Damien Rice (acoustic) @ Hiro Ballroom: What's The Story, Morning Glory?
What a night! Damien and his band turned Hiro Ballroom into a combination 'Storytellers'/'MTV Unplugged' and completely wowed all 250 in attendance (seated and packt like sardines in a crushd tin box, what was with that?).
Damien started the set with a group of familiar songs before breaking into some b-sides and even a song created on the spot with the aid of fans throwing out words to include in the tune. Considering that most of the lyrics revolved around the emotion someone shouted for (happiness), I'm going to go ahead and name the song 'Happy'. I hope Damien doesn't mind. People also shouted out 'red' and 'nose' which Damien incorporated quite beautifully into the tune. '9 Crimes' sounded flawless and was preluded by Damien's 'oldest song' (all night people were requesting songs from O but it wasn't until midway through the set that he complied with their wishes), 'Delicate'.
Towards the end of the main set, Damien had each of the band members request a song of his to play (they didn't follow any setlist whatsoever and apparently rarely do). While he was fearful that Lisa would pick a cover, she actually chose 'The Animals Were Gone' which was fucking stunning. One of my favorites of the night. To close the main set, the cellist (sorry, I don't know her name) requested a rare old b-side but since nobody in the band remembered the words nor the melody, she chose 'Cheers Darlin' much to the crowd's delight. Damien put a twist on the track but asking her to sing it, while drinking to accompany the sentiment behind the song. She was also forced into telling the story Damien usually shares when they play the song, it was quite hysterical since the cellist was attempting to speak with Damien's diction. She managed to pull off most of the story and the first half of the song before Damien eventually finished it off.
She came back out with Lisa for the totally silly but lovable 'Random Man On The Motorway' played exclusively with the cello. Lisa then did her own song, which was breathtaking, of course. Damien closed the show by busting out 2 of his biggest singles to cap the night off. 2 hours later, as we were leaving Hiro Ballroom everybody was gushing. Why wouldn't they be? This will surely go down as one of the best shows of the year.
Setlist: Grey Room/Cannonball/Me My Yoke And I/Woman Like A Man/Sand/'Happy'/Delicate/9 Crimes/Dogs/Rootless Tree/The Animals Were Gone/Cheers Darlin'//Random Man On The Motorway/(new unreleased song - Lisa singing)/Elephant/Volcano/The Blower's Daughter
Qbertplaya has some great shots (she was in the second row!) and even a video of 'Delicate', pop over there!
Damien started the set with a group of familiar songs before breaking into some b-sides and even a song created on the spot with the aid of fans throwing out words to include in the tune. Considering that most of the lyrics revolved around the emotion someone shouted for (happiness), I'm going to go ahead and name the song 'Happy'. I hope Damien doesn't mind. People also shouted out 'red' and 'nose' which Damien incorporated quite beautifully into the tune. '9 Crimes' sounded flawless and was preluded by Damien's 'oldest song' (all night people were requesting songs from O but it wasn't until midway through the set that he complied with their wishes), 'Delicate'.
Towards the end of the main set, Damien had each of the band members request a song of his to play (they didn't follow any setlist whatsoever and apparently rarely do). While he was fearful that Lisa would pick a cover, she actually chose 'The Animals Were Gone' which was fucking stunning. One of my favorites of the night. To close the main set, the cellist (sorry, I don't know her name) requested a rare old b-side but since nobody in the band remembered the words nor the melody, she chose 'Cheers Darlin' much to the crowd's delight. Damien put a twist on the track but asking her to sing it, while drinking to accompany the sentiment behind the song. She was also forced into telling the story Damien usually shares when they play the song, it was quite hysterical since the cellist was attempting to speak with Damien's diction. She managed to pull off most of the story and the first half of the song before Damien eventually finished it off.
She came back out with Lisa for the totally silly but lovable 'Random Man On The Motorway' played exclusively with the cello. Lisa then did her own song, which was breathtaking, of course. Damien closed the show by busting out 2 of his biggest singles to cap the night off. 2 hours later, as we were leaving Hiro Ballroom everybody was gushing. Why wouldn't they be? This will surely go down as one of the best shows of the year.
Setlist: Grey Room/Cannonball/Me My Yoke And I/Woman Like A Man/Sand/'Happy'/Delicate/9 Crimes/Dogs/Rootless Tree/The Animals Were Gone/Cheers Darlin'//Random Man On The Motorway/(new unreleased song - Lisa singing)/Elephant/Volcano/The Blower's Daughter
Qbertplaya has some great shots (she was in the second row!) and even a video of 'Delicate', pop over there!
Labels: concert review, damien rice, hiro ballroom
posted by m | 10:59 AM
4 Comments:
I knew you would write a wonderful review Matt. It was a beautiful show. I loved every moment of it and even had tears in my eyes. Thank goodness they played 'Blowers Daughter', it truly is my favourite song of his.
it was beautiful indeed.
Nice write up, superstar! And thanks for the link!
My YouTube stuff came out really dark...will see if I can fuss with them to make them watchable. Or at least rip mp3s or something...
Good review but just a few innacuracies. Damo didn't wait until halfway through the set to play something from "O": the second song of the night was "Cannonball". BTW, regarding "delicate" Damo didn't say it was "his oldest song" it's not by a longshot. He said it was his "oldest best song" (though I personally disagree) and that was in reference to the fact that after playing his newest song (the 'red, nose, happy' one) a girl in the front row said something along the lines that it was his "newest best song".
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