Who would have thought I would have ended up here- a banjo and trad music? Usually two elements that would keep me far far away but there is something about The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock that is so much more- trad is certainly a highlight but it’s the post rock element that keeps the attention. I only had a chance to listen to a couple of their tunes on MySpace before running out the door so I really didn’t know what to expect gig wise- have to say that these guys are really great. The sonorous voice of the lead singer gave me a kind of Crash Test Dummies vibe and while there are inevitable comparisons to Horslips with a couple of their tracks- these guys know how to rock! At one stage they played at least 3 if not 4 of their songs in a row and they really know how to keep the vibe going. The standouts for me were The Hare, In Country Dark and the encore Pimlico.
I have to note that the drummer is good but he is going to have to do something about his expressions while drumming on the slower tracks- sometimes laugh out loud looks but sometimes just inane so he does take away from the music just a tad.
Good crowd for them and had some of the band members family there as well (as you do in the smaller ones to make sure somebody is there!)- the mother of one of them was in front of me and she was really rocking to them which was good to see! Upstairs at Whelans is a bit of a disaster though- really guys- with the whole refit you could have taken down a couple of those walls or at least widened the bottleneck! It didn’t help that the best place to stand is right in the middle of the bottleneck which was leaking water from somewhere so it would have been a rather soggy experience if they stayed there for the whole set.
So altogether a good gig- some great tunes and a good vibe. Not sure if these guys will make it to bigger venues given the type of music they play but it was an enjoyable show so it’s worth the effort to get to them. They had their cd on sale at the gig if you can’t find it anywhere else- some good artwork as well and can be found here.
A couple of YouTubes below just for a feel…
Balcony TV- In Country Dark- decent enough except for all the rambling at the beginning
The Lords Prayer- fan one that is very very dark but sound is ok
This being Dublin I ran into other guys from other bands- both from Dark Room Notes- Ruairi in The Long Haul on the way up and then Ronan in Whelans. Note to self- I shouldn’t talk to people when I have a bloody migraine coming on and I come across like a gibbering fool!
Anyhoo- the gig!
Crayonsmith opened and he had some good tunes- Go To Road was a memorable one. The first time I had seen him live and he does a great job on stage with mixing- however the last tune was just a bit on the messy side as if he was trying to fit too much in. Quite good and hope to see him around soon.
Yeasayer were bloody brilliant! All songs thankfully longer than album version and they mixed some other ambient sounds at the beginning of some of the tunes. The use of syncopated beats and silence really added to their music and the vibe was quite fantastic. The jerky motions from the lead singer surpisingly fit in to the live show- they look a bit epileptic on the YouTubes so was good to see they enhanced rather than detracted from the performance. Overall there was a great buzz which always helps…and a good ‘Irish’ story about relations in Ireland and having somebody’s ashes spread about Newgrange! I will have to remember to tell the boys that one when we visit there in a few weeks!
Think this was the set list…no encores but then again they probably don’t have much other material!
Another one for the Better Late Than Never category!
In the Sugar Club which I have to say is the best place for them- have been waiting since last year to see them again and the wait was well worth it with all the material from their new album!
Jenny Lindfors opened and its the first time I have heard her inside (EP last year). She does have a good voice but I find that it is just a register too high for me and just doesn’t catch me in as some of the other female artists that I listen to. She has some great tunes though and Make It Warm was stupendous…her description of how she wrote it because of a pricktease quite helped with the back story! Blazing Suns was quite simply stunning and miraculously for a support act the crowd was silent! That didn’t last of course and the rest of the set was pretty much a fight between her and the noise of the crowd.
Angus and Julia Stone then came on- while they have stupendous singing voices I forgot how quiet they are talking and you really have to concentrate in order to hear them. As a brother/sister act they really do have voices that compliment each other and I just love how they sound together.
They played all of the tracks that I love from A Book Like This along with quiet a few from their older EP’s. The only distracting bit for me was Julia’s dancing during some of the songs- eclectic would be a kind word for it and the girl next to me thought it was hilarious…in a good way since she seemed to be a fan and I took the mimicking as a slight form of endearment. The crowd were again a bit noisy for some of the quieter songs and would only hush when the drummer started- just a tad on the annoying side. As a whole though this gig had everything- intimate and the perfect sound with an excellent vibe!
1 Mango Tree
2 Hollywood
3 Paper Aeroplane
4 New one written for a friends Greek wedding
5 Bella
6 Private Lawns
7 Beast
8 Horse and Cart
9 New one For You?
10 Soldier
11 Wasted- jam
12 Wasted- album
13 Just a Boy
14 Here We Go Again? Silver coin? Arghh the memory again!
So late getting this up- so a new category Better Late Than Never!
The gig was in my favourite venue at the moment- The Button Factory can be quite an different place depending on the group…and just as well since this was a very very intimate gig!
Star Turtle came on first and while they didn’t have an audience to play off of they have some good solid songs- nothing innovative but fairly decent.
Then came a group who’s name I embarrassingly cannot remember CTA, CJA?? I will have to ask Darragh from DRN when I see him later in the week- this is what happens when Word crashes on your new technogadget! They had a good sound though with a kind of post/surf rock vibe- some good tunes as well (Empty Pockets?) and both the bassist and the lead female have good voices. Ended with a real rocking number….will give them link-love when I have their name!
Dark Room Notes then came on and they were as fabulous as ever! Some great new tracks and I really love the new ambient tunes that they have been doing. They had their old favourites there as well with Love Like Nicotine and Shake Shake My Ceiling and Lets Light Fires which really grabs your attention. There were also some new tracks called Treetops and Arms that have an excellent vibe. During the gig they had some great visuals with an old black and white silent film playing in the background-something of the monster variety (and will have to ask Darragh the name for that as well!) but it certainly adds to the atmosphere and to their songs as well.
I ran into Darragh a couple of weeks after the gig and they will be recording their album shortly- a lot of the new tunes that I heard have been changed already so it looks like the album is going to a surprise! From DRN this can only be a good thing and I can’t wait to catch them at Electric Picnic which they have now confirmed they will be at.
At one point they had some free downloads from their MySpace site- not sure if that is still active but head along there anyway for a look!
What a brilliant gig! I wasn’t that familiar with all of their music so not too sure what to expect- wow would be an understatement- these guys are simply astounding musicians! It was like reading the Lord of The Rings Trilogy all in one go- long but such a page turner that you are actually disappointed when it ends and want that little bit more. I can see why they keep on coming back to Dublin with the vibe there- they actually seemed reluctant to leave the stage and the crowd would have happily listened to them for another few hours.
There have been other groups over the last week that I have enjoyed more but gig-wise this is probably the most enjoyable so far this year- everything aligned perfectly between the music, banter and downright humour of the band members. They are really just a big family on stage that are so comfortable with each other that it feels like you are a member of it as well; and the ethos that the band has is excellent.
Great to see so many friends at it- couldn’t turn around without bumping into somebody! Look forward to seeming them the next time they are in town…and it seems they never stay away too long!
I wasn’t sure if they could live up to their Tripod gig last year but they bloody well did.
Thats not to say that everything was shiny bright and new- its always hard to live up to the first time that you see one of your favourite groups live-especially when the first time was the Tripod gig that was so damn good. I think it was probably the exact same set list as last time and I think that some tunes were actually better in Tripod- but conversely some were better in Vicar St. Thought that some of the earlier tunes were just a little by rote but by the end they were really stormin and as always John Stanier was a damn joy to watch. This is the type of gig where it is great being a tall bastard and for once not the nice-gig-guy who stays in the back- was bang in the middle and I am sure there was more than one person cursing me.
Went onto Club Phantasm with the mate Derek & Co afterwards…bring on the caffeine!! Do they have a dialysis machine that you can use with coffee??
For anybody going to Vicar St here are the times the groups will be on….approximate of course and looks like I will be on the Nightlink…will be worth it!
Mod note: Info from promoter
Limited tickets will be available from the box office from 18:15. (no indication if these are standing or balcony though -Toast)
Will be quiet here for a while…might be able to get a couple of posts up but over the next week I will be out every night- mostly at gigs so I will not have the time to get stuff up here as well!
Just a quick note about the last two…
Dark Room Notes- intimate gig in the Button Factory- lots of new tunes and some pretty damn good ones they are. Still like Lets Light Fires and really looking forward to an album from them soon. Good support acts as well.
Iron and Wine- actually had company for this one- a Wonderful Woman who I unexpectedly met on Friday (friend of a friend of the mates as post below) so the mind was on more than just the gig. Some favourites though: Jezebel, Woman King, Boy With A Coin and the lovely Innocent Bones. Some excellent rocking tunes as well and the arrangement was spectacular. Overall: beautiful, sublime and just excellent to be in their company…that goes for WW and Iron and Wine!
In the Button Factory again…it’s becoming a regular haunt for me these days and quickly becoming my favourite spot- good size and great sound.
Messiah J and the Expert were on first and it is the first time I had seen them live. I only knew one or two of their songs and to be honest I don’t particularly like rap and think that the music is fairly limiting. However he did have three tunes which I quite liked: Megaphone, Abandon Ship and Go Jane Go which were fairly catchy and had some dance beats mixed in there to give it that extra bounce. The rest were standard rap fare and were fairly similar to other stuff out there.
First let me say that this was the first time that I had heard them sober- I had seen them at Electric Picnic and at a very late show in Crawdaddy so on both occasions there was plenty of vodka in the blood. Sometimes with this sort of music having a good buzz is helpful since the dance beats are bloody good. While the place wasn’t packed it was busy and as Scroobius acknowledged it says a lot for a group whose album hasn’t even come out yet. The crowd knew most of the tunes as well which is always a good sign….although there was still some chatter during the slower songs. The set list was more or less the same as Crawdaddy- with only one albums worth of songs it’s hard to change it around too much.
As usual I am not 100% on the order of songs but they were all there- they started off with the rather infectious The Beat That My Heart Skipped and moved on to a rather dark song about suicide. Then the sit down for the Tommy Cooper song and then the rather good Spoken Word Poetry which is just what it says- no music but good timbre and cadence really make this a song. He did have a quiet set piece then with some other props on stage and he put up a sign at the end of the song with a website that of course I cannot remember but am trying to find. Then was Angles (My Name Is Bob…) which is a song that starts off slow enough and builds to a nice crescendo. Of course it wouldn’t be one of their gigs without Though Shalt Always Kill which is another of their favourites that the audience knew which was followed by Hip Hop is Art before running off stage. Between all of the songs there was continuous interaction with the audience from Scroobius which really creates a good atmosphere and adds to the experience.
I don’t know all the proper titles of the songs since I haven’t gotten my hands on the cd yet which is released today in Ireland (thought they would have had some at the gig!) so some of them will be different than I mentioned…and I know I have forgotten some since I think there only have the 10 tunes and they played them all. For the encore they played Nite Klub from The Specials which they did a good job on…but I preferred the way they did the Prince song Cream in Crawdaddy.
Overall it was a good gig and I think that the venue and sound were the best yet but overall it was missing that frentic energy they had at the gig in Crawdaddy. Maybe it was because I was sober and it was midweek but the buzz just didn’t seem to be there- they were running off to play a DJ set at Crawdaddy after the Button Factory so maybe they were saving some of the energy for that…sometimes it sucks having a 9-5 job!
So I think that is enough of Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip live for the time being- I will look forward to the cd and their new work over the next year though- besides Dans excellent beats what I do love is the intelligent writing of Scroobius- there are a few groups out there that I wouldn’t particularly listen to the lyrics but with these, they deserve to be noticed.
On the way down to the coatroom I recognized Shane from his Phantom pic so said a quick hello- good to put faces to other bloggers! Also saw Aoife again so another quick hello there…think I will be running into quite a few people over the next week with the number of groups that are playing!
This isn’t going to be the most comprehensive post as it has been a while since I have listened to Gemma Hayes…and I can’t find her last two albums at home to refresh the memory which means I put them somewhere ’safe’…arggghhhh.
The evening started off with Ann Scott who I heard on MySpace a while ago so I recognized the name- a very good voice and some good tunes. Some of the songs with just her and guitar can be a bit too passive but when she had her machine running they livened up and I think it was Mountain that really stood out.
Gemma then came on and when she started her first song The Roads’ Don’t Love You I was in for a very pleasant shock…I have always thought she had a great voice but at times it wasn’t very confident.Well her voice now is as strong as I have ever heard which is quite excellent for all of her old tunes which seem to have had some new life breathed into them.One thing that hasn’t changed though is that she is as sweet as ever…dead cute although she does have that LA look to her now.
So since it has been a while I can’t remember all of the tracks but lots of old favourites from the first two albums and quite a few new ones.The Roads Don’t Love You was followed by The Back of My Hand…and then a new song In Over My Head- in there as well was Happy, Sad , Tear In My Side and new ones Out of Our Hands and Home.Yes she has a thing for body parts which she told the audience…which makes her little faux pas later on in the show even funnier.
After quite a few songs she was chatting with the audience and she was relating the fact that she had some nuts just before she came out and was asking if we knew that feeling of having nuts in our mouths.In LA that probably wouldn’t have brought a smile since they would be thinking peanuts…of course she is back home now and she caught herself just a few seconds too late and the cry of ‘Oh Man’ said it all and you could nearly sense the blush!
She had a fair bit of rocking in the set as well with Joe Chester and Karl Odlum (didn’t catch the drummers name!) and they had a great jam with Hanging Around and Let A Good Thing Go…the smile on Gemma’s face during those was great to see- its always a good sign when the artist is having fun on stage and it definitely reflects in the performance.
She had a good story around one of her brand new songs which I missed the name of…she still has her Tipp accent and even after so long in this country I still need a translator on occasion.Very funny story about what she did to a fellow student when she was 9 but I have to admit I liked the story better than the song.Quite a few of the new songs are just a bit too quiet for my liking…they might be slow burners but only time will tell.
Overall it was a great gig but there was a fair bit of chatter downstairs which ruined the vibe (as Becs noticed as well).However Sinéad was up the balcony and said it was a different vibe up there altogether so that might be the place for the quieter artists in future!
Some good news though is that she is going to play an acoustic set in Whelans on Sunday the 25th of May…that is certainly one to be at !
Many thanks to United Visual Artists (www.uva.co.uk) for the profile picture from the music video 'Tonto' by Battles. They have done some amazing light fixtures for other groups and shows so check them out!
