Having won a pair of Paul Brady tickets (thanks Radio Nova!), and really only being a middling PB fan, I went along to Vicar Street last night with minimal expectations.
First a quick pint in a great local pub, The Thomas House, and in we went, grabbed our seats, and about a minute later out came the unassuming singer from Strabane, Co Tyrone.
The night was nicely split between solo and band performances, with seemingly every genre from Brady’s past represented, rock, pop, some lovely trad songs and a jig/reel or two, along with several from his current album (Hooba Dooba), one of which was a gorgeous solo piano song – something to do with a mother and son, will have to check that one out further. Plus, he played at least 8 or 10 very well known songs, so really everyone should have gone home happy, and I reckon they did.
I don’t know if he generally tours with a band, but tonight he had two good players with him, a chap I didn’t know on keyboards, and Bill Shanley on guitar, who I’ve seen several times before as his main job is in the Ray Davies band, lovely guitar player.
Writing this on the hoof, so, to some highlights;
• A truly gorgeous rendition of The Island, PB just stood at the centre for this one holding (but not playing) his guitar, letting the keyboard player play the big piano in the corner, and play it really well, plus some nice fills on acoustic from Bill.
• There were lots of special moments like that, Brady’s lyrics which often spoke to previous hard times, now seeming sadly relevant again
• He only mentioned the country’s current woes a few times, and his demeanor throughout was very relaxed and good humoured - I’ve been to lots of concerts, but there really was a great rapport last night between artist and audience – the whole night was just full of good music, some reflective moments and everybody seemed to feel we were acknowledging hard times, but realising that nights like this, and music in general, don’t just comment on the times we’re in, but also serve to help us escape them for an hour or two
• A rocking version of ‘Nothing but the same old Story’ brought back to us the sheer power of that song, a visceral indictment of past experiences of Irish people abroad. And, ok, we’re not seen as murderers any more, but pariahs of a financial hue now perhaps?
• Absolutely amazing rendition of Arthur McBride, just solo on acoustic guitar, I have rarely seen a major artist ‘live’ a song as Brady did this one last night, especially as he must have played this one a thousand times before
• The Homes of Donegal was an anthemic rendition in the 2nd last song slot
• Many more highlights, which without a setlist I’m struggling to remember, but even the poppier songs, not necessarily my favourites, were very well done, and boy can he write a decent pop song?!
So, to wrap up, it was just a nice unexpectedly good night of music. With all the talk of U2, Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher, Horslips, Phil Lynott, The Frames (oh yeah, forgot to say Glen Hansard guested with PB for one song last night) it’s easy to let Paul Brady slip under the radar. A pity, because as last night showed, he’s one of our most talented artists of the last 4 decades – in voice, musicianship, songwriting – all of which he showcased gracefully and with good humour last night for 2 hours in Vicar Street. 9 out of 10.
Ken
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Review of Wicklow Way mountain race March 2011
This is my first race report, have only been doing IMRA races for a year, but finally thought I should put pen to paper.
It’s hard to explain how much I get out of mountain running as it seems to have overtaken many of my previous pastimes (obsessions?!) such as golf, concerts, road running etc. I find running much simpler than golf, you just have to KFR (keep f***ing running!), and mountain running, while not simpler than road running, is a million times more satisfying, and (arguably) easier on the body. It’s the perfect sport really –
Competitive? – Certainly, but not overly so..
A mental challenge? – you’d better believe it, as you face your 4th or 5th summit on a long race and your lungs and legs all but giving out..
An escape? - it’s simply the best escape you can have from the real world - charging up and down mountains requires at least 100% concentration, every step is different, the terrain and scenery changing by the minute – definitely the most magical way to run, and one of the best ways to enjoy the breath-taking Wicklow mountains, or any other mountains for that matter.. and the weather doesn’t matter a whit, just adds to the challenge..
And of course, it’s one of the most sociable forms of athletics or sport, definitely some of the most unpretentious and likeable sportspeople you’ll meet..
So, as you’ve gathered I LIKE mountain running.
Which brings me to last Saturday, and the Wicklow Way Trail. Preparations weren’t perfect (are they ever?), had overdone it completely at a Crusaders AC session on Tues, was stiff for days after that, gym Wed, gentle jog Thurs, forced myself to do nothing Fri, didn’t sleep great – about the only thing I did right was 500g of pasta on Fri night, and off to the start with me and Tony on Sat morning.
What was perfect though, was the organisation – a very difficult race to manage, with a shuttle bus system taking everyone out to Ballinastoe and TWO races to manage (about 30 hard core runners were doing double the distance of our race ie 50K!), and a long trail to be manned, watered and photographed. So, well done to Dermot, Mick and all the other volunteers.
Our race (the Trail), was a 15.5 mile (25k) affair along the Wicklow Way from Ballinastoe to Johnny Foxes, and a few minutes after midday, off we went - a cool foggy morning and about 170 of us taking to the hills.
However just to make us feel ever so slightly inadequate, at about the same time the Ultra runners came through – they were doing the exact double of our race, ie 50km out and back! Some of these guys looked remarkably fresh, despite being halfway through a race much longer than a marathon and over about 6 mountains!
Anyway, we set off up the trail, and towards Djouce. I kept it quite easy at the start, knowing my legs would need every ounce of energy as the hours wore on. It was a fairly steady incline and soon enough we hit the boardwalk near the JB Malone memorial. Not knowing whether to ‘pose’ for the nearby photographer, or take in the Lough Tay view, I stumbled a bit here, but no damage done and proceeded on at a reasonable pace to Djouce. Luckily we didn’t quite have to do the summit, as the Wicklow Way veers right around the shoulder of the mountain, at which point I had a bit of a stitch and lost some ground, recovering enough to enjoy the great heathery/boggy descent from Djouce down to the turnstile. This sort of descent is my favourite element of mountain running, when you can really feel at one with the world and lash down a mountain knowing the terrain is relatively safe (ever since twisting my ankle last year I’ve lost my nerve somewhat and for now am taking it easy on dangerous or rocky terrain).
From there, we went on down to the river, and up the nasty first bit of the ‘mountain that becomes Maulin’ – this is my term, maybe it has another name (!), and then turning right and down on the nice trail that soon gives us the great view (to our right and below) of the Powerscourt Waterfall.
At this stage I was running pretty well, a bit (but not too much) behind some of the people I usually aim to keep some sort of pace with (hello Justin, Tommy, Tony, Vanessa, Zoe etc), probably in my usual mid-field position.
Decided to up the pace a bit on the zig-zagging fire road and on down to Crone car park. Probably overdoing it a bit, and then (2nd mistake) drinking just a bit too much water at the first water station. Other than that, I got the food and drink about right throughout the day.
I should mention by the way, that there was a good bit of banter and chat throughout the race, especially the earlier part – towards the end everybody seemed to be dying on their feet, and things were much quieter!
And, this is where I was also starting to struggle – realising I had over-done things a bit down to Crone, had very little energy for the big climbs up Curtlestown and Prince Williams Seat.
Especially the nasty ride from the road near the hostel – boy is that steep!
And then the seemingly endless trail up Prince Williams..
After that, at least things were mainly downhill or flat, but I was running on empty by now.
Have never particularly thought I had great mental strength – although found out in 2009 that I do have a little bit, when managing to polish off a sub-4 hour marathon in difficult circumstances (by my standards that was a good time), so trying to draw on this, I soldiered on, legs and lungs feeling like they were at a marathon-esque wall.
I wanted to come in comfortably under 3 hours, and just managed it, at 2.42, shuffling over the line, legs almost gone, but a great feeling of satisfaction and camaraderie all round!
After that a nice few drinks in Johnny Foxes and a meal in another runners’ house - thanks Zoe - (a sociable and hospitable bunch, as I was saying, mountain runners..!), and all in a gruelling but enjoyable day completed.
This is 4 days later. It took 3 of those for my legs to recover, but already looking forward to the next mountain race (albeit hopefully a shorter one!).
Ken
It’s hard to explain how much I get out of mountain running as it seems to have overtaken many of my previous pastimes (obsessions?!) such as golf, concerts, road running etc. I find running much simpler than golf, you just have to KFR (keep f***ing running!), and mountain running, while not simpler than road running, is a million times more satisfying, and (arguably) easier on the body. It’s the perfect sport really –
Competitive? – Certainly, but not overly so..
A mental challenge? – you’d better believe it, as you face your 4th or 5th summit on a long race and your lungs and legs all but giving out..
An escape? - it’s simply the best escape you can have from the real world - charging up and down mountains requires at least 100% concentration, every step is different, the terrain and scenery changing by the minute – definitely the most magical way to run, and one of the best ways to enjoy the breath-taking Wicklow mountains, or any other mountains for that matter.. and the weather doesn’t matter a whit, just adds to the challenge..
And of course, it’s one of the most sociable forms of athletics or sport, definitely some of the most unpretentious and likeable sportspeople you’ll meet..
So, as you’ve gathered I LIKE mountain running.
Which brings me to last Saturday, and the Wicklow Way Trail. Preparations weren’t perfect (are they ever?), had overdone it completely at a Crusaders AC session on Tues, was stiff for days after that, gym Wed, gentle jog Thurs, forced myself to do nothing Fri, didn’t sleep great – about the only thing I did right was 500g of pasta on Fri night, and off to the start with me and Tony on Sat morning.
What was perfect though, was the organisation – a very difficult race to manage, with a shuttle bus system taking everyone out to Ballinastoe and TWO races to manage (about 30 hard core runners were doing double the distance of our race ie 50K!), and a long trail to be manned, watered and photographed. So, well done to Dermot, Mick and all the other volunteers.
Our race (the Trail), was a 15.5 mile (25k) affair along the Wicklow Way from Ballinastoe to Johnny Foxes, and a few minutes after midday, off we went - a cool foggy morning and about 170 of us taking to the hills.
However just to make us feel ever so slightly inadequate, at about the same time the Ultra runners came through – they were doing the exact double of our race, ie 50km out and back! Some of these guys looked remarkably fresh, despite being halfway through a race much longer than a marathon and over about 6 mountains!
Anyway, we set off up the trail, and towards Djouce. I kept it quite easy at the start, knowing my legs would need every ounce of energy as the hours wore on. It was a fairly steady incline and soon enough we hit the boardwalk near the JB Malone memorial. Not knowing whether to ‘pose’ for the nearby photographer, or take in the Lough Tay view, I stumbled a bit here, but no damage done and proceeded on at a reasonable pace to Djouce. Luckily we didn’t quite have to do the summit, as the Wicklow Way veers right around the shoulder of the mountain, at which point I had a bit of a stitch and lost some ground, recovering enough to enjoy the great heathery/boggy descent from Djouce down to the turnstile. This sort of descent is my favourite element of mountain running, when you can really feel at one with the world and lash down a mountain knowing the terrain is relatively safe (ever since twisting my ankle last year I’ve lost my nerve somewhat and for now am taking it easy on dangerous or rocky terrain).
From there, we went on down to the river, and up the nasty first bit of the ‘mountain that becomes Maulin’ – this is my term, maybe it has another name (!), and then turning right and down on the nice trail that soon gives us the great view (to our right and below) of the Powerscourt Waterfall.
At this stage I was running pretty well, a bit (but not too much) behind some of the people I usually aim to keep some sort of pace with (hello Justin, Tommy, Tony, Vanessa, Zoe etc), probably in my usual mid-field position.
Decided to up the pace a bit on the zig-zagging fire road and on down to Crone car park. Probably overdoing it a bit, and then (2nd mistake) drinking just a bit too much water at the first water station. Other than that, I got the food and drink about right throughout the day.
I should mention by the way, that there was a good bit of banter and chat throughout the race, especially the earlier part – towards the end everybody seemed to be dying on their feet, and things were much quieter!
And, this is where I was also starting to struggle – realising I had over-done things a bit down to Crone, had very little energy for the big climbs up Curtlestown and Prince Williams Seat.
Especially the nasty ride from the road near the hostel – boy is that steep!
And then the seemingly endless trail up Prince Williams..
After that, at least things were mainly downhill or flat, but I was running on empty by now.
Have never particularly thought I had great mental strength – although found out in 2009 that I do have a little bit, when managing to polish off a sub-4 hour marathon in difficult circumstances (by my standards that was a good time), so trying to draw on this, I soldiered on, legs and lungs feeling like they were at a marathon-esque wall.
I wanted to come in comfortably under 3 hours, and just managed it, at 2.42, shuffling over the line, legs almost gone, but a great feeling of satisfaction and camaraderie all round!
After that a nice few drinks in Johnny Foxes and a meal in another runners’ house - thanks Zoe - (a sociable and hospitable bunch, as I was saying, mountain runners..!), and all in a gruelling but enjoyable day completed.
This is 4 days later. It took 3 of those for my legs to recover, but already looking forward to the next mountain race (albeit hopefully a shorter one!).
Ken
Monday, January 3, 2011
Review of 2010
So, 2010 eh? - a year many people are glad to see the back of, especially in Ireland.
But economic meltdown notwithstanding, life goes on, especially music, films etc, and thank God (or whoever) for that.
So, here’s a rundown of some of the things I enjoyed most this year.
Concerts
Bob Dylan x 4
Paul McCartney – RDS Arena Dublin
Leonard Cohen – Lissadell House Sligo
Waterboys x 2 – Abbey Theatre & Wexford Opera House
Wilco – Open House Festival Belfast
Ray Davies – Grand Canal Theatre
David Rawlings / Gillian Welch & Old Crow Medicine Show - Belfast
Crosby Stills & Nash – o2 Arena Dublin
Iron Maiden – o2 Arena Dublin
Redneck Manifesto – Roisin Dubh Galway
Not a vintage year, but not bad. I went to less gigs than usual, but seemed to choose well.. Saw 4 Dylan shows and all were all very enjoyable, especially Ljubliana (a boiling hot little gym hall) and Thomond Park Limerick (a drizzly breezy afternoon in a partially full big rugby stadium). It was a poor year for Dylan setlists, but great to see him more engaged and out at the front of the stage again.
Budgets only permitted one of the (ferociously expensive) Leonard concerts, but every word you read about how good and special these nights were in the grounds of Lissadell House (Sligo) was true. Never to be forgotten. Artist and band at the peak of their powers, oh, and some new songs too!
I’ve already reviewed the two Waterboys concerts I saw of Yeats poems put to music on this blog, so I won’t go over old ground, except to say it’s a much better idea than it sounds! Some of the best tunes Mike Scott has ever written, and really an amazing show both in concept and execution.
McCartney in the summer in the RDS was very good (he’s always good) but not quite as special as the smaller o2 arena show 6 months earlier. And he needs to change his banter.
Wilco in Belfast gave a suitably raucous and textured performance for their first ever appearance in Northern Ireland. They are still easily my favourite current band.
The gig the next night, David Rawlings/Gillian Welch and Old Crow Medicine Show was also enjoyable, but left one looking forward to the next proper Gillian album and tour.
Other enjoyable gigs included Crosby Stills and Nash (harmonically nice but not earth shattering) and Iron Maiden (call me old fashioned but it was marginally too loud and they played too many new songs!).
Redneck Manifesto in Galway (as part of a stag night!) was the pleasant surprise of the year.
Albums
Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town box set
Dylan in Mono and the Witmark Demos
John Lennon - Double Fantasy Stripped
Beatles Red & Blue albums
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street remastered
Richard Thompson – Dream Attic
Blizten Trapper – Destroyer of the Void
Neil Young – Le Noise
Arcade Fire - Suburbs
A really bad year for albums I thought. I concede that 90% of what I listen to is old music, but given that I listen to a LOT of music, that still left me disappointed with this year’s 10%.
There are quite a few contemporary bands I keep an eye on – the likes of Arcade Fire, Blitzen Trapper, Grandaddy, Wilco, REM, Bon Ivor, Band of Horses, Megafaun, Artic Monkeys, Foals, to name a few– but only the first two of these released any decent new material it seems, in 2010.
Neil’s new album Le Noise was ok, still haven’t got my head around it to be honest, and I was never a fan of solo electric guitar albums!
Richard Thompson’s Dream Attic was good, and there’s ALWAYS 2 or 3 amazing songs on any RT album. Plus it was an interesting way to present an album with a live disc (only) of the main songs and an outtake disc.
John Lennon's Double Fantasy received the stripped (plus the regular album remastered) treatment, and in the main, was an improvement. Great to hear the vocals even more up-front.
Otherwise the two big releases of the year for me were Dylan in Mono (his 1st eight albums) and Springsteen’s Darkness re-release.
Our appetites for the Dylan set was whetted by the Beatles’ mono (and stereo) releases the year before, and while this was not as radical (or arguably as necessary), you can never have enough versions of Blonde on Blonde (!), and many of the songs on many of these seminal albums have benefited from the new mastering and the mono presentation. That said, I haven’t got overly excited about it – I probably need to listen to it more (on headphones). The Witmark Demos set was ok, nothing new or startling, but if you never had any of this material before, it would be worth picking up to hear how Dylan evolved from 1962 into 1964 or so.
However, my album of the year (if you can call it an album) is the Springsteen set.
Essentially it is a re-mastered Darkness on the Edge of Town (from 1978), which has always been my own favourite Bruce album and has never sounded good on CD before. Well, now it does!
Plus we have all the bonus material – starting with a 2 disc set of outtakes from Bruce’s entire period between Born to Run and Darkness. Don’t forget this was a 3 year period when he was legally prevented from releasing anything, and he wasn’t only writing dark anthems such as would appear on Darkness – he was also writing glorious pop songs, many of which appear on these discs. There are too many gems to mention amongst the poppier songs - but suffice to say we can now see how he got from Born to Run to The River. Oh, and there are a couple of anthemic songs too – a bigger band version of Racing in the Street and the unreleased The Promise – both incredible finds.
Finally, there are also 3 dvds in the set, with some great archive and contemporary material relating to this period.
The Beatles Red & Blue albums were nice to have, and of course, using last year's remastered versions, now sound amazing (mainly taking the stereo options I think), but are probably not essential, except to Beatles completists, or people like me who first fell in love with the band through the 1970s vinyl version of these albums, or perhaps of course to Beatles newbies?
Final album to mention positively is another remastered job - this time my favourite Rolling Stones album - Exile on Main Street, which like the Bruce album, always sounded a bit nasty and tinny on CD, so here it is in pristine nick, along with some great bonus material.
Films
Une Prophet
Let the Right One in / Let Me In
The Way Back
White Ribbon
The Road
Nowhere Boy
Robin Hood
Whatever Works
Alice
Not a bad year for films, but I feel like a bit of a fraud here because I missed quite a few of the year’s big films.
Out of what I DID see, some of my favourites were;
A Prophet – film of the year this one – a truly incendiary French prison drama, with some really good acting and storytelling.
White Ribbon – possibly from 2009, but I saw it early in the new year, a poetic take on village life in early 20th century Germany.
I saw BOTH of those child vampire films – Let the Right One in (in Swedish) and the American remake. Both were chilling, hard to say which was better really.
The Way Back was an underrated epic road journey film, which admittedly did lose it’s pacing a bit in the 2nd half. Catch it in the cinema though – a great LOOKING film.
Avatar was ok. Very nice to look at, so probably only worth seeing on a big screen, and just about the only film I’ve seen that really merits the 3D thing.
The new Narnia film (Voyage of the Dawntreader) really didn’t need to be in 3D, and like all of the Narnia films was a bit of a disappointment.
Robin Hood was pretty good. Hope they make another one.
Alice was a bit ho-hum. Helena Bonham Carter was the best thing about it.
Nowhere Boy was a decent biopic of the young John Lennon despite the lead actor not being very good.
The Road was a bit flat. Very depressing, so much so it made the Irish situation not seem so bad!
Whatever Works was a surprisingly enjoyable old style New York Woody Allen film – I think it was written ages ago, and I don’t think it even got properly released over here – I saw it in the Dublin film festival.
Books
The Road
The Lovely Bones
Born to Run
Just a Little Run Around the World – Rosie Swale Pope
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks
This year I seem to have been reading more books about running and mountains (!), so again I didn’t get much fiction read (apart from a bit of old stuff)
The Road was pretty good, as was The Lovely Bones, in both cases apparently much better than their respective films (I haven’t seen the Lovely Bones)
I also read a few music books, but none were outstanding.
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks was a good insight in to how the Queen of Crime worked and put her plots together.
To pick 2 highlights of books I read about running – Born to Run was inspirational, but not as much as Just a Little Run Around the World, by a woman who did just that. It took her 5 years!
Plays
After the Dance
Chopin in Paris
Les Liasons Dangereux
Arcadia
I went to fewer plays than normal this year.
Chopin in Paris was a very enjoyable piece about, well, Chopin in Paris. Written by Miriam Gallagher, it featured a very good acting performance in the title role and some sensational piano playing!
Les Liasons Dangereux was a reasonable Gate adaptation of the famous French play.
Arcadia was awful I thought. Probably not a bad production, but maybe Tom Stoppard is just not for me.
However, one of the very best things I saw/did all year was After the Dance by Terence Rattigan. I’ve already reviewed it on my blog, but would like to say that ever since then the play has ‘grown on me’ a lot, so I’d like to ‘upgrade’ that review from ‘fairly positive’ to ‘exceedingly positive’. That’s the bloody problem with blogs, I guess!
Anyway, it has resonated with me a lot this play; the strength of the acting in particular (amazing cast), and a top notch production and writing. It’s set in the 30s (written in the 40s?), and I’d strongly recommend it if a good version comes back.
TV
Downton Abbey
Sherlock
Any Human Heart
Upstairs Downstairs
The first three of the aforementioned were worth the price of my Sky subscription alone.
Downton Abbey has got a lot of column inches already but suffice to say it was worth all its good reviews, just a good old fashioned lush period drama with really good writing and production values. And don’t forget it was not a period adaptation, but a brand new story.
Any Human Heart was very different, but no less gripping. I was unsure about this one at the start, but it just seemed to get better and better (only until the last episode, which flagged slightly) as we sank further and further in to the life of this man traversing his way through the 20th century. It was funny, insightful, dark and gritty.
Sherlock was the best contemporary drama I saw this year, and yet was also somehow rooted in the late Victorian / Edwardian world of the original Conan Doyle books. However, if you don’t like period stuff, don’t let that put you off. This was a modern series in every sense, with some staggering acting and scripts. Perhaps it looked a little low budget, but I’m sure that’ll change in season 2, after the first season was such a hit.
The new Upstairs Downstairs was enjoyable, but suffered a bit in comparison with Downton Abbey. It was a bit claustrophic and one or two of the storylines didn’t seem to work. There was some good acting though, especially from the ever reliable Eileen Atkins.
Most other TV seemed to me to be rubbish, the occasional documentary notwithstanding. I seemed to tune in to radio more than TV in 2010. Although both radio and TV could be very depressing if you listened to too much Irish economic reportage (best to stick to Lyric and Nova!).. Hoping for better news coverage (and for better news) in 2011!
PS – I usually have a section on Art, but didn’t get to many exhibitions this year. I’d highly recommend the Metsu exhibition in Dublin though – finishes sometime in January I think.
But economic meltdown notwithstanding, life goes on, especially music, films etc, and thank God (or whoever) for that.
So, here’s a rundown of some of the things I enjoyed most this year.
Concerts
Bob Dylan x 4
Paul McCartney – RDS Arena Dublin
Leonard Cohen – Lissadell House Sligo
Waterboys x 2 – Abbey Theatre & Wexford Opera House
Wilco – Open House Festival Belfast
Ray Davies – Grand Canal Theatre
David Rawlings / Gillian Welch & Old Crow Medicine Show - Belfast
Crosby Stills & Nash – o2 Arena Dublin
Iron Maiden – o2 Arena Dublin
Redneck Manifesto – Roisin Dubh Galway
Not a vintage year, but not bad. I went to less gigs than usual, but seemed to choose well.. Saw 4 Dylan shows and all were all very enjoyable, especially Ljubliana (a boiling hot little gym hall) and Thomond Park Limerick (a drizzly breezy afternoon in a partially full big rugby stadium). It was a poor year for Dylan setlists, but great to see him more engaged and out at the front of the stage again.
Budgets only permitted one of the (ferociously expensive) Leonard concerts, but every word you read about how good and special these nights were in the grounds of Lissadell House (Sligo) was true. Never to be forgotten. Artist and band at the peak of their powers, oh, and some new songs too!
I’ve already reviewed the two Waterboys concerts I saw of Yeats poems put to music on this blog, so I won’t go over old ground, except to say it’s a much better idea than it sounds! Some of the best tunes Mike Scott has ever written, and really an amazing show both in concept and execution.
McCartney in the summer in the RDS was very good (he’s always good) but not quite as special as the smaller o2 arena show 6 months earlier. And he needs to change his banter.
Wilco in Belfast gave a suitably raucous and textured performance for their first ever appearance in Northern Ireland. They are still easily my favourite current band.
The gig the next night, David Rawlings/Gillian Welch and Old Crow Medicine Show was also enjoyable, but left one looking forward to the next proper Gillian album and tour.
Other enjoyable gigs included Crosby Stills and Nash (harmonically nice but not earth shattering) and Iron Maiden (call me old fashioned but it was marginally too loud and they played too many new songs!).
Redneck Manifesto in Galway (as part of a stag night!) was the pleasant surprise of the year.
Albums
Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town box set
Dylan in Mono and the Witmark Demos
John Lennon - Double Fantasy Stripped
Beatles Red & Blue albums
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street remastered
Richard Thompson – Dream Attic
Blizten Trapper – Destroyer of the Void
Neil Young – Le Noise
Arcade Fire - Suburbs
A really bad year for albums I thought. I concede that 90% of what I listen to is old music, but given that I listen to a LOT of music, that still left me disappointed with this year’s 10%.
There are quite a few contemporary bands I keep an eye on – the likes of Arcade Fire, Blitzen Trapper, Grandaddy, Wilco, REM, Bon Ivor, Band of Horses, Megafaun, Artic Monkeys, Foals, to name a few– but only the first two of these released any decent new material it seems, in 2010.
Neil’s new album Le Noise was ok, still haven’t got my head around it to be honest, and I was never a fan of solo electric guitar albums!
Richard Thompson’s Dream Attic was good, and there’s ALWAYS 2 or 3 amazing songs on any RT album. Plus it was an interesting way to present an album with a live disc (only) of the main songs and an outtake disc.
John Lennon's Double Fantasy received the stripped (plus the regular album remastered) treatment, and in the main, was an improvement. Great to hear the vocals even more up-front.
Otherwise the two big releases of the year for me were Dylan in Mono (his 1st eight albums) and Springsteen’s Darkness re-release.
Our appetites for the Dylan set was whetted by the Beatles’ mono (and stereo) releases the year before, and while this was not as radical (or arguably as necessary), you can never have enough versions of Blonde on Blonde (!), and many of the songs on many of these seminal albums have benefited from the new mastering and the mono presentation. That said, I haven’t got overly excited about it – I probably need to listen to it more (on headphones). The Witmark Demos set was ok, nothing new or startling, but if you never had any of this material before, it would be worth picking up to hear how Dylan evolved from 1962 into 1964 or so.
However, my album of the year (if you can call it an album) is the Springsteen set.
Essentially it is a re-mastered Darkness on the Edge of Town (from 1978), which has always been my own favourite Bruce album and has never sounded good on CD before. Well, now it does!
Plus we have all the bonus material – starting with a 2 disc set of outtakes from Bruce’s entire period between Born to Run and Darkness. Don’t forget this was a 3 year period when he was legally prevented from releasing anything, and he wasn’t only writing dark anthems such as would appear on Darkness – he was also writing glorious pop songs, many of which appear on these discs. There are too many gems to mention amongst the poppier songs - but suffice to say we can now see how he got from Born to Run to The River. Oh, and there are a couple of anthemic songs too – a bigger band version of Racing in the Street and the unreleased The Promise – both incredible finds.
Finally, there are also 3 dvds in the set, with some great archive and contemporary material relating to this period.
The Beatles Red & Blue albums were nice to have, and of course, using last year's remastered versions, now sound amazing (mainly taking the stereo options I think), but are probably not essential, except to Beatles completists, or people like me who first fell in love with the band through the 1970s vinyl version of these albums, or perhaps of course to Beatles newbies?
Final album to mention positively is another remastered job - this time my favourite Rolling Stones album - Exile on Main Street, which like the Bruce album, always sounded a bit nasty and tinny on CD, so here it is in pristine nick, along with some great bonus material.
Films
Une Prophet
Let the Right One in / Let Me In
The Way Back
White Ribbon
The Road
Nowhere Boy
Robin Hood
Whatever Works
Alice
Not a bad year for films, but I feel like a bit of a fraud here because I missed quite a few of the year’s big films.
Out of what I DID see, some of my favourites were;
A Prophet – film of the year this one – a truly incendiary French prison drama, with some really good acting and storytelling.
White Ribbon – possibly from 2009, but I saw it early in the new year, a poetic take on village life in early 20th century Germany.
I saw BOTH of those child vampire films – Let the Right One in (in Swedish) and the American remake. Both were chilling, hard to say which was better really.
The Way Back was an underrated epic road journey film, which admittedly did lose it’s pacing a bit in the 2nd half. Catch it in the cinema though – a great LOOKING film.
Avatar was ok. Very nice to look at, so probably only worth seeing on a big screen, and just about the only film I’ve seen that really merits the 3D thing.
The new Narnia film (Voyage of the Dawntreader) really didn’t need to be in 3D, and like all of the Narnia films was a bit of a disappointment.
Robin Hood was pretty good. Hope they make another one.
Alice was a bit ho-hum. Helena Bonham Carter was the best thing about it.
Nowhere Boy was a decent biopic of the young John Lennon despite the lead actor not being very good.
The Road was a bit flat. Very depressing, so much so it made the Irish situation not seem so bad!
Whatever Works was a surprisingly enjoyable old style New York Woody Allen film – I think it was written ages ago, and I don’t think it even got properly released over here – I saw it in the Dublin film festival.
Books
The Road
The Lovely Bones
Born to Run
Just a Little Run Around the World – Rosie Swale Pope
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks
This year I seem to have been reading more books about running and mountains (!), so again I didn’t get much fiction read (apart from a bit of old stuff)
The Road was pretty good, as was The Lovely Bones, in both cases apparently much better than their respective films (I haven’t seen the Lovely Bones)
I also read a few music books, but none were outstanding.
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks was a good insight in to how the Queen of Crime worked and put her plots together.
To pick 2 highlights of books I read about running – Born to Run was inspirational, but not as much as Just a Little Run Around the World, by a woman who did just that. It took her 5 years!
Plays
After the Dance
Chopin in Paris
Les Liasons Dangereux
Arcadia
I went to fewer plays than normal this year.
Chopin in Paris was a very enjoyable piece about, well, Chopin in Paris. Written by Miriam Gallagher, it featured a very good acting performance in the title role and some sensational piano playing!
Les Liasons Dangereux was a reasonable Gate adaptation of the famous French play.
Arcadia was awful I thought. Probably not a bad production, but maybe Tom Stoppard is just not for me.
However, one of the very best things I saw/did all year was After the Dance by Terence Rattigan. I’ve already reviewed it on my blog, but would like to say that ever since then the play has ‘grown on me’ a lot, so I’d like to ‘upgrade’ that review from ‘fairly positive’ to ‘exceedingly positive’. That’s the bloody problem with blogs, I guess!
Anyway, it has resonated with me a lot this play; the strength of the acting in particular (amazing cast), and a top notch production and writing. It’s set in the 30s (written in the 40s?), and I’d strongly recommend it if a good version comes back.
TV
Downton Abbey
Sherlock
Any Human Heart
Upstairs Downstairs
The first three of the aforementioned were worth the price of my Sky subscription alone.
Downton Abbey has got a lot of column inches already but suffice to say it was worth all its good reviews, just a good old fashioned lush period drama with really good writing and production values. And don’t forget it was not a period adaptation, but a brand new story.
Any Human Heart was very different, but no less gripping. I was unsure about this one at the start, but it just seemed to get better and better (only until the last episode, which flagged slightly) as we sank further and further in to the life of this man traversing his way through the 20th century. It was funny, insightful, dark and gritty.
Sherlock was the best contemporary drama I saw this year, and yet was also somehow rooted in the late Victorian / Edwardian world of the original Conan Doyle books. However, if you don’t like period stuff, don’t let that put you off. This was a modern series in every sense, with some staggering acting and scripts. Perhaps it looked a little low budget, but I’m sure that’ll change in season 2, after the first season was such a hit.
The new Upstairs Downstairs was enjoyable, but suffered a bit in comparison with Downton Abbey. It was a bit claustrophic and one or two of the storylines didn’t seem to work. There was some good acting though, especially from the ever reliable Eileen Atkins.
Most other TV seemed to me to be rubbish, the occasional documentary notwithstanding. I seemed to tune in to radio more than TV in 2010. Although both radio and TV could be very depressing if you listened to too much Irish economic reportage (best to stick to Lyric and Nova!).. Hoping for better news coverage (and for better news) in 2011!
PS – I usually have a section on Art, but didn’t get to many exhibitions this year. I’d highly recommend the Metsu exhibition in Dublin though – finishes sometime in January I think.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The Waterboys Yeats show, Wexford Opera House November 2010
Having seen the opening night of this show (''The Waterboys present An Appointment with Mr Yeats'') earlier in the year in the Abbey Theatre, I thought I'd try and kill two birds with one stone by seeing the show again and also getting to see something in the newly refurbished Wexford Opera House.
Both elements turned out to be worth the 4 hour round trip.
The show was not sold out and it was a fairly quiet audience, but yet again I was blown away by this new Waterboys project. For anyone not familiar with it, Mike Scott has put about 20 Yeats poems to music and has been intermittently touring it as a concert since earlier in the year. Apparently there is a dvd on the way, and hopefully a cd too.
Put simply, these are some of the best songs he's ever written. Obviously he's 'working' with a somewhat noted lyrics writer (!) but full credit to Scott and band for the strength of the tunes and the arrangements. I think it must be something to do with the meter or the rhyming (I'm no expert on these things) or the fact that Yeats was musical himself that makes them so good. I heard Scott say in an interview recently that he heard Yeats could be seen tapping his finger in ryhthm while he wrote his poems, so maybe it's not a leap to say that if he was writing today, he'd possibly be a singer-songwriter rather than a written poet?
And, even beyond the lyrics, some of the songs go off in to extended musical areas that thrill an audience, using classic Waterboys dynamics and incorporating the skills and sounds of this ten piece version of the band.
The lyrics also sit in very nicely of course, and it's a selection of Yeats poems that range in topic from love to politics to mysticism, some of them very obscure. Indeed the only truly household name choices are Lake Isle of Inisfree and September 1913.
Both of these work very well, with Lake Isle given a straight blues treatment and September 1913 a suitable mid paced epic style.
Some of my other favourites were;
The Song of Wandering Aenghus - a nice slow piano led opening, building up to add more instruments, with some nice solos from the horn section, especially flute.
Down by the Salley Gardens is cleverly done to what seems to be the tune of The Lakes of Pontchartrain and works very well, nice trombone solo on this one.
Sweet Dancer is one of my favourites, faster than some of the other songs and very catchy.
White Birds - truly epic song, another builder, and nice bird like flourishes at the end from Steve Wickham's fiddle.
Mountain Tomb is a powerful short song (changed arrangement from last time?)
Let the Earth Bear Witness, nicely done to the backdrop of Iranian protests on a screen, which apparently influenced him when writing the music, and destined to become a Waterboys anthem - it would be great if they played some of these songs at their 'regular' shows.
Mad as the Mist and Snow - this one done in a very theatrical way, a fiddle led epic
Politics - another really good blending of Yeats and Waterboys, not a poem I'd ever heard of, but one of the highlights of this great concert.
As before, they finish with some more familiar encores, Stolen Child (their first Yeats experiment, a one-off song from the Fisherman's Blues era), a very rocking Don't Bang The Drum, and a crowd pleasing Whole of the Moon, sending everyone home happy.
Don't miss the chance to see this show, playing in Dublin tonight, and then touring again soon in the UK, I think.
Both elements turned out to be worth the 4 hour round trip.
The show was not sold out and it was a fairly quiet audience, but yet again I was blown away by this new Waterboys project. For anyone not familiar with it, Mike Scott has put about 20 Yeats poems to music and has been intermittently touring it as a concert since earlier in the year. Apparently there is a dvd on the way, and hopefully a cd too.
Put simply, these are some of the best songs he's ever written. Obviously he's 'working' with a somewhat noted lyrics writer (!) but full credit to Scott and band for the strength of the tunes and the arrangements. I think it must be something to do with the meter or the rhyming (I'm no expert on these things) or the fact that Yeats was musical himself that makes them so good. I heard Scott say in an interview recently that he heard Yeats could be seen tapping his finger in ryhthm while he wrote his poems, so maybe it's not a leap to say that if he was writing today, he'd possibly be a singer-songwriter rather than a written poet?
And, even beyond the lyrics, some of the songs go off in to extended musical areas that thrill an audience, using classic Waterboys dynamics and incorporating the skills and sounds of this ten piece version of the band.
The lyrics also sit in very nicely of course, and it's a selection of Yeats poems that range in topic from love to politics to mysticism, some of them very obscure. Indeed the only truly household name choices are Lake Isle of Inisfree and September 1913.
Both of these work very well, with Lake Isle given a straight blues treatment and September 1913 a suitable mid paced epic style.
Some of my other favourites were;
The Song of Wandering Aenghus - a nice slow piano led opening, building up to add more instruments, with some nice solos from the horn section, especially flute.
Down by the Salley Gardens is cleverly done to what seems to be the tune of The Lakes of Pontchartrain and works very well, nice trombone solo on this one.
Sweet Dancer is one of my favourites, faster than some of the other songs and very catchy.
White Birds - truly epic song, another builder, and nice bird like flourishes at the end from Steve Wickham's fiddle.
Mountain Tomb is a powerful short song (changed arrangement from last time?)
Let the Earth Bear Witness, nicely done to the backdrop of Iranian protests on a screen, which apparently influenced him when writing the music, and destined to become a Waterboys anthem - it would be great if they played some of these songs at their 'regular' shows.
Mad as the Mist and Snow - this one done in a very theatrical way, a fiddle led epic
Politics - another really good blending of Yeats and Waterboys, not a poem I'd ever heard of, but one of the highlights of this great concert.
As before, they finish with some more familiar encores, Stolen Child (their first Yeats experiment, a one-off song from the Fisherman's Blues era), a very rocking Don't Bang The Drum, and a crowd pleasing Whole of the Moon, sending everyone home happy.
Don't miss the chance to see this show, playing in Dublin tonight, and then touring again soon in the UK, I think.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Leonard Cohen at Lissadell, Sligo 31 July 2010
The press and fan reviews have all been so superlative that I feel I am just weighing in with nothing new to offer - but I just couldn't pass up offering a few thoughts on this amazing night, so here goes;
It was yet another extraordinary show. Leonard has now played ten shows in Ireland since his resurgence in 2008. I've been to five of them, and despite the relative sameness of the setlists, have enjoyed each one more than the last. Well, almost!
Certainly, Saturday night in Sligo was my favourite. AND, I got 5 new songs, 3 of which are brand new songs apparently from the forthcoming new album. Good to see him shaking up the setlists.
The best of the new songs is Born in Chains, a wonderful epic with gorgeous melody and lyrics. A song Leonard and his current band were born to sing. And, indeed, he generously gives each of the girls a verse each to sing. Here's a youtube of it from Saturday night;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f37lh9LqRs
All the other new songs were excellent too. And, the 'regular' numbers still sound as fresh as they did in 2008. Hallelujah, I'm Your Man, If it be your Will, Marianne, Anthem all were highlights for me. This is such a tasteful and good humoured band - and the sound always seems amazing at Leonard concerts, relatively low volume, well mixed, Leonard's voice sitting nicely on top..
Finally, a word on the venue - a really gorgeous place for a concert, complete with great atmosphere. Benbulben mountain, Sligo bay, the Lissadell house itself, what's not to like (logistical transport problems notwithstanding), no wonder Leonard was moved to quote Mr Yeats!
It was yet another extraordinary show. Leonard has now played ten shows in Ireland since his resurgence in 2008. I've been to five of them, and despite the relative sameness of the setlists, have enjoyed each one more than the last. Well, almost!
Certainly, Saturday night in Sligo was my favourite. AND, I got 5 new songs, 3 of which are brand new songs apparently from the forthcoming new album. Good to see him shaking up the setlists.
The best of the new songs is Born in Chains, a wonderful epic with gorgeous melody and lyrics. A song Leonard and his current band were born to sing. And, indeed, he generously gives each of the girls a verse each to sing. Here's a youtube of it from Saturday night;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f37lh9LqRs
All the other new songs were excellent too. And, the 'regular' numbers still sound as fresh as they did in 2008. Hallelujah, I'm Your Man, If it be your Will, Marianne, Anthem all were highlights for me. This is such a tasteful and good humoured band - and the sound always seems amazing at Leonard concerts, relatively low volume, well mixed, Leonard's voice sitting nicely on top..
Finally, a word on the venue - a really gorgeous place for a concert, complete with great atmosphere. Benbulben mountain, Sligo bay, the Lissadell house itself, what's not to like (logistical transport problems notwithstanding), no wonder Leonard was moved to quote Mr Yeats!
Oh, and did I mention - the show was 3 hours and 45 minutes!
Hoping it wasn't my last Leonard show..
Hoping it wasn't my last Leonard show..
For good measure, here's another youtube, this one of 'Hallelujah', many thanks to the taper;
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
After the Dance, play review
After the Dance, by Terence Rattigan is a thoroughly enjoyable play set in the inter-war years, extremely well staged and acted in the Lyttleton auditorium of the National Theatre in London.
It's set amongs a dissolute crowd of people mainly in their late 30s who were too young to fight in WW1 and are going to be too old to fight in WW2.
The only thing of note that they did in their lives was to party their way through the 1920s, and now even they are starting to think how shallow it all might have been.
As one of the play's great lines says, 'they used to be the bright young things, but maybe they weren't so bright, and now they're not even young'
The plot mainly concerns two relationships, one a marraige (supposedly) of convenience, and the other of a younger couple, one of whom loves the alcoholic male party of the other relationship. There are several other characters, the most important of whom is a supposedly apathetic friend sponging on the rich alcoholic, but who turns out to be more perceptive than all the others put together.
Anyway, suffice to say, that it is a very well written play, with some excellent social insights into life in the 1930s, and very well developed characters. All the actors were good, but especially the leading 4; Benedict Cumberbatch, Nancy Carroll, Adrian Scarborough and Faye Castelow.
I tend to love anything set in this era, so perhaps I am biased, and therefore really loved the play, but I would maybe concede that some of his other plays, such as the Deep Blue Sea, perhaps have a bit more to them.
Highly recommended though.
It's set amongs a dissolute crowd of people mainly in their late 30s who were too young to fight in WW1 and are going to be too old to fight in WW2.
The only thing of note that they did in their lives was to party their way through the 1920s, and now even they are starting to think how shallow it all might have been.
As one of the play's great lines says, 'they used to be the bright young things, but maybe they weren't so bright, and now they're not even young'
The plot mainly concerns two relationships, one a marraige (supposedly) of convenience, and the other of a younger couple, one of whom loves the alcoholic male party of the other relationship. There are several other characters, the most important of whom is a supposedly apathetic friend sponging on the rich alcoholic, but who turns out to be more perceptive than all the others put together.
Anyway, suffice to say, that it is a very well written play, with some excellent social insights into life in the 1930s, and very well developed characters. All the actors were good, but especially the leading 4; Benedict Cumberbatch, Nancy Carroll, Adrian Scarborough and Faye Castelow.
I tend to love anything set in this era, so perhaps I am biased, and therefore really loved the play, but I would maybe concede that some of his other plays, such as the Deep Blue Sea, perhaps have a bit more to them.
Highly recommended though.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Dylan Limerick review
(pic from Thomond Park, 4 July 2010, with many thanks to the photographer Graham Martin)
So, Bob Dylan's first visit to Limerick, his 2nd visit west of the Shannon and his (I think) 26th show on this small island (24 of which have been since 1989)
As is usual with Irish shows, I was hoping it wouldn't be a disaster, or at best, only a mitigated disaster, fearing the 'repercussions' from disgruntled fellow countrymen. However, my fears were unfounded, as this show not only maintained the high standard of the Dylan live 2010 experience, but was actually the best of the 4 shows I saw on the current tour, and clocking in at 2 hours and 18 songs, was also the longest show of the tour, and with 4 encores, it was looking like he didn't want the show (nor the tour) to end.
But, lets go back to the beginning. A drunken, but fairly good natured crowd, who had enjoyed the adequate but not exactly overwhelming support bands, got straight into the thick of enjoying Bob's rollicking Leopardskin Pillbox Hat opener, and indeed the first 3 songs (all of which were different to the previous night's Hop Farm festival show) were very enjoyable.
Then, he repeated Just Like a Woman from the night before, complete with crowd sing-a-long bit (well, sort of..), prior to giving us many more highlights, such as swampy Together Through Life opener Beyond Here Lies Nothing, complete with trumpet solos, the new arrangement of Tangled up in Blue (which is somewhere between a fascinating 're-imagining' and a train wreck!) and a top notch hat-trick of Time out of Mind songs, Trying to get to Heaven (gorgeous), a scintillating Cold Irons Bound and a spiky version of Lovesick.
Best song of the night for me though was probably Workingmans Blues - my favourite song from the Modern Times album and a song that he had never played in Ireland. Such a poignant song, especially nowadays, and sung with a pathos that could only be conjured up by THAT particular cracked and wheezing voice.
In fact, for the casual Irish Dylan fan, it was a cracking setlist, with Bob treating us not just to that song, but also playing 3 songs (Beyond Here, Change Coming on and Jolene) from the current album Together Through Life, meaning he has now played four of them here in Ireland (and this an album he has yet to play a single song from at any UK concert!)
Another major highlight of the show, was Bob's general demeanor, with an even more animated approach than has been the case thus far in 2010. It's just so good to see him out at the front of the stage again and engaging with the audience, along with his ever more eccentric stage movements, harmonica flourishes and facial expressions. Not to mention some reasonable guitar playing (his organ playing remains as wilful as ever!). All of this animation is any amount of times better than the insincere chat one sees from other artists (yet no doubt, people will still complain that Bob isn't chatty enough).
The best example of just how animated he is now was on the set closing Ballad of a Thin Man. For over 6 months now, this song has been extraordinary every single night, reminding me how unusual it is for Bob to not get sick of a song, and either drop it, or simply start singing it with the most bizarre phrasing he can think of. Ballad of a Thin Man seems to get more majestic every night, and tour to tour, city to city, it leaves the audiences ecstatic as the main set comes to a close.
Anyway, after the end of the main set, we were all set for 2, or perhaps 3 cursory encores, but Bob was having such a good time and it was such an enthusiastic audience (down the front anyway), that he stayed on for 4 songs, with the biggest highlight of all being the Irish debut of the relatively rare recent song - I Feel a Change Coming On. And just in case anyone was in any doubt that he played if for the James Joyce Irish writer connection, on production of the line in question Bob and bass player Tony exchanged huge grins with each other. Like a Rolling Stone of course went down as well as it always does, with the mixed age Irish crowd roaring the chorus as lustily as any Scottish or Italian crowd!
Before I close, some negative points - after all, no concert is perfect; the band did seem to have some on-stage technical problems during one or two songs (didn't really affect anything), and some clown in the crowd pointed a green laser pen light at Bob for the last song or two (other artists have in the past been known to storm off stage for such an offence). Also, the venue was too big really, and with that swirling wind, I imagine the sound (which was perfect down the front) can't have been great in that big stand down the back.
But, to finish on a positive note a jaunty Blowin in the Wind with nice closing harmonica solo wrapped up proceedings, leaving most people very happy, and bringing another really good European tour to a close.
And I must say Limerick was an enjoyable experience overall for this Leinster rugby fan, even despite hearing the news that Bob had requested four (count 'em, four!) Munster rugby jerseys for himself! (Thomond Park is the home of the Munster rugby team)
Finally, a brief note on the previous day's show, at the Hop Farm music festival in Kent. A very enjoyable and scorchingly hot day out, met lots of people I hadn't seen in years, and found it a pleasant adult oriented rock/folk festival which was (mostly) fairly well organised. I wasn't massively impressed by the earlier artists, but Mumford & Sons certainly drew a crowd, and a grumpier than normal Ray Davies still managed to give us enjoyable set. Bob played a disappointingly short set, but it was very well performed, and had some amazing highlights, not least of which was that pink shirt!
See everybody next time..
So, Bob Dylan's first visit to Limerick, his 2nd visit west of the Shannon and his (I think) 26th show on this small island (24 of which have been since 1989)As is usual with Irish shows, I was hoping it wouldn't be a disaster, or at best, only a mitigated disaster, fearing the 'repercussions' from disgruntled fellow countrymen. However, my fears were unfounded, as this show not only maintained the high standard of the Dylan live 2010 experience, but was actually the best of the 4 shows I saw on the current tour, and clocking in at 2 hours and 18 songs, was also the longest show of the tour, and with 4 encores, it was looking like he didn't want the show (nor the tour) to end.
But, lets go back to the beginning. A drunken, but fairly good natured crowd, who had enjoyed the adequate but not exactly overwhelming support bands, got straight into the thick of enjoying Bob's rollicking Leopardskin Pillbox Hat opener, and indeed the first 3 songs (all of which were different to the previous night's Hop Farm festival show) were very enjoyable.
Then, he repeated Just Like a Woman from the night before, complete with crowd sing-a-long bit (well, sort of..), prior to giving us many more highlights, such as swampy Together Through Life opener Beyond Here Lies Nothing, complete with trumpet solos, the new arrangement of Tangled up in Blue (which is somewhere between a fascinating 're-imagining' and a train wreck!) and a top notch hat-trick of Time out of Mind songs, Trying to get to Heaven (gorgeous), a scintillating Cold Irons Bound and a spiky version of Lovesick.
Best song of the night for me though was probably Workingmans Blues - my favourite song from the Modern Times album and a song that he had never played in Ireland. Such a poignant song, especially nowadays, and sung with a pathos that could only be conjured up by THAT particular cracked and wheezing voice.
In fact, for the casual Irish Dylan fan, it was a cracking setlist, with Bob treating us not just to that song, but also playing 3 songs (Beyond Here, Change Coming on and Jolene) from the current album Together Through Life, meaning he has now played four of them here in Ireland (and this an album he has yet to play a single song from at any UK concert!)
Another major highlight of the show, was Bob's general demeanor, with an even more animated approach than has been the case thus far in 2010. It's just so good to see him out at the front of the stage again and engaging with the audience, along with his ever more eccentric stage movements, harmonica flourishes and facial expressions. Not to mention some reasonable guitar playing (his organ playing remains as wilful as ever!). All of this animation is any amount of times better than the insincere chat one sees from other artists (yet no doubt, people will still complain that Bob isn't chatty enough).
The best example of just how animated he is now was on the set closing Ballad of a Thin Man. For over 6 months now, this song has been extraordinary every single night, reminding me how unusual it is for Bob to not get sick of a song, and either drop it, or simply start singing it with the most bizarre phrasing he can think of. Ballad of a Thin Man seems to get more majestic every night, and tour to tour, city to city, it leaves the audiences ecstatic as the main set comes to a close.
Anyway, after the end of the main set, we were all set for 2, or perhaps 3 cursory encores, but Bob was having such a good time and it was such an enthusiastic audience (down the front anyway), that he stayed on for 4 songs, with the biggest highlight of all being the Irish debut of the relatively rare recent song - I Feel a Change Coming On. And just in case anyone was in any doubt that he played if for the James Joyce Irish writer connection, on production of the line in question Bob and bass player Tony exchanged huge grins with each other. Like a Rolling Stone of course went down as well as it always does, with the mixed age Irish crowd roaring the chorus as lustily as any Scottish or Italian crowd!
Before I close, some negative points - after all, no concert is perfect; the band did seem to have some on-stage technical problems during one or two songs (didn't really affect anything), and some clown in the crowd pointed a green laser pen light at Bob for the last song or two (other artists have in the past been known to storm off stage for such an offence). Also, the venue was too big really, and with that swirling wind, I imagine the sound (which was perfect down the front) can't have been great in that big stand down the back.
But, to finish on a positive note a jaunty Blowin in the Wind with nice closing harmonica solo wrapped up proceedings, leaving most people very happy, and bringing another really good European tour to a close.
And I must say Limerick was an enjoyable experience overall for this Leinster rugby fan, even despite hearing the news that Bob had requested four (count 'em, four!) Munster rugby jerseys for himself! (Thomond Park is the home of the Munster rugby team)
Finally, a brief note on the previous day's show, at the Hop Farm music festival in Kent. A very enjoyable and scorchingly hot day out, met lots of people I hadn't seen in years, and found it a pleasant adult oriented rock/folk festival which was (mostly) fairly well organised. I wasn't massively impressed by the earlier artists, but Mumford & Sons certainly drew a crowd, and a grumpier than normal Ray Davies still managed to give us enjoyable set. Bob played a disappointingly short set, but it was very well performed, and had some amazing highlights, not least of which was that pink shirt!
See everybody next time..
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