O, Damien, to Miss You Would've Been a Crime

    Wow. I have to say that Damien Rice is one wonderful musician, and really, really cute, too. Yep, I'm easily swayed by charm and good looks, what can I say? Oh, I kid. I'm swayed by the music, of course, the music.
    I don't know if you ever read the comments on my blog, but yesterday someone questioned the sanity of my seeing Damien Rice in December, and I scoffed at her. Oh come now, I thought, how dangerous could it be? Well, I soon found out, because from the moment he strummed the first chords and started to sing, my eyes filled up and I thought to myself, Considering my current state of mind, WTF am I doing here? Torturing myself??
    However emotionally fraught my choice was, it was completely worth it. He and the band played 8 songs (remember, this was a free event), five of which were off O, which was very much to my liking. He told us that part of what determined the repetoire was the fact that he'd just woken up and was having trouble reaching the upper register of his voice. He looked like he'd just gotten out of bed, too, which is actually a good look for him.
    What can I say about the songs? They're so achingly beautiful and moving and forlorn for the most part. The cello, played by Vyvienne Long, is essential to the sound. The cello and Lisa Hannigan's voice are perfect compliments for Damien's vocals. He also had a bass player and a single drum, which I think was a type of tom-tom (the drummer played it mostly with his hands). At the end of "Accidental Babies," Damien's keyboard and the cello entwined in an impossibly gorgeous duet, eventually fading away to the simplest of notes.
    As serious as the music was, he kept up a lighthearted banter. For instance, this was pretty funny. When he got to song number 7, he said he had left it blank. He simply couldn't decide what to play in that spot. So he asked us, what did we want to hear? Well, everyone started shouting out suggestions, and he would consider them, then say, oh, no, not that one. At one point he started one song off the new album, then stopped, and this went on for a good 3-4 minutes until finally someone shouted out "Volcano," and he said Yes! Volcano.
Setlist, in order: Older Chests, Cannonball, The Animals Were Gone, Coconut Skins, Accidental Babies, Delicate, Volcano, The Blower's Daughter (that's when I really lost it). If you can figure out how to do it, you can listen to the show here at the NPR archives.
Damien Rice--"The Blower's Daughter" mp3 off O (buy)
Damien Rice--"Coconut Skins" mp3 off 9 (buy)
    OK, so the show's over, and I wander out and go to the bathroom, and when I'm done I think, Hey, maybe I could go back in and see if I could get a picture of the setlist or something. Yeah, good idea. So I walk back into the room and who's sitting on the edge of the stage chatting up with his fans but Damien himself! We weren't allowed to take photographs during the show, which was bumming me out, but I think these made up for that.
    So then, just before his manager or whoever dragged him away, it was my turn to talk to him. I got to hug him and thank him and asked him a couple questions--OMG! He's so skinny! And not very tall, either, I mean, not much taller than I am (I'm 5'4''). But handsome--oh, those blue Irish eyes, the crinkly smile, the rakish hair. He really seemed to enjoy talking to his fans (all but one were female--surprise). It was a real treat, for sure, and it just goes to show you it pays to stick around after the music stops.

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    Geeze, I don't usually post on Saturdays, and here I am doing a double. But I have to let you know that part two of the "Listen to This" collaborative post I did with music like dirt is up. Check it out, and tell him that he's crazy for not liking that Beat Radio song! (I need some sort of winky face thing to show I'm kidding, coz I'm getting tired of saying, Oh, I kid. But you know I do, about the crazy part, anyway.)

tags: damien rice  

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