24 October 2014 (gig)
25 October 2014
Exceptional is described in the English Dictionary as “ far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree”; Damien Rice kicked off an 11 date combined European and American/Canadian tour, in Milan/Italy and indeed the emotional levels reached with both laughter and tears, the passion of the performance, the raw talent of the musician, the skill in acting and reacting to the audience were way. way out there, far beyond the normality.
Playing to a packed audience of mainly 20-40 year olds, evenly split between guys and gals, he is here to share his first set of new songs in 8 long years with a new album to be released on November 11th called ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’.
He ambles on stage, alone, with a low key light shining on him and goes straight into ‘The Greatest Bastard’, a truly mesmeric song that even if he later, during the gig, describes his songs as a ‘pack of lies’, is just too close to home to not have been born from old sores, heartaches and past reflections. Indeed many a time during the performance one feels almost as if eavesdropping on a conversation Damien is having ,sometimes melancholic, sometimes euphoric: it’s both unsettling and thrilling.
His singing bridges across a range of three octaves, pitch perfect; he chops, changes and dissects his songs with delicate then ragged, slight then charged guitar playing (bar ‘9 Crimes’ played on piano), making full use of pedals and boosts, with and without monitors at times.
It makes for, dare I say it, an exceptional show.
Standout songs will vary for everyone. I personally loved the new tracks, ‘The Greatest Bastard’, ‘I don’t want to change you’, ‘My favourite faded fantasy’, a blistering version of ‘Elephant’, a crasy ‘I Remember’, a crowd singalong of ‘Volcano’.
Damien Rice is so well loved by his audience, his corky spirit apparent, the elements of shyness endearing;
Be lucky and catch one of the upcoming shows. It is without question the gig of the year. No Exception!
·
1. The Greatest Bastard
2. Delicate
3. Woman Like a Man
4. Elephant
5. 9 Crimes
6. The Professor & La Fille Danse
7. Volcano
8. Cannonball
(Unplugged)
9. Older Chests
10. I Don't Want To Change You
11. Cold Water
(with girl from audience)
12. I Remember
13. Encore:
13. Colour Me In
14. My Favourite Faded Fantasy
15. Trusty And True
(with Coro Barbarossa)
16. All I Have to Do Is Dream
(The Everly Brothers cover) (performed by Coro Barbarossa)
17. The Blower's Daughter
(Creep snippet)
Tour:
Oct 26, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Cirque Royal
Brussels, Belgium
Support: My Bubba
Oct 27, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Carré
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Support: My Bubba
Oct 31, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Admiralspalast
Berlin, Germany
Support: My Bubba
SOLD OUT
Nov 03, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
Dublin, Ireland
Nov 05, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Les Folies Bergère
Paris, France
Support: Broken Twin
Nov 07, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: TBC
London Palladium
London, United Kingdom
Support: Broken Twin
Nov 14, 2014Doors: 6:30 pmShow: 7:30 pm
Athenaeum Theatre
Chicago, IL, United States
Nov 15, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Apollo Theater
New York, NY, United States
Nov 18, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Danforth Music Hall
Toronto, ON, Canada
Nov 21, 2014Doors: 7:00 pmShow: 8:00 pm
Métropolis
Montreal, QC, Canada
