Damien Rice-Hamtastic!

I have been a Damien Rice fan for about 4 years now. The first song of his I heard was Volcano on the "O" album. Listing to his music is like eating something so good that you don't want to finish it because then it's gone, and you want to keep that wonderful taste in your mouth. Volcano, in particular is one of those songs that when I hear it, it's like I could never possibly listen hard enough to it, to capture every bit of goodness from it.

Mike and I went to see Damien Rice at Massey Hall last night. It was the second time we saw him live. The first time was 3 years ago at the Convocation Hall when he was promoting his "O" Album. The last show was great but this show was Amazing!

To be honest, I wasn't excited for the show at all. First, when I purchased the tickets, I chose floor seating and I didn't know until the tickets arrived that it defaulted me to "best available" which were the old wooden death seats in the gallery. We had those seats before, and I remembered how uncomfortable they were! The second reason I wasn't very excited about the show was that Lisa Hannigan, who sings on almost every song in his new album, "9" left the band. I didn't know how the songs were going to sound without her, especially since the first voice you hear on the new album is Lisa's on the song '9'. Although she is a fantastic singer, thankfully she wasn't missed. Damien opened the show with an unbelievable version of the song 9.

The show was filled with a little of everything-even, sadly, rapping! Vyvienne Long, Damien's Cellist did a "rap/song" that reminded me of that old lady in the wedding singer, or hearing your mom trying to "do a rap". Thankfully it only lasted about 2 and a half minutes and Damien was back.

The stage set was simple and the lighting perfectly matched the music. He did an acoustic version of 'Cannonball' and totally rocked the fuck outta 'Volcano' and 'Woman Like a Man'. He also talked a lot more to the audience then he did in the last show I saw. He told two great stories behind the songs 'Amie' and 'I Remember'.
He ended the show with, lack of a better word, a 'skit' for the song 'Cheers Darlin'. It seemed somewhat out of his element, but it worked nevertheless.

He had the audience captivated from beginning to end. I could have sat in those wooden death seats all night just to listen to him. Damein, if you're reading this ;) You must put out a live album!

I leave you now with my favourite Damien Rice song, 'The Blowers Daughter'