Damien Rice at Massey Hall; May 18, 2007

Damien Rice at Massey Hall; May 18, 2007; 9/10.

I really thought this would be my favourite show of the year, which is pretty bold to say because it isn’t even half way through just yet. I really liked it, a lot. Damien Rice played without an opener and was fairly punctual. I had good seats in a large venue that has both a balcony and a gallery which is pretty intense. This show was sold out…to a crowd that was pretty eclectic mainly comprised of teenagers and twenty-somethings, but there was also the odd older couple. Damien Rice’s live show differed quite a bit from his studio recordings, making it more interesting for both the audience as well as the band members as well. The largest difference was the absence of Lisa Hannigan, the female counterpart and backup vocals to most of his songs (especially the new ones!). Hannigan even had a full verse and a significant role in “Volcano” and “9 Crimes”. The other alterations of Rice’s live show was the change in pace of the tunes. He tends to speed up some songs or strip and slow down others--such as Volcano where he played the first bit on his own with a synthesizer and then by the chorus he played with a full band. He began the show with “9 Crimes” a beautiful track that had an extended intro. Rice came out solo and played his grand piano in the dark with the exception for a dozen candles and the crazy flashes of the super annoying digital cameras. His latest album “9” begins and ends with Lisa’s vocals, specifically in this song it felt kind of empty. Another song that had that empty feeling was “Volcano”, Hannigan has an entire verse to herself and echoing vocals nearing the end, instead he fiddled around with voice alterations and recordings to make things more interesting. It seemed like they were intentionally trying to not replace Hannigan’s role within the band, using minimal background vocals, when most if not the entire band is most capable of replacing her vocal parts.Aside from Damien Rice I was super impressed with cellist Vyvienne Long. She performed a track which I’m assuming is her own called “Never Leave You”, she showcased her singing (or rapping) abilities and her talent on the cello. Her style of rapping was channelling the Streets, maybe it strikes me as that because she has a British accent or maybe it’s because she’s white. I’m not sure it just does, but she sums it up in the chorus with her shaky voice. I think she should stick to backing up Damien Rice or keep to her nice cello playing. In the live show the music is easily broken down it allows you to watch each instrument be carefully performed. I think the cello is the base of Damien’s music it swells and grows with the intensity that he puts for in a song.I really like the new album because it actually is different from the “O”. It is lively and upbeat varying in songs styles. He performed “Me, My Yoke” which he partially performs with a voice altering technique that distorts it a little, nearing the end much like on the album he tears the song in pieces by a very loud performance. I thought it was brilliant, much unlike most music interludes it somewhat included the audience and had more passion (specifically channelling the loud destructive instrumental breakdown of the Brand New show last night). Massey Hall was an awkward venue to showcase the loud performance but because of his slow ballad nature I feel it was more suitable than most other general admission venues. He played “I Remember” which features a long instrumental interlude. With the void of Hannigan, Rice had to fill in the areas with other things like different musical arrangements. It was pretty brilliant I liked the way they did it. It started with just Damien Rice on guitar and vocals (not Lisa!) he replaced perfectly, most of the crowd probably didn’t notice. Before the encore he played “Cannonball” unplugged, moving towards the front of the massive stage unhooked in everyway. I was afraid that his sound would be lost in the crazy large venue, but it wasn’t. The audience kept silent with the exception of cameras that weren’t on silent which was super annoying. By the chorus the band slid in playing piano accompanying Rice. Very unique way of doing things which I was surprised he could pull off, especially at Massey Hall. I think his version that included Lisa was much rockier but this one captured the same raw emotion just the same.He left the stage once and came back for an encore performance playing “The Professor et La Filles Danse” alone. It was perfect and my favourite party by far is one of the last words when he says: “Finish it off with some French wine and cheese, (French babble, something along the lines of play with me…)”. He also highlighted a woman he travelled to Burma to meet specifically. She was the only Nobel Peace Prize winner to be imprisoned her name is Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced: Aung Sawn Sue Chee). She seems to get a lot of support in the music scene, also supported by the Black Eyed Peas in their live show. Rice posted pictures of her throughout his set during a song he wrote for her called “Unplayed Piano”. Lastly he played “Cheers Darlin'”, which is a bitter song off of “O” which shows a relationship gone to shambles and the broken remains. Rice fully acted this one out coming out on stage alone without an instrument but with a waiter at his side pouring him a glass of wine, very classy. He had a microphone attached to his collar so he could sing and act. As the song went on and the drinking continued he began to slur his speech and became drunker. It was a cute rendition. Apparently in previous shows he smoked a cigarette in addition to drinking, in this show he very sloppily searched his brown corduroy jacket for a cigarette. His singing became sloppier which I loved, he displayed the emotions of the song thoroughly. At the end he simply stumbled off the stage and the houselights came on with some jazz music, nice exit.Damien Rice is a modest performer, he didn’t even say a word until the end of the third song where he introduced himself. He told two or three stories of how he came to write the songs he played. I really liked the story in which he told of “Aime” he described it as an awful morning waking up to mouldy yogurt and boring fruit and crashing at another’s place and looking at the stars through the window and hoping for something to happen; just that did--a shooting star. He also described a story of his “distant” relationship with a grocer girl and how he loved going in on the busiest days because he had a longer period of time to shoot her looks and smiles. He marked the “end” of their “relationship” by her leaving the job. This was the basis for his song “I Remember”. I wish he featured more tracks off of the new album, the songs that are more vibrant and alive. He had played them throughout other shows on the tour but for some reason he didn’t play them. I really wanted to hear-- “Elephant” for that phenomenal bridge that makes up for the slow lolling sound. “Rootless Tree” because of the passion he has for two boring words, those being “Fuck You” and lastly “Dogs” a cute song about a “girl that does yoga”. He said in his thick Irish accent that he should be back in September for another show. I hope he plays at a smaller venue like he did before at the Danforth Music Hall, that would be perfect but very unlikely.

Download: “Cannonball”, “I Remember”, “Coconut Skins”, “Elephant”, “Rootless Tree”, “Dogs” and “Aime” or perhaps you should just buy or download the entire albums because they are better than anything you are probably listening to now!or if you're really lazy just check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc5aRx-a8qQ&mode=related&search=Good for you if you made it through this entire review, lots of things to say for such a great artist!

May 19, 2007