Tag Archives: Gigs

Mixing Pop & Politics

“It’s surprising how quick a little rain can clear the streets,” sang Billy Bragg on a wonderful rendition of The Saturday Boy at Dolan’s last night. The Limerick streets are used to rain, of course, and if they were empty on a Monday night it was because everyone was at the Warehouse to welcome the Bard of Barking to town for the first time. It’s hard enough to get people to come out any night to see a solo singer backing himself on guitar, but it was a testament to his standing that he attracted a full crowd on a cold and wet Monday night in October. I got to Dolan’s early and filled my stomach with some tasty Guinness stew and later washed it down with pints of porter in the Warehouse as I joined some friends to check out the opening act. Paddy Nash hails from Derry and he did a fine job warming up the crowd. He was quite comfortable with the audience and explained that he had walked out on his job in the film industry when they wouldn’t give him the week off to follow Billy around the country. A song called Billy Bragg Jeans was inspired by a story Paddy heard about Billy buying a pair of jeans for a few quid in a charity store. He also gave us a song called Rubber Bullets that was sung from the perspective of a child growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. His best song, and the one the audience enjoyed the most, was called Ballad of a Nobody. This was a witty song that told the story of an average man with an average life and had everybody in stitches as its key line was repeated each time

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Three Is The Magic Number

It had been a while since my friend John and I had been to a gig in Limerick, but we made that right last Wednesday night. John’s a big fan of British and Irish folk music and I quite like singer-songwriters. Both categories were catered for at the Belltable on October 5th as three talented musicians from the British Isles came to town. James Yorkston, Adrian Crowley and Alasdair Roberts were the trio and Limerick was their first stop on a four-night tour that would take in Cork, Dublin and Kildare on the subsequent nights. It was my first visit to the Belltable since its refurbishment earlier this year and I must say I was impressed with what they’ve done to the foyer and the theatre area. Fife native James Yorkston was first up and he tried out a load of new songs on us. I’ve been a fan of his music ever since I heard his song Woozy with Cider and it was a pleasure to finally hear his wonderful voice in person. I’m afraid I can’t recall any of the titles of the new songs, but his quiet delivery and plucked guitar on one was reminiscent of Thom Yorke. He’s no Jimi Hendrix on guitar and spent some time tuning it between tunes, but also engaged in a bit of banter with the audience while fiddling with his strings. Yorkston was joined by Alasdair Roberts at the end of his set as the two paid tribute to a folk legend. Bert Jansch had passed away that morning and Yorkston revealed that his very first paid gig was supporting the Glasgow-born musician. He last met him when he supported him in Paris a few years ago. He admitted that he didn’t know him that well, but you could tell that Jansch’s music meant a lot to him. He and Roberts delivered an emotional version of a traditional ballad about a sailor who takes advantage of a servant girl that brought the first half of the show to an end

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The North Sea Scrolls

Luke Haines recently announced that he’s about to release the follow-up to 2009′s 21st Century Man. The new album has the rather improbable title of 9 1/2 Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling Of The 1970s And Early ’80s. And, apparently, it does exactly what it says on the tin. I’ve been following Haines’ career ever since the release of New Wave by The Auteurs in 1993. The band were always on the margins of Britpop and Haines later changed musical direction to form the electonic group Black Box Recorder. Haines has also collaborated with other musicians and has released a few solo records. He’s even written a couple of memoirs, beginning in 2009 with Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in its Downfall. Haines was quite uncomplimentary about his fellow Britpoppers, with Blur and Radiohead amongst his victims. I’ve seen him once in concert, when he performed recently at Cabaret Voltaire during the Edinburgh Festival. The show was advertised as the North Sea Scrolls and all I knew beforehand was that he’d be joined on stage by a number of companions. When I got to the gig, I was delighted to discover that Cathal Coughlan was one of those guests and that they would also be joined by the writer Andrew Mueller and the cellist Audrey Riley

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Wastin’ Time

Yesterday my friend John and I took a day out to see a wonderful Ron Sexsmith gig at The Academy in Dublin. After a nice late breakfast at The Wild Onion in Limerick, we got into John’s car and headed out on the new motorway from Limerick to Dublin. We listened to Ron’s fine new album called Long Player Late Bloomer. I think it’s his best album since the first two he released about fifteen years ago. It’s full of his trademark hooks and melodies as well as witty and poignant lyrics. It also sounds really good and a lot of this is down to its producer, Bob Rock. The appropriately named Rock didn’t just produce the record, however. He also acted like a coach to the Canadian songwriter and urged him to work on his songs and make them even better than they already were. As we listened to the CD, John mentioned that he was actually looking forward to hearing these new songs even more than Ron’s already impressive back catalogue. I had to agree. There’s always new product to be pushed at any gig and usually a selection of tracks from the new release is something the audience politely listens to while waiting for the earlier favourites to make an appearance

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Winding Up at Dolan’s Again

The appropriately-named Freezer Sessions took place at Dolan’s Warehouse in Limerick on Thursday night. The event was put together in association with Hot Press magazine and Jaegermeister and featured four live acts: The Flaws from Co Monaghan, O Emperor from Waterford, and local bands The Last Days of Death Country and windings. It’s Never Late is the title of winding’s most recent album and you can find more information about it here. As an early Christmas present, the band’s label, Out on a Limb Records, has made their self-titled debut album available as a free download until the end of December. Cathedrals is my favourite song from the album and you can check it out below

Cathedrals – windings

Too Much Apple Pie

On Saturday, my friend John and I braved the freezing weather conditions to go see The Wedding Present play Cyprus Avenue in Cork. The roads were dry on the way down and we arrived in plenty of time to buy a few books at Vibes & Scribes. Later, I bought a woolly hat to keep the cold out, though I was outdone by John who bought two. After some nice hot food and a cold beverage at the Bully restaurant we made it to Cyprus Avenue in plenty of time. It’s a small venue that’s divided into a main room and an adjacent one at the back that carries a live feed from the stage that can be viewed on a number of screens. We were surprised to see David Gedge standing at the merchandising stall with who I presumed was his partner and manager. While John bought a live CD of the band, I chatted with Dave about the gig. He told me they’d start with a few songs and then play their Bizarro album in full. John asked if they’d be playing the Camden Deluxe version of the album as it features their frenetic take on It’s Not Unusual. Dave said he wouldn’t be playing the deluxe version and politely turned down John’s request to play the Tom Jones number. We managed to drag ourselves away from Dave to watch the support act on the screen as they played in the next room, though we were also able to hear the band’s rudimentary musical skills and similar sounding songs. The band had the rather unusual moniker of So Cow and their musical style was a poor attempt at mimicking such bands as Green Day, Weezer and the like, but without the musicianship or the songs. Their punky version of Del Shannon’s Runaway was the highlight for me and I wouldn’t have minded if they had played more covers at the expense of their own material

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There Once Was a Poet From Salford …

Last night, I was one of dozens of appreciative Limerick giggers and liquor-lovers who congregated upstairs at Dolan’s to witness the Salford performance poet John Cooper Clarke as he wowed the audience with his wonderful words and tickled our funny bones with his tantalising tales and volumes of verse. Shortly after 10.00pm, the tall, thin Mancunian appeared at the back door carrying a white carrier bag provided by Word Magazine and ambled towards the sparsely-populated stage. Born in Salford in 1949, Clarke was one of numerous artists who benefitted from the advent of punk rock in the late seventies. He was part of the Manchester scene that spawned the likes of Buzzcocks and Joy Division and opened for many associated acts at this time. In 1978, he released his debut record, Où est la maison de fromage?, an album that contained both studio recordings and live performances. His distinctive style comprised of scattergun lyrics delivered in a fast-paced rap and backed with rudimentary instruments. His wry observations on local life and popular culture were full of alliteration and heavy on rhyme and owed a great debt to similar techniques employed by Bob Dylan on his Subterranean Homesick Blues single. Clarke’s visual style was, and remains, reminiscent of Dylan’s look during the mid-sixties

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Welcome To The House Of Fun!

Last Friday, I attended my third gig in nine days when I went to see Madness play The Marquee in Cork. Regular readers shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that my friend John also attended and he was kind enough to drive up and down from Limerick. Of course, I repaid his kindness by playing music from my iPod on the way down and back, with a fair bit of ska and reggae numbers soundtracking our return from what was yet another great gig. John’s a bigger fan of the band than I am but, like me, this was his first time seeing The Nutty Boys in concert. The band formed in the latter half of the 70s and released their first singles in 1979. They had their biggest success in the 80s and many of these wonderful singles formed the basis of their show in Cork. They began the show with their first top ten UK hit, One Step Beyond, and went on to deliver familiar versions of Embarrassment, Our House and House of Fun as well as some songs from their most recent album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate. My own particular favourite on the night, however, was their version of My Girl, which Suggs introduced by singing a slowed down version of the first verse before the whole band and the crowd launched into the song

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