The irishman who told Glasgow to go home

[Gatsby]

Originally Posted by Daily Record

<A class=articleer name="DAMIEN RICE CARLING ACADEMY, GLASGOW, FEB 11">DAMIEN RICE CARLING ACADEMY, GLASGOW, FEB 11</A>
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Feb 13 2004
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Paul English</TD></TR></TD></TR></T></TABLE>



DID you hear the one about the Irishman who sold thousands of albums and was nominated for a Brit award?
He came to Glasgow and told the audience to go home.
Damien Rice, the man whose beauty of an album, O, bears testament to the power of word of mouth, probably wished he'd stayed home.
Twice he chided the chattering 3000 capacity crowd who gabbed over his attempts to wind songs down to a whisper and a near-silent guitar chord. And on the second occasion, before a spine-tingling rendition of The Blower's Daughter, he told the crowd if they wanted to chat, then they weren't connecting and should get a refund. A disgruntled handful shuffled out and many who stayed, sat torn-faced at Rice's penchant for destroying songs with self-indulgent guitar and vocal distortion. Opening number Volcano turned into an eight minute guitar-thrash. However, his acapella version of Eskimo was stunning.
Cellist's Vivienne Long's working of The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army got the audience making noise for the right reasons. But after this, I doubt if he'll be rushing back to Glasgow's newest venue.

Link to it available here - http://http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/features/content_objectid=13945098_method=full_siteid=89488 _headline=-DAMIEN-RICE-CARLING-ACADEMY--GLASGOW--FEB-11-name_page.html

[Gatsby]

sorry, didnt see the other thread but theres the review anyways...

[Bumpman]

the irishman was right, hippies arent made to be fashionable

[Gatsby]

actually in this case i think damien was acting the arsehole... the crowd may be sh*t for his gigs but its only himself really to blame... playing letterman and leno is gonna boost ur popularity no matter what ur beliefsare.... he wanted fame and he has found it but he wants the meanings and justice to come across to the crowd but it wont happen again... we let go a while ago why hasnt he?

[Gatsby]

oh and i await an angry mob...

[tony]

I kinda half agree with you. The blame falls at DRs feet regarding some ofthe places he's chosen to appear - leno, letterman and i'd stick t in the park and glastonbury in there. As for the "fame" bit, thats our fault. Don't know where you get the idea that DR was looking for fame. I think most of us can plead guilty to spreading the word. Christ, i've spent the last year+ sticking cds into friends and workmates hands, do i regret that now, god yes. Couple these factors up and you get people turning up to a gig because they think its hip, not because they've connected to the music.

[FlyingCrow]

At first I thought he was being a little tempremental. But the more I've thought about it, his singing eskimo with no mic and his telling the crowd to go home, the more I think he was spot on. And as for the "penchant for destroying songs with self-indulgent guitar and vocal distortion", well he wouldn't the same without it. His own little way of telling the pop pickers to f*ck off, or I thought so anyway.

[marymac]

You sound like my boyfriend. He spent the whole of the Belfast gig whimpering about people finding his favourite artists and making them big. Even though at least six of the people who were there were there entirely due to him...


But in fairness to the man, I think he's perfectly justified in giving off to people who muck about. If they aren't going to listen they really shouldn't have come (a point I've had reason to maketo far too many idiots at concerts). Its not a problem or reaction confined to Glasgow or big shows either. He had words with a few people at a gig in Derry last year, in a much much smaller venue. Telling people to shut up is hardly a hanging offense. Taking on to play somewhere with dodgy accoustics and layout might be though.

[Sionna]

I think Damien was right to tell everyone to shut up, pity he didnt do it at vicar street.........

[Bumpman]

i don't know, i partially agree with jeweller on this one, no matter what happens you should never get angry at the crowd, although i'll bet he's exceptionally pissed off by people talking at the gigs now. I do think he was right to tell people to stop talking through the songs.

Some people are just stupid though, they're quite happy to pay full price to come and ruin the night for everyone else by chatting through the beautiful bits of the songs, but detest the idea that somebody might find their ignorance ignorant.

[Wheels]

I think Damien should shut them up AND release his anger by playing his ANGRYSONGS! Turn up every amp in the place and blow everyone away. They couldn't talk over that and might even start getting into it... He'd do kick-ass versions too as he'd really be feeling it! [img]smileys/smiley17.gif[/img]

[The Weatherman]

i'd imagine it's very difficult for Damien to connect with his own songs if there is talking in a venue. he wants to put on a good show and he needs to connect to do this. if he can't connect, the audience has no chance. it probably frustrates him that he can't play to his full potential. i feel for him.

[Wheels]

He could connect with the angry songs...

[The Weatherman]

i see a pattern emerging from Wheels[img]smileys/smiley1.gif[/img]

[#Ian#]

Lisa only plays the guitar for one song so her hands are free, they should send her on stage with a sniper rifle.

[Wheels]

Lisa is far too lovely for that... maybe a water pistol?!

[#Ian#]

In that case turn Tomo's kit the normal way around and build a snipers nest out of that.

He's an american, he MUST love guns. [img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img]

[Bumpman]

or some large pointy rocks, i doubt loud songs would work, they might only make things worse

[Lemonhead]

slingshots![img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img]


with BIG rocks![img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img]

[administrator]

he could do what andy kaufman did in that film "man on the moon" - take out a good book and just read it to the audience.

[ali*]

Originally Posted by Wheels

Lisa is far too lovely for that... maybe a water pistol?!

yeah, u and emmett have got the job already!

[Wheels]

What job? [img]smileys/smiley3.gif[/img]

[ali*]

u and emmett can be official water squirters, uv loads of practise [img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img]

[Wheels]

[img]smileys/smiley5.gif[/img]

[ali*]

maybe just emmett then.....

[TheBlowersSon]

Damo's actual words on 'the night in question' were:


"I'm curious as to why people pay money for a concert only to f**king talk"


To be honest, this is what i'd been thinking for the entire 20 odd minutes he had been on for. As for the venue I thought Damien tailored his songs perfectly to suit it, Volcano far from an 8 minute guitar thrash, was merely turned from asong of obvious beauty to a thing ofangry painful beauty filling every inch of the venue with it's, let's face it, somewhat angry/painful message. The Acoustic Eskimo, in the opinion of someone close enough to here every word, was gorgeous in the extreme and something I will always remember, as was the gig as a whole.


Overall I think undoubtedly a loud drunken minority tried their hardest to ruin the show, but they merely changed theimportance of certain things/lines, as damo emphasised some aggressive lines directing the venom at them, without lessening their impact any. Damo coped admirably with the situation as the rapid applause and cheers which met the previous quote showed and delivered a fantastic, if not typical, show





p.s. Was I the only one with a tear in their eye when Damo, finishing with Hallelujah and hearing a mention of Jeff Buckley from one of the louder audience members, took a couple of steps back from the mic and looked up to the sky while still playing. I thought that was one of the most beautiful scenes ever, whether it was intended in that manner or not.

[Patricia]

Awww, I'm (almost) crying now!


He'd better not do this kind of thing in Paris or there'll be a sobbing girl in the front row...[img]smileys/smiley19.gif[/img]

[Gatsby]

i heard he sang some of Hallelujah through the distortion mic? is that true?

[Alantaylor]

I am pretty sure he did but can't remember for sure

[DaveG]

Hey, well I was in Nottingham Rock City last night for Damo's show and at the end during his encore, he did bring up the fact that they were having problems during the previous couple of shows, he didn't quite say that it was because of idiots talking through out the show but you could catch his drift......to be fair I really thought that the crowd were pretty good last night for the show (well Damien at least)....but this was from where I was standing maybe there were problems else where in the crowd but where I was there was an almost reverent silence....Damien thanked the venue for closing the bars during the show to reduce the amount of noise from the audience and to be fair it did work, there's nothing worst than a clinking till at a gig during a quiet song........so he did seem very pissed off about the couple of gigs before hand (namely Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester I think) but he did seem to be happy with the crowd last night.....

Now I'm really not one to accept talking during a gig and really don't understand why people do pay money to go see a show and then talk for the entire thing....I won't bring up the couple discussing oral during the Moose Dance company but other than that there was a pretty good crowd last night to be fair