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During the encore of Suede’s opening night at The Olympia, Coming Up’s ‘Trash’ and ‘Beautiful Ones’ elicited a reaction from the crowd that is normally only reserved for the iconic singles taken from their mercurial debut. IfSuede was the sound of the band getting the ball rolling on Britpop and Dog Man Star was their attempt to disassociate themselves from that particular mid-’90s movement, then 1996’sComing Up was the sound of Suede wanting a piece of the action.

Often dismissed as Suede’s ‘pop’ album, it found Suede focusing on their knack for writing glam-influenced pop songs with outward-looking lyrics that commented on high and low society. A 10-track, 40-minute album of pop songs, its fusion of Hunky Dory– era Bowie and The Slider-era T. Rex spawned five top 10 singles and remains their biggest seller. With that in mind, it’s clear that Coming Up is, for the band, more fun to play. It lacks the long, maudlin tracks such as ‘She’s Not Dead’ and ‘Daddy’s Speeding’, from their first and second albums respectively, that slow down the flow and momentum of a gig. The crowd, too, feel more involved in the proceedings; there is more fist-in-the-air jubilation than the chin-stroking introspection of both the Suede and Dog Man Star gigs.

Apparently, keyboard player Neil Codling and guitarist Richard Oakes, both of whom made their recording debuts with Suede on Coming Up, seem more involved in the proceedings and more connected to their material than that of the first two records. They have a personal connection to these songs that isn’t there when they are playing songs from the earlier albums. The slower songs – ‘By the Sea’, ‘Picnic by the Motorway’, ‘The Chemistry Between Us’ – somehow manage not to kill the momentum generated by the opening half. In fact, ‘Saturday Night’, the slow tempo closer, finds Anderson venturing into the crowd for one last hurrah.

A superb encore ensures that this is the most energised, adrenaline-fuelled night of the three. Consisting of the slow, cold, Bowie/Eno- influenced ‘Europe Is Our Playground’ (B-side to ‘Trash’), the band quickly snap out of the moody atmospherics of that song and rip swiftly into a string of up-tempo glam-rockers. ‘New Generation’, ‘Can’t Get Enough’ (taken from 1999’sHead Music), ‘So Young’, ‘Metal Mickey’ and ‘So Young’ all hit the right notes. By the end Anderson has reminded the audience of his brilliance as a frontman; his hips are shaking and swaying, his voice singing in a clear, confident falsetto and with urgency like never before. For band and audience alike, it feels like the end of a long journey. As the crowd pour out onto Dame Street, the main talking point is of fevered rumours of a new album and tour, next year. If true, Suede have raised the bar up a notch that they will be hard-pressed to surpass.

Originally published by State.ie

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Those unfamiliar with Bill Callahan’s extensive songbook may think he’s enslaved to the influence of Leonard Cohen: a sobering solo performer, wearing a white suit, playing a nylon-stringed guitar and singing in a deep, rich baritone. However, his fusion of minor key folk and country and his lyrics, which lean on everything from Zen Buddhist teachings to metaphysical imagery, are all shot through with his uniquely wry and gentle humor.

Opening with ‘The Wind And The Dove’, the intense silence is palpable. Flanked by Neal Morgan on drums and Matt Kinsey on guitar, the arrangements are subtle and unobtrusive and Kinsey’s playing captures the character of the rich arrangements of the original studio version of the song. Following with ‘Riding For The Feeling’ and ‘Baby’s Breath’, the tempo of the songs feel too similar, though ‘Drover’, an album highlight from this year’s Apocalypse, shifts the tempo up a gear and allows the three musicians to loosen up and improvise, giving the song a Scott Walker-esque scope. This is swiftly followed by ‘America’, an ironic, State Of The Nation address, full of Callahan’s tongue-in-cheek humor and possibly one of the few of his songs with a danceable beat. Kinsey lets loose on the guitar and Morgan plays his drum kit as if it were a set of bongos, with Callahan gently whispering “America” repeatedly. A highlight of the night and no doubt a staple of future set lists.

Songs from Callahan’s previous incarnation, Smog, are played to the delight of many. Highlights from Smog’s 2005 masterpiece, A River Ain’t Too Much To Love, go down a treat, particularly ‘Say Valley Maker’ – the haunting backing vocals even eliciting harmonies from the audience. Most surprising, however, is how comfortable Callahan is on stage. The quiet, introverted performer of old, who would never acknowledge his audience, is but a memory. Tonight, Callahan offers sincere thanks after each round of applause and initiates banter with members of the audience. And while Callahan’s latest offering may not cross over beyond his cult of devoted fans, he’s developing as a songwriter and as a performer at a more rapid pace than many of his contemporaries.

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Villagers have returned home to Dublin after a high profile support slot with Elbow on their latest tour that wraps up tonight, the only Irish date of the tour. A devoted few get in early to catch Villagers. However, in a venue the size of the O2, their set – drawn mostly from slow-burning debut Becoming A Jackal – doesn’t quite connect and one can’t help but feel that this band and these songs belong in a more intimate venue. For a support band, they lack the hooks, choruses and charisma to make an impression on those undecided/apathetic punters who might be here, purely, to see Elbow. The title track elicits the loudest cheer of Villagers’ set, but this wasn’t Villagers’ finest hour.

Walking on stage to a lavish red curtain back-drop, Elbow’s sound of big drums, chunky bass lines, strings and Guy Garvey’s tenor voice, effortlessly fill every corner of the venue. Elbow hit a groove in a set that begins promisingly by opening with ‘The Birds’, ‘The Bones of You’ and ‘Lippy Kids’. As a live band, Elbow has grown leaps and bounds since their May 2001 gig in Temple Bar Music Centre in support of Mercury Prize nominated debut Asleep In The Back. Garvey makes for an unlikely stadium-rock front man. The runway stage into the audience, along with his witty banter in between songs, is a successful attempt at bringing the audience in closer, making the experience more intimate in contrast to the band’s sound. At one point, the remaining band members join Garvey on the runway stage for an acoustic intro to ‘Weather to Fly’ and shortly leave to finish the song with full, electric arrangements. In a way, it’s the most telling song of the night; a song Garvey wrote about the band, its performance here tonight is a visual representation of the how the band have mutated from British music’s best kept secret to where they are now.

The set list, however, finds Elbow on cruise control. They don’t delve too far back into their back catalogue. Instead, they play it safe with a 17 song set that is drawn mainly from Build A Rocket Boys! and The Seldom Seen Kid, with just three tracks from 2005’s Leaders Of The Free World. Their first two efforts – 2001’s Asleep In The Back and 2003’s Cast Of Thousands – weren’t written for the arenas that their most recent records were and therein lies the element of risk: can these early songs work in an arena? It’s a relief, then, when ‘Grounds for Divorce’ arrives during the set; it changes a mood and tempo that has become quite even paced and quite sedate when Elbow should be firing on all cylinders.

Finishing, quite predictably, on ‘One Day Like This’, arms are in the air, and Elbow is home dry. Given that this is their first tour of the arenas, they already seem like old hands in what is a well-co-ordinated show. Here’s hoping that when they hit the festivals in the summer that they’re able to shift gears more convincingly and give a wider representation of their enviable discography.

Originally published by State.ie

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Glen Hansard is looking back. During this month alone, the 40-year old creative force behind The Frames and Swell Season has revisited two critical periods of his remarkable career: the 20th Anniversary of The Commitments and ten years since the release of The Frames’ masterpiece, For the Birds. Given the dedication and loyalty of the band’s fan base, it’s safe to assume that many here tonight were at the Olympia a decade ago, when the band played the Dame Street venue on the day of the album’s release. Although the audience has brought their memories from the intervening ten years to Vicar St, further context is given in the form of an impassioned- if overzealous- preamble by a friend of the band as he discusses how the record traveled from Ventry to Chicago to Dublin and beyond. When he opines how much the album means to him, everyone immediately gets him.

As the opening arpeggiated chord and lilting piano lines of majestic album opener ‘In the Deep Shade’ break the silence, we are, as with every listen, placed under its spell. While songs, like live staple ‘Lay Me Down’, are performed faithfully and proficiently, some songs, in particular ‘Headlong’ and ‘What Happens When the Heart Just Stops’ allow the band to spin off course, engage at the moment, and find their way back into the song’s signature hook. Apparently energized by having guitarist/producer Dave Odlum back in the fold for the night’s performance, Hansard & Co. deliver a great ‘Santa Maria’ and finish with an equally defiant and hypnotic ‘Mighty Sword’. It’s the most convincing and definitive live performance of these songs and, by proxy, an ultimate Frames performance.

Following the closing notes of ‘Mighty Sword’, the band exit and Hansard invites novelist Roddy Doyle to read ‘Blood,’ a short story taken from his forthcoming collection Bullfighting. Doyle’s hilarious, modern day gothic story offers humor and respite for an audience still in awe from the opening half of the evening. Predictably, the band saunter back on stage and deliver a set comprising of Fitzcarraldo / Dance the Devil… era material. As with many of The Frames’ Dublin gigs, it’s after this that the night takes a ‘Last Waltz’ kind of turn. Hansard invites Damien Rice on stage and in a bewildering performance, Rice performs a new song, not dissimilar in tempo to ‘The Blower’s Daughter’. Fellow Commitment star Bronagh Gallagher then plays Aretha Franklin’s ‘Do Right Woman, Do Right Man’. Following this, support act Interference are invited back for a rendition of ‘Gold’. Penned by front man Fergus O’Farrell and featured in Jon Carney’s Once, it reminds one of O’Farrell’s considerable talents as a vocalist.

In a bizarre turn of events, a barefooted Liam O’Maonlai takes to the stage and dilutes the second half of the show. Looking like Gene Franklin – Will Ferrell’s ‘More Cowbell’ character – on his way home from a party at Charlie Sheen’s gaff, O’Maonlai is clearly unaware that everyone at Vicar St is here to celebrate ten years of For the Birds. His pseudo-spiritual, Irish language weird-folk song is embarrassing, boring and takes away from the night. What swiftly follows is a cringe worthy, 20-minute jam. O’Maonlai is determined to take over proceedings and heckles of “piss off, O’Maonlai” don’t, unfortunately, deter him. It’s not until he rounds off his evening with a cover of Dylan’s ‘Forever Young’, that O’Maonlai mercifully exits the stage and allows Hansard to reclaim control.

Introducing “one last special guest”, Hansard, flanked by the remaining members of Mic Christopher’s The Mary Janes, performs a triumphant rendition of Christopher’s classic, ‘Heyday’, which now feels like an attempt to rescue the show. One can’t help but feel that the night should have ended after the band’s ‘best of’ encore. Hansard’s generosity towards other performers is gracious. However, when over-bearing performers mar the proceedings by attempting to steal the show, something is lost. That the night lasted three hours is of little consolation; had it ended sooner, it would have been the stuff of undisputed legend – now it’s a night remembered only for how it went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Originally published on State.ie

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As Irish rugby fans spill out from the pubs and onto the streets after Ireland’s victory over England in Aviva Stadium, a fortunate few make their way down to The O2 amid chants of “Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!” to catch the cast of The Commitments, live in concert. Celebrating 20 years since Alan Parker’s iconic adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s equally iconic novel, the timing couldn’t be better; a country riddled (again) by an economic recession and a soul and R&B revival in full swing.

As soon as Robert Arkins finishes his rendition of ‘Treat Her Right’, he implores the audience to “Put yer working class hands together for the hardest working band in the world…”. The show well and truly begins when Andrew Strong follows up the excellent introduction with the late, great Wilson Pickett’s ‘In the Midnight Hour’ and Otis Redding’s ‘Mr. Pitiful’, both of which are among the most recognisable songs from the original soundtrack.

Angeline Ball and Brona Gallagher take centre stage for ‘Chain of Fools’ and ‘Do Right Woman, Do Right Man’, respectively. Given that Andrew Strong and Glen Hansard are the only full-time professional singers on stage, it’s a tough ask for two actors to scale the heights of songs originally performed by Aretha Franklin though they succeed admirably. Persuaded by the original cast of the Alan Parker movie to sing a tune, Glen Hansard obliges with a cover of “a Dublin soul song”, namely Phil Lynott’s ‘Old Town’. Complete with finger clicks from the audience, it’s a stunning rendition of a song we all know and it convincingly localises The Commitments more than any other song on the set list.

Played late in the set, the highlights of the night were always going to be ‘Mustang Sally’ and ‘Try a Little Tenderness’, the former containing an audacious guitar solo from Andrew Strong (who knew that he also played the guitar?) on Hansard’s guitar and the latter which lifts the roof off the O2. In theory, the night should end here; there’s nowhere left to go after such a peak. Unfortunate, then, that an encore of Little Milton’s classic ‘Grits Ain’t Groceries’ and Spencer Davis’ ‘Gimme Some Lovin’’ falls flat and seems almost unremarkable following on from the set’s peak, although such a lacklustre encore isn’t enough to mar the evening.

A mixed crowd – made up largely of those who saw the film on original release, 20 years ago, and a younger generation who are fans of Amy Winehouse and Plan B – filter out from the O2 after 2 hours of swinging and swaying. The night ends, as it began, with chants of “Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!”. For one night only, Dublin got her soul back.

Originally published on State.ie

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Those passing by The Academy on Abbey Street must think that Morrissey has gone all Americana. Fortunately for all of us inside, he hasn’t. The bespectacled young men in check shirts, of which there are many in The Academy tonight, are here to spend the evening in the company of The Hold Steady; or perhaps more aptly, Craig Finn’s America. For Finn’s America is one populated with big losers in love, killer parties, massive nights and mornings spent shaking off the remnants of last night’s party. Classic rock and punk are in harmony with one another, and tales of mall rats and little hoodrat friends slip off his tongue with ease.

On the surface, a Hold Steady gig resembles that of a Shane McGowan / Pogues gig; crazed debauchery fits in with the feel of the music, and there’s more of a house party feel to the proceedings than that of a live performance. Front man Craig Finn is animated, jovial, humble and inclusive. Frequently making eye contact with the audience and jumping around the stage like a cross between a hardcore singer and a stadium rocker, Finn’s narrative- driven lyrics adds to the intimacy of the night’s proceedings.

But something is apparently missing, and the band’s more than devoted following can spot it from a mile a way. Franz Nicolay, keyboard and piano player with the band, quit the band some time ago, and his absence is felt sharply in the band’s sound. Though The Hold Steady has beefed up their sound with the help rhythm guitarist Steve Selvidge (formerly of Memphis alt country rockers, Lucero), tunes with the central, E- Street – influenced piano lines, such as ‘Stevie Nix’, ‘Stuck Between Stations’ and ‘Chips Ahoy!’ sound empty. It’s of little consolation, but if you listen hard enough, you can hear many fans humming the piano lines to these songs.

What unfortunately also works against the band on the night is the one- dimensional feel of the setlist, which could leave a first-time listener of the band to believe that almost every song they’ve written is in the same tempo and, almost, the same key. Even songs like ‘First Night’ or ‘Citrus’ could have changed the mood a little and saved the band (and the audience) from being on the receiving end of a monotonous setlist.

The Hold Steady have, unquestionably, heart. They know what makes a good, solid rock show and, in Craig Finn, they have a front man who is fearless, playful and, crucially, has something to say. But without keyboard player Nicolay and refusing to give Finn’s lyrics the 360-degree view- musically- that they need, they’re in danger of becoming rock’s worst case scenario: a riff- heavy band that turn the amps up to 11 to compensate for what isn’t there.

Originally published on State.ie

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Playing their first ever headline show in Dublin since supporting Interpol at The Olympia in April 2005, Spoon have since been the subject of massive critical kudos (Music review aggregator Metacritic declared Spoon “Top Overall Artist of the Decade’ based on critical acclaim). Record sales in the US match critical acclaim, partly due to “The O.C. Effect” that saw 2002 single ‘The Way We Get By’ featured on the show, followed by cover features in Spin Magazine. On this side of the Atlantic, they remain the interest of Wilco/Bright Eyes/Death Cab for Cutie fans and a best-kept secret amongst other music fans.

Tonight, they draw from their seven studio albums, chiefly this year’s Billboard Top 5 recordTransference. Front man Britt Daniel and keyboard player Eric Harvey are first to take to the stage, opening the evening with an acoustic version of ‘The Mystery Zone’, which is tonight transformed into a heady, psych- folk song. Backed with keyboards that Air would kill for, Daniel’s impassioned vocal – reminiscent of Frank Black but a much broader range – is the primary force of the song. He can veer from a tenor’s roar to an angelic falsetto that looms in the background and, like Thom Yorke, Daniel uses his voice as another instrument in the band.

With clear roots in classic rock, garage rock and post punk, Spoon never actually play into the genres that have influenced them but rather make them fresh and new by refusing to appropriate the styles as so many bands have. Instead, they mix and match. ‘Someone Something’ feels like a song off The White Album but when played in the context of other Spoon’s songs tonight, it seems unmistakably like a Spoon number. Daniel’s ragged vocals, harmonious handclaps, pulsating bass lines and drummer Jim Eno’s largely conventional but equally unpredictable and shifty drums define this Spoon song.

On ‘Written in Reverse’ that they seem as if they are loose, chaotic and playing off the cuff but are an incredibly tight band that give themselves room to take the song into other places. Harvey’s bar-room piano is the focus of all the song’s rhythm, which has every limb in the audience moving from side to side. Never does the band lose sight of the rhythm and beat of the song, generated chiefly by piano rather than the bass and drums and capitalized on by Daniel’s terse, cutting guitar playing. At some points during the show, it’s hard to believe Daniel is the only guitar player on stage as he riffs and solos over a wall of distortion. Followed by crowd pleasers such as the sleazy, slow- burning, soul- funk of ‘I Turn My Camera On’, fan favorite ‘I Summon You’, breakthrough ‘The Way We Get By’ and The Supremes-meets-Teenage Fanclub of ‘You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb’, Spoon reveal themselves not only as a pop band but a throwback to many bands from the 1990s (of which they were one having formed in 1996), a time when some alternative rock bands seemed to have an endless list of either singles or potential singles in their canon.

The band’s encore is explosive with a three shot combo. First is ‘My Mathematical Mind’, which builds and builds for all of five minutes, the band keeping the tempo steady and allowing Daniel to take chunks out of his guitar. What follows is Spoon’s most infectious pop song, the mariachi pop of ‘The Underdog’, the hook of which has the humming and hollering at every chorus and finishes with an equally rousing ‘Rhythm and Soul’.

As the band leaves the stage and the lights come up on a dazed and delighted Dublin audience, the strains of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ can be heard blaring from the PA. One can’t help but feel that Spoon is still America’s best-kept secret.

Originally published by State.ie

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Swaggering on stage to a Northern Soul compilation, Paul Weller and his Merry Men open with ‘Aim High’, an energetic and soulful ballad from his latest record, Wake Up the Nation, which, along with its predecessor 22 Dreams, is universally considered a return to form for The Modfather. His streamlined band effortlessly injects so much rhythm and soul into the track without overloading on backup singers and additional percussionists that it’s hard to believe that there are only five musicians on stage. From ‘Aim High’ right through to live staples ‘The Changing Man’, The Jam’s ‘That’s Entertainment’ and The Style Council’s ‘Shout to the Top!’ is a groove of songs that are ferocious and exhilarating, rendering Weller and his band as a force of nature. Weller moves from guitar to piano for the Dr. John-esque ‘Trees’ and the wary, late night feel of ‘Invisible’, which brings the tempo right down as the band take a breather.

What then follows is a cluster of songs that are a revision of Weller’s punk roots. Recent additions to his songbook, ‘Fast Car/Slow Traffic’, the state of the nation address of ‘Wake Up the Nation’ and ‘Come On, Let’s Go!’ fuse effectively with The Jam’s ‘Start!’ and, most notably, ‘Pretty Green’, The Jam’s angry, vitriolic riposte against consumerism, which more than strikes a chord with this Dublin audience.

An encore of the deep, lilting ‘Broken Stones’, from 1995’s Stanley Road and the jazzy and chaotic ‘Pieces of a Dream’ offer respite and have the crowd swaying to Weller’s gentle and fluid playing on mellotron and piano, respectively. Weller returns to guitar for The Jam’s ‘Art School’, followed by an impressive version of The Jam’s ‘Scrape Away’. Its post-punk darkness and intensity feel like a summary of the encore. During the 2nd Encore, the archetypal solo-Weller song ‘Peacock Suit’ is followed by a sprawling and heady ‘Whirpool’s End’, a song which encapsulates Weller’s at times gruff, at times angry, at times soulful voice as the band harmonize, take advantage of the space to jam, tune in, tune out and elevate the show to unprecedented heights with a seemingly endless crescendo.

What becomes most apparent, tonight is what Weller does so well live: he shows you that anything he’s written recently can sit beside his previous work with The Jam and The Style Council, regarding style and, sometimes, regarding quality. Recent songs are meticulously placed against his wealth of previous material to reflect each other. Not only does he show you that, of late, he has written jazz-structured pop, not unlike The Style Council, but that Weller is as angry on Wake Up the Nation as he was on In the City, Sound Effects or Setting Sons. Weller’s most impressive live achievement (topped only by Neil Young) is his ability to start working with the conventions of a song’s verse-chorus-verse structure, only to abandon those conventions mid-flow, disappear into a jam, loosen up the feel of the song, add interesting dimensions that may not be there on record, only to return full circle to the song as if nothing happened. That, unquestionably, is Paul Weller’s 23rd Dream.

Originally published by State.ie

Set List for Paul Weller – Live at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin, November 16th, 2010

Aim High
Into Tomorrow
Changing Man
Porcelain Gods
Moonshine
Andromeda
All I Wanna Do (is be with you)
That’s Entertainment
No Tears to Cry
Shout to the Top!
Trees
22 Dreams
Invisible
Empty Ring
Fast Car/Slow Traffic
Pretty Green
Start!
Wake Up the Nation
Come On, Let’s Go

Encore
Broken Stones
Pieces of a Dream
Art School
Scrape Away

2nd Encore
Peacock Suit
Whirpool’s End

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Former Afghan Whigs front man Greg Dulli – the once infamous, self-styled lothario of grunge – stands centre-stage like a youthful Johnny Cash, dressed in black and playing a Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar. A commanding presence, he is flanked only by Dave Rosser on guitar and Polyphonic Spree’s violist, Rick Nelson. Billed as “An Evening with Greg Dulli”, it marks a change of atmosphere from his recent shows with Mark Lanegan which were, to say the least, both brooding and sobering.

Tonight there is an unavoidable awkwardness to the idea of an acoustic Greg Dulli solo show, which isn’t there in the solo acoustic shows of, say, Jeff Tweedy, Ryan Adams or Mark Eitzel. Those mentioned hold American roots music so familiar that they can effortlessly tap into various traditions and styles with only an acoustic guitar. In doing so, they breathe new life into songs that they have played throughout their careers. In contrast, Dulli’s heroes were always soul musicians such as Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Steve Wonder; music that would seem less fitting on folk instruments. Along with Dulli’s limitations as a guitarist, this doesn’t bode well for the evening.

Dulli, however, plays to his strengths. He elicits moods and atmospheres from the wealth of material he has accumulated from his stints in The Afghan Whigs, The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins. The set leans towards his work with The Twilight Singers; ‘The Killer’, ‘Candy Cane Crawl’ and set closer ‘The Twilight Kid’ are all aired along with a stunning version of ‘Teenage Wristband’, which incorporates a verse from The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’. Predictably, the songs that provoke the most sing-alongs are those by The Afghan Whigs. ‘Uptown Again’ and ‘66’, pure pop songs from The Afghan Whigs’ 1998 masterpiece 1965, provide an upbeat twist, as does ‘If I Were Going’ from 1993’s Gentlemen. From 1996’s Black Love, ‘Step into the Light’ is a dreamy, slide-guitar affair that offers respite in the middle section of the show.

The song that translates on the acoustic instruments most successfully, however, is ‘The Stations’, a Gutter Twins track that achieves the kind of gothic country darkness of which Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy could dream. Yearning and menacing in equal measure, it involves the whole band more than any other song performed on the night and captures the intensity of the live setting more convincingly than any other song performed. Three new songs from the forthcoming Twilight Singers record are played, much to the joy of all those present.

Throughout the evening, Dulli plays the charming host. The interplay and banter between Dulli and the audience are a refreshing change from the cocksure, arrogant and swaggering Greg Dulli that once fronted The Afghan Whigs. It’s also a welcome change from the edginess of a Gutter Twins show. An Evening with Greg Dulli? If only it were a weekly event…

Setlist for An Evening with Greg Dulli – Whelan’s Dublin, October 27th, 2010

  1. St. Gregory
  2. Uptown Again
  3. King Only
  4. Blackbird and the Fox
  5. The Lure Would Prove Too Much
  6. Bonnie Brae
  7. 66
  8. Let Me Lie To You
  9. Pair of Brown Eyes (snippet)
  10. Gunshots
  11. Forty Dollars
  12. Step Into the Light
  13. If I Were Going
  14. Summer’s Kiss
  15. The Killer
  16. Follow You Down
  17. The Stations
  18. Never Seen No Devil

Encore:

  1. Candy Cane Crawl
  2. Down the Line
    (José González cover)
  3. Teenage Wristband
  4. The Twilite Kid

Originally published by State.ie

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Without any effort, Crawdaddy, for one night only, is transformed into a dive bar in Nashville. Former Wallflowers frontman, Jakob Dylan, shuffles onstage with band members that wouldn’t look out of place on father Bob’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour of ’75. The audience comprises of three strands: a) Bob Dylan fanatics, a.k.a Dylanologists, who are there for obvious reasons, b) those that were among the many millions who bought a copy of The Wallflowers’ Bringing Down the Horse, and finally, c) Alt. Country devotees, charmed by his current foray into country music. His 2008 debut solo album, Seeing Things produced by Rick Rubin, hinted at a talent that was maturing and convincingly tapping into the sound and tradition of American roots music, which came to fruition with this year’s T-Bone Burnett produced Women and Country. On both albums, Dylan achieved a tempo and a sound that works as one piece and this, ultimately, is what goes against him in a live setting.

He immediately launches into ‘Nothin’ But the Whole Wide World’ followed by ‘Everybody’s Hurting’, both of which are contemplative mid-tempo country songs, the latter using his backup singers to full effect. Unfortunately, Dylan and his band never really stray far from this form, and the result is a set that is one-dimensional, lacking in surprise and anything but dynamic. Even performances of Wallflowers songs, ‘God Says Nothing Back’, ‘Three Malenas’ and ‘6th Avenue Heartache’, aren’t enough to add momentum. What forces him into an even darker hole is that he either isn’t playing his guitar, or his guitar is so low in the mix that no-one can hear it.

Add to this his refusal to take any risks and deviate from a formulated set list, and one finds a performer and a band that gets too comfortable. One immediately thinks of what Dylan could have done to turn the format of the evening upside down and inject a sense of the unpredictable. He could have, for example, thrown in an interesting cover version or banished his band from the stage and performed a short set of songs, solo, without amplification, to this small, devoted and intimate audience. Dylan has no doubt learned how to craft a set of songs for an album but he has yet to find a way to perform his songs in a way that truly engages.

Originally published by State.ie