but it was fun - everyone loved it and I guess it got Damien re-engergised, so all was good.

Lisa Hannigan sang flawlessly as usual, adding that extra touch of sweetness and warmth to the songs - what I would only give for a voice like that! her presence is a welcome bonus to any of damien's songs. Lisa and Vivienne Long (cello) did a jaunty little number from Vivienne's new album too which also got lot of chuckles and applause from the crowd. Really it was altogether way too much fun for a damien rice concert (don't pretend it's not what you were thinking) and after about 2 hours of playing he announced that we'd had "enough JOY" and left us with a long and haunting version of cold water in close to complete darkness.

by this stage it was almost too late for the obligatory encore, but he did emerge back onto the stage to put the last emotional kick in with two excellent versions of accidental babies and cannonball (which seemed to go on forever)
again everyone revelling in the music and enjoying the last minutes of beauty......