My first experience of O.....memories....

[eskimo_friendly]

It was Spring 2002, and the name "Damien Rice" kept popping up in the charts. I'd never heard of him. I wondered who he was, but never really bothered to find out.

Then one day, i think it was Top 30 Hits on Network 2(where has that gone??) I finally got to see a Damien Rice video, and to be honest, it was a bit scary looking! There was some freaky-looking woman at the end of it, and that's all I remembered.

It was the beginning of May, still 2002, and I was lying in bed some Sunday night, and I switched on FM104. "The Rock Show" was on - I'd never really listened to it before. And in studio that night they had a certain mr Damien Rice.

It was late, so I just relaxed, and listened as Damien began playing, and.... I didn't fall in love with the music but thought "hey, this guy is good!". I'd never really been into music like that before.

So it was 2 weeks before my 5th year summer exams, and I was S.C.R.E.W.E.D for them! I worried about them so much... I was getting real depressed about it and I felt the only thing that's gonna ease this pain is some relaxing, depressing music !

So out I went to HMV one Saturday afternoon and bought Moby's "18"..... and Damien Rice's "O".
I listened to Moby first, coz I was more interested in his music than the other guy's.

So the next night, sunday night again, I went to bed and put on "O" onto my CD player, and put on the headphones. I didn't know any of his songs before this, didn't know the names of them, and wasn't expecting too much. And then it happened...

Older Chests happened. Cold Water happened. I Remember happened. And then as I began drifting into a calm sleep, Eskimo happened. Prague happened. And Silent Night happened, as I finally fell asleep to voice of Lisa Hannigan singing to me "I can't stop you fighting to sleep. Sleep in heavenly peace" ! That was one of the most soothing sounds my young ears had ever experienced.

This wasn't music - this was some f**king sexual experience! I had discovered something amazing, something emotional, something new, genuine and truly special.

And I listened to it about twice a week. And then it was only every few months, because I knew that if I listened to it too much, I might get sick of it and I seriously didn't want that to happen. Only something uniquely powerful could make you feel that way, right?

And then time went on, and I heard nothing of him in the media. He remained very much a hidden treasure... still. Until March 2003 when it was announced that he was to play Witnness. Best news ever...

Then along came Witnness - my first concert, and holy f**k nothing will ever come in any way close to how brilliant that day was! Damien came on, and sang as the sun set over the crowd. And towards the end, all I could think was "sh*t, I forgot Coldplay are still to come!". And it was true - I had totally forgotten about the headliners, who were on next, the international rock stars, the biggest band in the world at that time - and Damien Rice's music had made me forget all about them, despite the fact that they were what this day was all about, what this day was leading up to, the main reason I paid 60 euro for this ticket back in April the SECOND the tickets went on sale (having previously missed out on the Slane tickets because I had a leaving cert. mock exam that morning). And what's more, I didn't even care. I would have left the concert ecstatic once Damien had finished playing. I had got my money's worth at that stage, and a hell of a lot more - I had experienced something that would light up my summer memories for years to come - a breathtaking experience. And then Coldplay came on, and they were amazing. And Witnness 2003 was one of the best days of my life.

And then the media frenzy began. People were hearing all about his Glastonbury performance, and word was spreading like wildfire.

And then I tried to stay away from all that for a while. I listened to the album maybe 3 times between then and December 2003, when Monday the 15th came along - Damien @ Vicar Street.

What can be said about that night? It was sensual, emotional, amazing, unbelievable... and lasted a breath-taking 3 hours.

So what next? Who knows. Let's just hope we have a Witnness 2004, and that we never tire of Damien's music...





Edited by: eskimo_friendly

[Lemonhead]

yay! great story![img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img]so how d'yeh get on in your exams then?![img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img][img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img]

[miselegra]

i think its a given that u did well in the english paper, after all u prob wrote the essay on witnness, i did anyway! [img]smileys/smiley17.gif[/img]

[eimear]

ya i did that essay too...think loads did!

aw il never forget the first time i heard it, on hols wit the girls 2years ago in waterford (how exotic i know [img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img] ) n one of my friends had it and played blowers daughter for me! it was such an experience, i was jus completely stunned never heard anything like it before. got the album soon after and i still listen to it loads, still one of my favourite albums! [img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img]

[~Aoife~]

Originally Posted by eskimo_friendly

Top 30 Hits on Network 2(where has that gone??)

sorry to get off the point here, but where has it gone? it was good for showing videos of the odd Irish artist here and there. Anyone know/care?

[~Aoife~]

p.s. great story!