• Author: Molli
• Thursday 22nd February 2007 at 4:30 am
• Category: Music


• Tags: Australia, Concert, Damien Rice, February 2007, Lisa Hannigan, Melbourne, Palais Theatre, Review, Shane Fitzsimons, Victoria, Vyvienne Long

“… I remember it well
taxied out of the storm
to watch you perform… “

Okay, so the only storm was emotional. Tuesday the 20th of February 2007 was a gorgeously sultry evening in St. Kilda – a great night to sit outside a cafè, down lattès with a friend, and watch the world go by. Better yet, why not cross the road to the beautiful old Palais Theatre and spend an evening with Damien Rice?
My lovely friend, Juvita, gifted me with a ticket for Christmas to see the man with her. What can I say but, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” It was the most emotionally intense concert I’ve ever been to.

Damien was supported by fellow Irishman, Fionn Regan. Fionn came on stage around twenty past eight – a slight man on the stage with only a microphone, his hat, and guitar for company and a little white case with his initials writ large on the front in black paint. Some of his guitar playing was intricate and delicate, almost flamenco; and other songs were packed with full percussive chords. Lyrically, he’s every bit as interesting to listen to as Damien Rice and he has the full range of Ireland in his voice, evoking Irish pubs as the mood turns melancholy and poignant. At other times, you could hear a country that has been oppressed by outsiders who don’t understand a thing about the people they’ve imposed upon, at times with great brutality; a country which gave the world Yeats and Shaw and Joyce and Heaney and Wilde, Guinness, Sinèad O’Connor, U2…… and Damien Rice.
To stand alone on a stage playing to a crowd who came to hear someone else – that’s extraordinary courage and he was fantastic; mesmerising and moving and well worth going to see on his own account.

Damien came on at 20 past 9. The piano, cello and double bass had all been waiting mutely behind Fionn and, admittedly, it was somewhat distracting – the anticipation of hearing those instruments calling forth Damien’s songs. Full credit to the crowd, by the way. While they raised the roof with applause and whistles and yelling with great appreciation and enthusiasm, the moment Damien started to play they fell into a truly respectful silence. Very well trained!
But onto the main event…

“…My love, my life my work, my time
I give them all to you…”


Damien.

Like Fionn, he appeared on stage alone in a single spotlight. Ignoring the grand piano, he seated himself at an old upright with his guitar cradled in his lap and started picking out ‘Sand’ on it with an occasional note thrown in on the keyboard. He sang it almost all the way through, still standing well back from the main mic, before finally moving to the front of the stage, increasing the tempo and intensity of the song at the same time. The audience erupted!


“I just want to be here tonight
I just want to be here tonight….”

When the lights picked out Vyvienne Long (cello) and Lisa Hannigan (vocals) sneaking onto the stage, the crowd lifted into another uproar of ecstasy. So, from ‘Sand’ into ‘Baby Sister’ with first Lisa’s voice joining in, raising the song into a hymn, then Vyvienne bringing in the cello right towards the end. When Lisa sung the Ave Maria refrain… breathtaking and exquisite!

” …ave maria gratia
plena dominus tecum benedicta… hallelujah…”

Damien followed these with ‘Coconut Skin’ with Shane Fitzsimons joining the line up at this point on double bass; and then started in on an analogy to explain his next song. He likened it to walking into a room at a friend’s and spying out a cake on the table – one you don’t have an opportunity to taste. While you’re waiting patiently (and politely) for someone to offer you a piece, your obsession with it grows until all you can think about is “the piece of fucking cake“. Finally, finally, you work your way around to asking if you might just have a little, to which your host acquiesces… and now that you’re finally close to it, finally within tasting distance, you can see it’s got a great lump of mould on it!
And so began ‘I Remember’ …

“…I remember it well, there was wet in your hair
I was stood in the stairs…. and time stopped moving
Want you here tonight, want you here
’cause I can’t believe what I found
Want you here tonight, want you here
’cause nothing is bringing me down, down, down

I remember it well, taxied out of the storm
to watch you perform…. and my ships were sailing
I remember it well, I was stood in your line
And your mouth, your mouth, your mouth………… ”

which segued into ‘Volcano’…

“… Don’t throw yourself like that
in front of me
I kissed your mouth, your back
is that all you need?
Don’t drag my love around, volcanoes melt me down
And what I am to you is not real
What I am to you, you do not need
What I am to you is not what you mean to me
You give me miles and miles of mountains
And I ask for the sea… ”

The intensity of those two songs combined, one after the other, was like travelling the emotional arc of sex – from first touch, to explosive orgasm, to the aftermath when you’re relearning and mourning the new-again sensation of separateness.
I really, REALLY wanted a post-coital cigarette after that!

Just in case anyone had somehow remained numb to the impact of his music and lyrics, he stuck the knife in with ‘9 Crimes’, the first track off his latest album ‘9′. Another beautiful, haunting piece sung by both Damien and Lisa with Lisa taking the first verse and then providing counterpoint and backing for the chorus.

“…Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It’s the wrong kind of place
To be thinking of you
It’s the wrong time
For somebody new
It’s a small crime
And I got no excuse…
Is that all right,
Give my gun
away when it’s loaded?
Is that all right,
If you don’t shoot it how am I supposed to hold it?
Is that all right,
Give my gun away when it’s loaded?
Is that all right, is that all right
With you?…“

After that was another lengthy anecdote giving his next song meaning. After reaching his point and saying “So, that’s what this song is about” – a pause – “Well, not really” … and into ‘Older Chests’ he went!.
The next song was introduced with five minutes spent comparing people’s attitude towards their relationships to the speed with which one goes through a box of matches whilst camping! This is one highly engaging and intriguing young man! The song was ‘The Professor & La Fille Danse’ which, coupled with his story, provided some comic light relief. With Lisa taking up the second verse, it made for a more “he said/she said” rendition than the album version does (B Sides) which I really enjoyed. While, lyrically, there are definitely moments for laughter (a matter of rueful recognition, really) with the two of them singing, the song became more poignant than the original version conveys, particularly when Damien sings the lines:

“…and what makes a man?
I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…”

and Lisa singing

“…Loving is fine if it’s not in your mind
But he’s fucked it up now too many times
Loving is good if it’s not understood
Yeah, but he’s the professor
And feels that he should know
What makes him come and what makes him stay
What makes the animal run,
run away…”

There are two songs whose placement in the set list I’m a little unsure of (old age, Alzheimer’s, too many drugs – pick your excuse for the memory lapse!). The songs are ‘Rootless Tree’ and ‘Woman Like A Man’. I’m guessing most of you are getting a little bored around about now, with my excessive detailing and lyric regurgitation, so suffice it to say, they were played, they were brilliant, and I was happy! ‘Rootless Tree’ played on the piano was a joy and I was rapt to hear ‘Woman Like A Man’ – although I seemed to be the only person moving to the song…. how CAN people sit still when upbeat music is playing? It’s a mystery! (Just remembered a third song played – ‘Toffee Pop’!)

Next up, Damien decided he was writing a song on the spot, getting a colour (purple), an emotion (fear), and a body part (eyes)…. oh, and some chords (asking if it was okay if he had an F, too!). A rather lovely song ensued from the suggestions, to be followed not long after with the realisation that he’d neglected to insert an audience member’s name into the song as promised. So, a little ode to “Elizabeth” – who I’m sure is still basking in the afterglow – which segued into some lines about not having much time left and still having a hell of a lot of other songs to get through. ‘Rootless Tree’ might have followed at this point…. I
really can’t recall.

“She sat in the front row
I’m not sure who she sat with
She had ribbons in her hair (or so I thought)
And I think her name was Elizabeth…”

And I’ve just remembered… ‘Rootless Tree’ definitely did follow here. Slowing it down and playing it solely on piano really changed – or perhaps deepened – this song considerably. With lyrics like “Fuck you and all we’ve been through” one could easily take this for a seriously anti-love song, but to hear him sing it, the way he sung it… he made it so clear the words were not screamed in anger but birthed in pain. I truly wish he would release this version. While I like the album version, this one is just gut wrenching.

Hmmmm, so much for not springing more lyrics and extensive detail on you! Oh, but here’s another while I’m at it: Lisa Hannigan’s ethereal voice singing “Fuck you!” with such angst – something about that really does it for me! Yes, I know, now you REALLY have too much information!

While Damien went and got himself a glass of wine and took a small break, Vyvienne sung ‘Random Man’ a hilariously frivolous sounding song with lyrics like “Have you had a nice day, did you smoke some heroin?” and something about random man’s wife and “did she threaten you with the kitchen knife?” Damien came back from his break announcing, “I think I’m drunk” and is somewhat frustrated to find that the audience (and himself) are all giggly and light hearted after Vyvienne and Lisa’s little interlude and asks that someone “piss him off” so that he can re-acquire the mood he needs to sing ‘Elephant’. After all, one can hardly scream “I am lately horny” with the correct degree of pathos whilst ruminating about “random man on the motorway” with “bomp, bomp, bomp” tinkling away in one’s head as accompaniment!

I think ‘Woman Like A Man’ was next. Then into ‘The Blower’s Daughter’ with a nice little outro of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ that went down extremely well with the crowd.

While I’d like to take up even more of your time telling you about Damien’s invitation for any musicians in the audience to play – and the incredibly gutsy guy who took him up on his offer (without giving his bloody name! How do you get famous if no one knows who you are, kid??) – my restraint in not throwing Juvita off the second balcony and onto the stage to show off her stunning voice in the spotlight (Juvita’s the lead singer of Good Fight… follow the link!!) – the duet of ‘Stand By Me’ Damien sung with the anonymous amateur etc., etc. – I’ll spare you and go into the last three songs. (Hey! I HEARD that “Thank god already!!”)

The last song with Vyvienne and Lisa on stage was ‘Cold Water’. Damien claimed there’d been enough joy for the night “Let’s bring the mood right down and fuck off those lights”. ‘Cold Water’ in a pitch black theatre…… oh…..my……god! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Piano and cello… exquisite!

“…Cold, cold water
surrounds me now
and all I’ve got
is your hand…”

Towards the end of the song, the vocals are fed back and layered through the speakers, reverb added: the build up intensified the song a thousand fold…. and they played it in the dark. Talk about sensory overload. I had – still have – goose bumps. Heart wrenchingly beautiful and what a way to end the night…

….. for those silly enough to leave before the encore!! A standing ovation, and much foot stomping and yelling….

Damien comes back onstage alone, sitting himself at the grand piano. A solitary spotlight and green lighting on the back screen and he begins to play.

…Well I held you like a lover
happy hands
and your elbow in the appropriate place
And we ignored others’ happy plans
for that delicate look upon your face….”

‘Accidental Babies’. Anyone knowing my track record with men (three out of five…someone get me a medal!), will understand why this song wrecked me! I kept it together throughout the entire concert…. but this song? Someone dim the lights again!!!

“…Well I know I make you cry
I know sometimes you want to die
But do you really feel alive without me?
If so, be free
If not, leave her for me
before one of us has accidental babies…”

So I took some liberties with the gender….. I like to make these things personal, don’t you know? He drew this song out for an extra couple of minutes longer than the album version, playing right up the entire length of the piano into the highest octave. Part of what made this song so stunning to listen to was the absolute silence of the audience. There was not a single other sound but the piano and Damien’s voice. It was the most incredible moment I’ve ever had at a concert and I think it one unlikely to be repeated. (Some more gender transposing in the lyrics to follow)

“…Do you come
together ever with her?
Is she dark enough,
enough to see your light?
Do you brush your teeth before you kiss?
Do you miss my smell?
And is she bold enough to take you on?
Do you feel like you belong?
And does she drive you wild,
or just mildly free?


What about me?

What about me?… ”

To close out the night, he sung ‘Cannonball’…. if I wasn’t already aching…..

“… Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear…”

• Damien Rice – Vocals, Guitar, Piano
• Lisa Hannigan – Vocals
• Vyvienne Long - Cello
• Shane Fitzsimons - Double Bass, ElectricBass
• Fionn Regan - Support Act

• Sand
• Baby Sister
• Coconut Skins
• I Remember
• Volcano
• 9 Crimes
• Older Chests
• The Professor & La Fille Danse
• “Purple, Fear, Eyes” – Invented Song
• “Elizabeth” refrain
• Rootless Tree
• Random Man (Vyvienne Long and Lisa Hannigan)
• Elephant
• Woman Like A Man
• The Blower’s Daughter
• Toffee Pop
• Audience member plays
• Stand By Me (duet with audience member)
• Cold Water

• Accidental Babies
• Cannonball

* Update * My thanks to Jason at Eskimo Friends for the link. This is a great site for all things Damien Rice filled with wonderful people. If anyone visiting from there has any questions, you’re more the welcome to post comments here without needing to sign up to wordpress.

• The Wonderful (aka Olly and Scuzzi)
• Good Fight – Juvita, Joel and Cassie – Debut Album Launch!
• Good Fight Supporting Vanessa Amorosi At The Chelsea Heights Hotel – Page 3
• Good Fight Supporting Vanessa Amorosi At The Chelsea Heights Hotel – Page 1
• Good Fight Supporting Vanessa Amorosi At The Chelsea Heights Hotel – Page 2

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1

Author:  Molli | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  2:03 am

A night with Damien? It was the most intensely beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed!
I just wish I could get ‘Random Man’ out of my head – read that how you will!
I recorded “Cold Water” on my phone’s camera for you – but a) the quality is atrocious – surprise, surprise and, b) I ran out of memory on the card just as it climaxed, so to speak
It truly was an amazing concert, Mark. If you ever get a chance to see him, do it!

2

Author:  mark | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  1:51 am

time of your life . . .

3

Author:  Molli | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  4:36 am

Okay, either you didn’t read anything more than the headline, or I am a truly pitiful writer! I went with Juvita – she of the extraodinarily generous heart Joel and his friend, Hailey were there also but they got their tickets before Juvita bought ours so they were sitting further down the balcony, closer to the stage.
Now for a whinge! STOP with the put downs! How dare you say your presence would have ruined it! I have extremely good taste in friends, you know, so you’ve just impugned my judgement in the process of giving yourself a kick in the arse. Apologise this instant! I will NOT have anyone slighting my friends or questioning my desire to have those people in my life. Got it? Good For the record, I’d love to have had you there – um, that was a poor turn of phrase – it’s just that, well….all of those brilliantly beautiful, brutal love songs, the thought of having someone – right there and then – did more than merely cross my mind – it seems to have taken up permanent residence!
This is turning into another blog post and it’s almost 8am which means Molli’s internal censor has officially left the building, so I’d best shut up before I post something suspiciously similar to a Want Ad.
Oops, no, can’t leave yet….. I’ll see what I can do with that recording but I can tell you right now, with all of the feedback deliberately added into the end of the song, your ears are going to bleed regardless of what I do. Not the nice Mister Rice’s fault, simply very, very lame recording equipment in use by Miss Molli. Anyway, I’m going to bed, it seems a more appropriate place to take the conversation I seem to have started

4

Author:  mark | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  4:35 am

thanks for the recording attempt. who did you go with? it sounds like the most amazing time for you. i glad you had such a wonderful experience. makes me wish i was there, but that would have ruined it im sure.
if i ever get the chance, i will go.

5

Author:  Molli | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  5:55 am

I figured that’s where the confusion lay, but I did mention, albeit briefly, that I had to restrain myself from hurling the girl off the balcony (all for a good cause, I assure you!) and how could I be doing that if she wasn’t there, hmmm?
Did I mention I’m going to see Nine Inch Nails in May? Another “Let’s Amp Molli To The Extreme” sort of occasion, I’m sure. Well, if you can find your way over here (and somehow get your hand on a ticket since they sold out in less than two minutes) you are more than welcome to stand between another of my friends and I. Oh, except she’s a he – you wouldn’t mind sharing space with Rob now, would you? Did I mention his five other friends? Yes, all boys! I am going to have FUN!!
Here’s a little stopgap pressie for you (no, still no naked photos ). I can’t find any photos online of the interior of the Palais Theatre which is a damn shame. The architecture looks, um, Spanish Morroccon, maybe? A touch medieval gothic, too. Anyway, I found an exterior shot which shall have to suffice. I just read, also, that it seats 2,968 people. A friend tried to convince me it could seat eight thousand! I knew I wasn’t THAT far off the mark. I thought a couple of thousand. Yes, I’m blathering… it’s now almost 9am…. the things I do for you, boy! So, here’s the pic and then I’m gone – providing it works, of course!

6

Author:  Molli | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  6:08 am

Naturally, it didn’t work. Don’t bother following the link above to the official Palais site, will you? It’s the laziest use of advertising space I’ve ever seen!
Attempt number 2
The Palais Theatre

7

Author:  mark | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  5:36 am

i read it, it just seemed like she gave you a ticket and sent you on your merry way. i thought that maybe you went with her (a treat im sure), but wasnt positive.
would of loved to have had the ticket between you two.
did i say that? bad mark, bad mark!
go to bed and have sweet dreams.

8

Author:  Molli | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  6:38 am

I told a lie – I didn’t really go and look for interior photos earlier. Some can be found here: Palais Theatre. The lighting makes it rather difficult to figure out what you’re looking at in a couple of photos – particularly the gorgeous domed ceiling, it also negates the warm terracotta colour of everything…. but other than that, you should be able to find your way around the place blindfolded by now with all of this information, yes?

9

Author:  Molli | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  11:32 pm

I don’t think six pages of drivel really entitles me to royalties, do you? Were you saying that you have cds for loan at the library, or did you just mean that you asked Stacy to bring some in for the staff to listen to? If you meant the former, how on earth do you stop people from taking them home and burning copies??

10

Author:  mark | Date:  Monday 26th February 2007 | Time:  11:28 pm

i just asked stacy to order some damien rice cds for the library, we didnt have any. he should give you a royalty fee for any sales made because of this post.

11

Author:  Molli | Date:  Tuesday 27th February 2007 | Time:  12:40 am

Um, set up “listening booths” in the library itself? I recommend putting glass doors on them, however. There’s a lot of music out there just itching to get a girl in trouble! Then again, maybe that would just be catering to the exhibitionists?! (Not that I would know anything about that particular penchant! )

12

Author:  mark | Date:  Tuesday 27th February 2007 | Time:  12:28 am

yes, we have cds to check out. i guess we have no way of knowing if patrons download them when they get home. im sure it happens to some degree. what are you gonna do?

13

Author:  bendid | Date:  Saturday 9th June 2007 | Time:  10:41 am

Thanks for the great review.. brought back memories of a fantastic night. I was down on the floor sitting right behind the Irish girl yelling for Toffee Pop every second song.. glad he finally played it

Personally Cold Water was the standout of the night.. as you mentioned, total sensory overload.. especially when the lights flashed towards the climax.. amazing.

Thanks again, great to have some sort of record of what happened that night.

14

Author:  Molli | Date:  Saturday 9th June 2007 | Time:  12:35 pm

My pleasure It’s not the best review in that I’m totally incapable of being anything but subjective when it comes to music. My response to that concert was always going to be intensely personalised, so I hope you can ignore all of the unnecessary information!
I made a cd for the lovely lady, Juvita, who bought me the ticket, consisting of the entire setlist for the night (although the files are NOT of that night itself) so I just play that in order to re-live it. Unfortunately, because I was sitting up in the second tier and trying to record on my mobile phone, those recordings are less than ordinary to say the least. I have all of nine seconds of your friend, Tomas, singing ‘Stand By Me’ with Damien. I wish I had so much more of that to send him a copy as a momento. That would have been extraordinary, to have been him in that moment and, as I said within the review, what tremendous courage! In my snippet of recording, you can’t even make out who’s on the stage so I’m afraid it would be of little benefit to Tomas. My thanks to you, by the way, for drawing my attention to the name (or nickname, at least) of the person who got up to sing with him. It rather bugged me not to be able to record that for posterity!
As I said, my recordings are not only visually horrendous in quality, the sound is also painful to listen to. If you have ‘quicktime’ (they’re 3gp files), I’d be more than happy to pass on what I have – bad as it is. I was lucky enough to get fair recordings (audio only) of Monday the 19th’s concert which is fortunate because I didn’t get anything of that amazing rendition of ‘Rootless Tree’. As for ‘Accidental Babies’, he didn’t play that on the previous night (those poor, deprived people!) but I have a semi-okay copy of it. My phone was out of memory on the card at that point, so I had to record it in three minute snippets which makes it a tad disjointed. Because of the crowd’s quiet, it’s probably one of the better recordings, stitched together from three separate files though it may be. If you’d like it, I’m more than happy to pass it on.

15

Author:  YH | Date:  Monday 12th November 2007 | Time:  4:26 pm

Saw this concert months ago…Feb. 19th he was better in person than on CD which is really rare for artists…his musicianship and performance outdid even what I expected. I was turned onto Damien Rice through the movie “Closer” and loved him ever since…he was also the soundtrack to my three months travelling through Asia…so, there’s a lot of emotional ties there too. The concert itself, blew me away….I was completely awed. As it came to the end of his third encore he hadn’t played Blower’s daughter, and I was thinking to myself, would I be dissapointed if I didn’t hear it? The obvious answer, was “no”…but when he unplugged everything, stood at the front of the stage and did the entire song accoustically without mikes of sound…I found heaven, seriously. I went with someone who had never even heard of him and he went out the next day and bought all the CD’s. The best part of this whole story, I reckon, is I was already floating all that night, and my friends from work (I worked at Donovan’s which is across from the Palais) were laughing at me. Anyhow, I was on my way to work the next day when I saw Damien standing outside the side door of the Palais, waiting for the band and the equipment. I went over and introduced myself, told him he was brilliant, and had a chat with him…now, I’m not a starstruck person, but that was an amazing few minutes. Then the band pulled up and i was able to meet them all….made my day…night, well, month I suppose. would kill to see him again, just waiting for the next tour schedule! Nice to see I’m not the only person completely crazy about him CHEERS…oh, and I’d love to see that video…even if the quality is poor….just to bring me back…he really was brilliant!
yash

16

Author:  Thomas Flach | Date:  Sunday 14th December 2008 | Time:  9:36 pm

hey!,…a bit late, but a friend just reminded me of this night and said you might have footage/recording of the evening.,.would be great to have it.,..,,

I WAS THAT KID THAT JUMPED ON STAGE

Also I have one photo of the night on an old blog site.,

whereisthomasnow.blogspot.com if you care to grab it.,

cheers., Thomas

17

Author:  Thomas Flach | Date:  Sunday 14th December 2008 | Time:  9:37 pm

oh yeah,. my email is thomas.acupuncture@gmail.com

thx

18

Author:  west camping | Date:  Friday 22nd May 2009 | Time:  9:27 pm

I read your blog fairly regularly, just wanted to leave a thanks for your work

19

Author:  tomjackson | Date:  Thursday 11th June 2009 | Time:  8:36 am

amazing stuff thanx

20

Author:  olivia | Date:  Friday 12th June 2009 | Time:  2:32 am

I usually don?t post in Blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work.. beautiful !

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