Brendan Perry at Dublin Crawdaddy, 26th May 2010

Posted on Tuesday, 1st June, 2010 by ianmacd

I thought I’d post a review of the Irish gigs I went to last week.

Brendan Perry had scheduled three gigs in Ireland for the second stage of his 2010 tour to promote his new album, Ark.

For me, it was a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. I could fly to Ireland, attend three great gigs and get to see family, too. After 25 years of watching Brendan play live, he practically feels like family, anyway.

This was the first of the three gigs and my anticipation was running high.

The gig had been scheduled to take place in the 1300 capacity Tripod, but the decision was made on the day to move it to the 300 capacity Crawdaddy. The obvious suspicion of disappointing ticket sales was confirmed by venue staff. Apparently, the gig had received almost no promotion and even the posters advertising it had only been put up around Dublin the week before.

Crawdaddy is a tiny room with poor ventilation, so it heats up quickly. The stage is very low, below knee height. People were taking photographs of the set list before the band had even come on stage and I could see from my vantage point that the set list was to be the same as during stage one of the tour, with the addition of one new song.

The tiny venue made the experience like a living-room concert. We were packed in, right up to the front of the stage and the band’s feet were mere centimetres away.

The PA was small and didn’t project the sound very far, requiring that I stand much closer to the speaker than I normally would. The venue was so tightly packed that it would have been hard to stand in a better place, anyway.

The support act was Kila member and ex-Dead Can Dance percussionist, Rónán Ó Snodaigh, who played the bodhrán and talked to the audience, making for a very enjoyable performance somewhere between music and stand-up comedy.

With the crowd suitably warmed up by Rónán, Brendan came on stage smiling and the band launched into The Arcane. I was struck by how little space the band had in which to play. They were standing elbow to elbow across the stage. New keyboard player, Astrid Williamson, was barely visible to anyone standing in the right half of the room, obscured as she was by the PA and a large monitor speaker.

Astrid started to play You Never Loved This City at the wrong point in the set. Brendan sang a couple of lines before he realised the mistake and then abandoned it, causing someone in the audience to remark, “He is human!”, which made everyone laugh.

After This Boy came the brand new song, Tree Of Life, followed by You Never Loved This City proper.

The greatest surprise of the evening came during Voyage Of Bran, the first song of the encore, when Brendan stopped singing, glared at someone in the audience and said, “Shut the fuck up!”

Apparently, a couple of people had been chatting during the song and this had really needled him. With the audience and band almost rubbing noses, it must have been impossible to ignore the chattering.

Unfortunately, he didn’t restart the song, so only about half of it was played this time.

After Spirit, the final song of the first encore, the band left the stage. The crowd fell strangely silent and people started to file out of the room, even though the house lights remained off. Don’t Irish audiences expect or want more than one encore? There was no cheering, clapping or stamping of feet.

I knew from previous gigs on stage one of the tour (and from the set list in front of me) that Severance was yet to come, so I held my ground. I, for one, wanted more.

Suddenly, the band reappeared and people rushed back into the room. It was another strange moment. I heard afterwards that the venue’s security even prevented some people from reentering, presumably because the gig was considered over.

The band must have been a bit bemused by the apparent apathy. They left the stage without further addressing the audience and the evening’s business was concluded.

Musically, the band were in good form and newcomer Astrid seemed to have slotted right into her niche. She grooved from left to right behind the keyboards and provided a welcome distraction from the more static figures around her.

I recorded the concert and it is now available on DIME.

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Tour Of Ireland

Posted on Tuesday, 1st June, 2010 by ianmacd

I’m back in the unseasonal cold of Amsterdam after my 875 km whistle-stop tour of Dublin, Cork and Galway.

Everything went according to plan and I got to see three excellent gigs by Brendan Perry. I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity to talk to Brendan in Cork and Galway, which was an unexpected bonus.

Unfortunately, the gigs were quite poorly attended. The Dublin gig was even moved from the 1300 capacity Tripod to the poky, 300 capacity Crawdaddy, which tells you all you need to know. Apparently, the gig hadn’t been well promoted and posters advertising it had gone up around the city only the week before. What a shame.

Nevertheless, the band were in fine form during their three night stint in Ireland on this, stage two of the 2010 tour to promote Brendan’s new album, Ark. I finally got to purchase a copy of the signed tour edition, which had been delayed because of production problems and wasn’t yet on sale when I first saw Brendan on this tour in Brussels, back in March. The album gets its full retail release on 7th June.

The set that the band played was almost identical to that on stage one of the tour, with the addition of a new song, Tree Of Life.

Severance, reserved for a second encore, wasn’t played in Cork, simply because the audience failed to clap, cheer and stomp for more. The same had happened in Dublin, but there the band came back and played it, anyway. By the time the band reached Galway, Brendan was wise to Irish audience behaviour and tacked Severance onto the end of the first encore. He obviously wanted to play it.

After the gig in Dublin, I ran into Niall Gregory and Simeon Smith in the bar. Niall and Simeon had been part of the live band that Brendan had put together for the 2005 Dead Can Dance reunion tour and I had got to know them in the course of attending gigs in England and the US. It was fun to see them again.

The venue in Cork was the Pavilion, a really nice place with excellent sound and right in the centre of town. The place wasn’t even half-full, maybe 150 people, with most of the punters sitting at tables, sipping drinks. They were appreciative, though, and applauded politely after each song. That said, they failed to make much noise after the first encore, so there was no second. As the saying goes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get, and they definitely didn’t ask.

Visiting Cork gave me an excuse to stay at the Garnish House B & B again, whose home-cooked breakfasts are justifiably the stuff of legend. The porridge with Bailey’s Irish Cream has to be experienced.

The next day, I went to Galway, by far the most charming town of the three. The gig was at the Róisín Dubh on the west side of town. It’s an Irish pub with a room at the back on the canal side, where bands play. Whilst I wouldn’t normally expect to see Brendan perform in a pub, this was a nice place and the informal atmosphere set the mood for a relaxed gig.

Again, there weren’t many paying punters on the night and some of them, particularly the contingent of scantily-clad Polish girls, looked as if they’d come to the wrong gig. People even started to dance.

It was a terrific gig, though; arguably the best of the three. The sound was excellent, the audience were enthusiastic and the band were relaxed, playing a full set.

I left the backstage area at 01:30, but seeing as I hadn’t booked accommodation and was still feeling fresh, I drove back through the pouring rain to my father’s house in Greystones, south of Dublin, arriving there at 04:30. I was absolutely knackered by the time I arrived and the first hint of dawn had tinged the night sky with a deep blue hue, but at least I’d have the whole of Saturday to spend with the family; once I’d woken up, that is.

So, the trip was a huge success. I got to kill two birds with one stone and it wasn’t all that expensive, all things considered. Flights to Ireland are cheap, I needed only one night of paid accommodation and care hire is also cheap.

It was also good to spend a few days on my own, collect my thoughts and consider my life thus far. No such luxury for Sarah, of course, who had the indefatigable trolls to contend with.

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Baiting The Volcano

Posted on Wednesday, 26th May, 2010 by ianmacd

I’m hopping on a plane to Ireland Wednesday afternoon.

Apart from the obvious opportunity to see my family, Brendan Perry will be performing three concerts in Dublin, Cork and Galway to promote his new album, Ark. I’ve hired a car and will be in attendance at each of the three gigs.

Mr. Perry’s just about the only remaining active musician that I enjoy enough to board an aeroplane for, especially if it means that I’ll be away from my family for four nights. The fourth night is so that I can spend all of Saturday with my family, who would otherwise see me only briefly after Wednesday’s gig in Dublin and Friday’s in Galway, after the long drive back to the outskirts of Dublin. I’ll be spending the night in Cork on Thursday, as it makes no sense to drive back to Dublin after the gig, when I have to head back west the next day.

I’ll have some time on my hands during the days ahead, which, whilst not immediately appealing, might turn out to be a good thing. I could do with clearing my head.

I’ll miss the kids, though; and I don’t like the idea of leaving Sarah when I know she could miscarry at any time, but she doesn’t mind. A miscarriage isn’t serious, but I’d like to be there to support her when it happens… if it ever happens.

Brendan, you’d better be good tomorrow evening.

Posted in Music, Travel | 2 Comments

Back In The Land Of The Living

Posted on Tuesday, 25th May, 2010 by ianmacd

The last week has been rough, there’s no two ways about it.

The day after we received the bad news about the baby, we had Eloïse’s school birthday party to contend with. In fact, Sarah had had to come home and bake muffins right after being told about the baby. What choice do you have? You may have a dead embryo inside you, but you also have two healthy children who understand very little of what’s going on, why Mama and Papa are sad, short-tempered and shouting more than usual. Life goes on, as the banal saying goes.

Happily, Eloïse’s big day at school was a great success. Not only did the children enjoy the cakes, but Sarah had had the idea of giving each child a small plant as a present, as an alternative to some worthless trinket that they’d throw in the cupboard as soon as they got home. I received many compliments in the days afterwards and told everyone that the idea had been all Sarah’s.

On Friday, it was Pinksterfeest at school, which is Pentecost to you lot. I hadn’t notice a message on the school blackboard that all of the children should come dressed in white that day. Guess what Eloïse had picked out for herself that day… a red flamenco dress with black polka dots, complete with matching shoes. All of the other girls — and boys — were dressed in virginal white, with our girl sticking out like a sore thumb in her scarlet woman garb. Bad Papa, bad, bad. The girl herself didn’t mind, though.

Saturday saw Eloïse return to the Little Gym after an absence of some eighteen months or more. She’d always said she’d go back when she was five, and now she felt grown up enough to do the classes on her own, with Papa proudly watching from behind the glass panels. That’s two trips to the Little Gym I now have to make every Saturday, but it’s great to see her joining in and enjoying the place again. She’s so confident now, a different girl from one who had struggled with the transition from parent-and-child classes to independent child classes.

In a further display of her burgeoning confidence, she asked me to take the stabilisers off her bike this afternoon. I obliged and we spent a happy afternoon, Eloïse biking up and down the Sophialaan on two wheels, with me scurrying after her in case she fell. After a while, she was getting so cocky that I called a halt to the proceedings, because I knew that that’s when she would be the most likely to come a cropper.

Lucas, too, has been demanding a proper bike, rather than the crappy old tricycle that he’s always had to make do with. The boy is turning into a complete maniac, climbing and jumping off anything that he can clamber up onto. He seems to get a bloody nose or a fat lip on a daily basis now. He knows no restraint and carries out whichever harebrained whim enters his head.

In the wake of the news given to us a week ago, it’s been a week of counting one’s blessings, which has mostly meant feeling copiously grateful for the two lovely children we already have in our midst. I love them so much and can’t imagine life without them. They’re have such strong, diverse personalities and they make me feel so proud.

The dead embryo of our intended third child isn’t budging and still has pride of place in Sarah’s uterus. A recent visit to the acupuncturist hasn’t set the process of miscarriage in motion. All we can do is wait and hope that the current situation doesn’t drag on much longer.

Eloïse said this evening that she wanted to kiss Sarah’s belly and wished the baby weren’t dead. It sounds tragic, but it was apparently quite funny. She referred to us having an Eloïse baby, a Lukie baby and a “trashed baby”. I fell about laughing when Sarah told me of Eloïse’s indelicate turn of phrase. You have to love children’s brutal disregard for euphemism and sentiment.

I wish the trashed baby would hurry up and vacate the premises.

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Easy Come, Easy Go

Posted on Monday, 17th May, 2010 by ianmacd

I’ll get straight to the point: the baby inside Sarah is dead. By the estimate of the ultrasound technician, it probably died during the eighth week of pregnancy.

Now we have to wait for Sarah’s body to reject the embryo. In the meantime, she will continue to suffer morning sickness and an insatiable appetite. Talk about salt in the wounds.

Cue all of your favourite clichés: it’s just one of those things, it just wasn’t meant to be, it’ll be better next time, etc.

Ever the pragmatist, I’m tempering my disappointment with the knowledge that it could be a lot worse. Better now than after 36 weeks. Losing an embryo is better than losing a foetus. I mean, some people in this world get to shoulder the burden of losing a real, live child. When all is said and done, this was just a blob. Shit happens.

Sarah’s sad, of course, but also pragmatic. She’s not worried, just keen to consign the present to the past and progress to the next pregnancy.

Oh well.

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