A review: Damien Rice in concert

Date: February 25, 2007
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: The Tivoli

It was the last sold out venue in his Australian tour. The Tivoli was the perfect place for an intimate musician like Damien Rice. The crowd spilled into the room and everyone scattered to find the most decent spot to enjoy the concert. Many secured the balcony with a first class view up above. With seats. Either on velvet cushions or on the polished wooden floor. I, with an incompetent height, decided the leftest corner by the stage with the speakers just right beside my ears. As time passed, I would learn to appreciate the very spot I have chosen. It did not matter that my knees were about to collapse after standing for an hour plus outside, with roughly four hours plus more to go. There, I waited patiently.

The crowd welcomed Fionn Regan eagerly. He wore a hat. He carried a suitcase and played two guitars alternatively with his initials duct-taped on the surfaces. Hailed from the same country and signed under Damien Rice's label, Heffa, Fionn's voice was of a young Damien Rice. His music brought the crowd back to the vintage days of black and white, a relaxed stroll in the park with the master and mistress. You could almost see a fountain with a cupid statued in the center. Although his melody was leaning more towards the genre of country folk, and a tad bit more cheerful, his lyrics were written with the same ink of simplicity Damien uses for his songs. When he sang about a girl and going on a date with the girl, he sang about the girl and going on the date with her. There were no pretenses or hidden meanings. After every song, he would tip his hat gratefully and thanked the crowd for their support.

After's Fionn's hour long set, there was a short interval before the lights dimmed down once again and Damien Rice emerged last after his band members, cellist Vyvienne Long, bassist Shane Fitzsimmons and backing vocalist Lisa Hannigan. Later, Damien would explain Tom Osander, a.k.a Tomo's absence: he has "beautiful important things" to tend to. He opened with, of all songs, a B-side, The Professor. The crowd embraced it with a heartwarming applause. It was unexpected when Lisa stepped up and took on the second verse. I was literally captivated by her hoarse low-toned voice. There I stood, shackled by her spell as she sang, "Cry when I should, and I laugh when I could" and sang, "But he's the professor and he thought that he should know what makes me comes, what makes me stay..." If I were ever still a little girl, I would wish to grow up and be like her.

Damien proceeded with a string of songs, interlacing beloveds from both O and 9. Only then he noticed the crowd and decided to have a little chat as he tried to figure out what to do next. One thing I noticed about Damien was he was not a person for small talks. He did not seem to do well with spontaneous speeches. He struggled to find the next and right words to say, but ended up with babbles that was not funny, yet the crowd decided to laugh anyway. But there were no stutters and second thinkings every time he started off a new song. He performed with his heart and the band harmonised with him in one accord. Every beat his heart took was right with Vyvienne's wailing cello, Shane's supporting bass and Lisa's haunting chords. Even the lights changed colours and went off and on, all at the precise moments.

Damien basically performed all of the songs off O, a territory most of the crowd was more familiar with compared to 9. They sang along to favourite tracks like Delicate and Cannonball. They cheered for Rootless Tree when Damien drifted fluently into it after Volcano. They applaused as Damien took a seat at the forsaken piano for it was a cue for the self-pitiful 9 Crimes. They clapped their hands along Coconut Skins of contradicting lyrics and rhythm. Someone asked for more B-sides and instantly, he strummed the opening chords to Rat Within the Grain. Maybe the crowd did not know what song it was because they were a moment stunned when he started, but it was one of my favourite B-sides. "I only wanted to be wonderful and wonderful is true. In truth I only really wanted to be wanted by you". Everyone loved it.

He introduced I Remember as a song of changing our minds. Carefully, Lisa thread the first part before Damien took hold with his guitar and blew the crowd away. The speaker was right next to me and I could feel the anger (literally) vibrating my skin and bones as he screamed words I failed to remember.

Damien said fuck the French, for the Australians made better wines as Lisa filled up wine glasses and passed them around the stage. Only when he took hold of the bottle did he realise the wine was made in New Zealand. "You guys are all the same." He attempted to joke. So maybe he was funny there. Everyone laughed as if drunk. (There was a bar in The Tivoli, after all). He followed up with a tale of a drunken guy and gal and slipped into Cheers Darlin' with Fionn not having a slightest clue what he was doing being called to play the piano solo.

Damien asked for the lights to go off. Vyvienne dipped the piano keys for a change and they eased into Cold Water in the dark. It was all coming to an end. This wonderful night. The crowd burst the seams with a full volume ovation - we were all already standing anyway - as Damien and co. thanked the marvellous crowd and bid us good night and goodbye. Yet every single person in the crowd knew it was not the end. Not yet. Something was still missing.

The ovation was long and undying, until Damien returned once again and decided to let us pick what he should sing last. Unlike his Melbourne set, where a fan was lucky enough to go on stage to perform with him, and the crowd got to compose a spur-of-the-moment song with him, the Brisbane fans were not given the slightest chance for song requests when he was stuck halfway through his set. It was either The Blowers' Daughter, Sand or Elephant. The vote was. Of course. The concert went on close to three hours. Damien and Lisa sang till almost midnight. "Till I find somebody new".