Damien Rice - Riviera Theater
Damien Rice's biggest American fan, who also happens to be my girlfriend, gave me a ticket to meet up with her and Ivan since I was coming late straight from work. I miss the opening band, The Frames, and according to the setlist, made it in just after Volcano was performed.
I had given the O album a couple of listen-to's, mainly for background play to see if I would pick up on anything. I fall short connecting with a lot of folk/singersongwriter music, although I think of Damien Rice as a David Gray/Nick Drake mutation - both of whom I like a lot but I haven't been able to really get into this record.
The live performance is a different story. Damien has a great band with a great backup vocal singer (the fans know her as Lisa?) and the live string work is great. The best part is Damien's work with a distorted bullet mic and his work on a boomerang pedal, both devices employed by my man Les C. And he breaks out a lot of his songs into heavy jams with some hard distortion on an accoustic so I was able to rock out for most of the show. Again, the ballad-y stuff doesn't seem to be my cup of tea but it never really is at any show I see (hmm, Phish comes to mind).
However, any disappointment from the show really came from the lame crowd. Like Dave Matthews Band, the crowd has evolved from a group admiring the music to a drunken and obnoxious fraternity admiring their girlfriends who admire Damien Rice because they heard his music on the radio, read about him in a trade or saw him on a television show.
After telling the crowd a few times to "fuck off" during the slow shit, I figured he is starting to realize that he is a VICTIM of his own success. Hopefully there weren't any wankers hanging out after the show asking him to listen to CD's of their band or to leave voicemail greetings...
Setlist:
Intro
Delicate
Prague
Volcano
Woman Like a Man
Older Chests
The Blower's Daughter
Amie
I Remember
Seven Nation Army#
Tongue
Me, My Yoke, and I
Cold Water > Hallelujah
Cannonball
Eskimo
# Vyvienne & Lisa
@ w/Colm MacConlomaire from the Frames on violin
I was just listening to Tool - The Patient
