find it interesting how u pointed out the fact he wasn't a sell out and reading the different views on the l.a. show...
especially now that the arena shows in europe are getting closer....
when i first heard he'd play wembley and the likes it made me think how that would work out...
marlay park wasn't sold out but there was a hell of a big crowd there...though it maybe due to the 'summer festival feeling' of the irish crowd and i know a lots of heads from the u.k. came by...
was to go over to birmingham meself but then unfortunately had to cancell the trip..it would be interesting to see how full those venues will be...
i do think that his sound now well suited to big places and to be honest although i love lisa to bits, she is my favourite female singer but i couldn't help myself thinking (seeing damo): where would be her space in the performance?...i was surprised how i didn't miss her at all during the gigs..damien seemed to rule the stage, being the single source of great amount of energy in the room..he is one of those artists who can effortlessly demand attention when he really wants to...then sometimes he is just like "whatever"....
i remeber my friend came by to the new york gig...the last time she saw damien was ages ago when he played the likes of olympia in dublin, which has the capacity of 1200...and she didn't like those early performances saying it was quite boring and at one gig particular he walked off the stage after the third song,sat down in the crowd drinking wine and left the whole band on the stage looking all confused for the rest of the show.... (actually a vast amount of Irish people think this and that is the reason why they never come to his gigs again and have no clue how much he and the band have changed since the early days of 'O'...and no matter saying this to them cos they wouldn't listen and still keep thinking he is a midget, whinging,moody, self-obsessed singer-songwriter with his guitar who is weak to put on a rocking show...)..anyway she came only cos i was going..after the gig i was happily suprised that she was totally won over, saying she had never thought how interesting and energetic his show would be...she said it was one of, if not, the best gigs this year for her..
for me he doesn't seem that tired of gigging..i think he had finally got to a place he was always meant to be artistically and now that he is there and feeling comfortable in his own skin he can take the time off to relax and experiment new things he can get inspirations from..that is how i felt seeing him during this tour ....and i think lisa leaving hugely contributed unintentionally to this progress... think he is at a place now where he really got his own sound so he doesn't feel the urge to push himself to the limit, so he can go off to do things that don't have anything to do with music or him being a musician.he is one of those rare musicians who always managed to be in control of his own art and who doesn't seem to be interested only in music but in many other things...he doesn't seem to have that sense of 'music is me religion, i dedicate myself a 100% to music day n night', like many other musicians usually think...i remember reading an interview with him years ago where he said he wouldn't listen to any music in his spare time at all or just rarely...
and i think that is what keeps him and his music being so versatile..that he can let go off it easily then claim it back when he feels like...actually i can not think of any recent Irish artist who would be so diverse from one gig to the other, who likes to play around with his own songs in so many different ways...hearing damien's different versions of 'i remeber', 'coconut skins'...and u all know i could go on...it gives me the rare chill of exploring the old stuff again and again in another way...that is why i do like the drum solos in coconut skins, his use of distorted guitar and mic...that is why he can make such rapid shows out of a relatively small catalogue...with damien i know that i can go to a show then to another one in lets say 2 months time and i can count on him blowing me away with something wild and new.
as for he is taking it more as a job...well it is a job at the end of the day...it is hard to keep the level of passion about it balanced..just like every other peeps they have good and bad days,periods...i get to see a few musicians beside/outside of the gigs and they will tell u:it is a job they are getting paid at the end of the day, they need to make a living, fulfill their contract and do their best not to disappoint the fans who paid in their hard earned money to see them...they are very realistic about it.it is not all about the miracle,passion and beauty of the art and entertainment..that is how i used to see it but i was wrong and very naive about it till i got a closer view ...of course that is a main thing but there are so many other factors and it is a hard core business..i think this whole passion thing is only there fully when they are writing new stuff the rest of it is linked with the whole business machinery and that doesn not have a soul at all...it is quite disenchanting really but it comes with it and u get used to the feeling after a while and u can still keep ur spirit intact, just in a different dimension
it is sad to see him taking a break and do hope he will still keep doing his smaller intimate surprise gigs here at home as he alwasy used to do even when he wasn't active world-wide...but i can't help myself seeing him more of a philosopher with a composer's talent and a poetic vein who needs and now can afford the time to go and experience different aspects of his own life and hopefully it will make him more adventuruos when he'll sit down to write again or goes on stage to play...
sorry to get away from the real topic of the original thread and being sooooo looooong....
