Damien Rice
Paradiso, Amsterdam
25/02/04
I arrived at the Paradiso in time to catch a few songs from the opener, Josh Ritter. I hadn’t heard of him before, but he seems to be an up-and-coming songwriter in the same vein as Damien Rice. I was impressed by his solo acoustic songs and will look into his latest album, Hello Starling. His set ended impressively with him playing at the front of the stage, away from the mic, guitar unplugged - amazingly, the crowd was quiet during the song, a courtesy not often paid to headliners, let alone support acts. It was wonderful to hear the song float forward through the capacity audience in the vast Paradiso church.
Damien Rice made his return to Paradiso only six months after his last visit to Amsterdam in August 2003. Things have certainly changed for him in that time; with increased marketing of his debut album O, he’s more well-known - the show sold out a few weeks beforehand. It was a crowded but respectful audience that came to see Damien appear this time with full band in tow, including the lovely vocalist Lisa Hannigan.
The long set included just about every song from O, as well as two or three new songs. The impact of the full band this time around was notable as the songs reached their emotional high points, washing the crowd in the sounds of voice, guitar, drums and cello. Lisa’s contributions were particularly applauded, such as when she sang the opera part in ‘Eskimo’, which was quite moving. She truly uses her voice as an instrument, adding high-octave wordless backing to the rest of the band, leading my companion to comment that she was like a ‘human theremin.’
Though the overall mood was one of grand beauty, there was room during the evening for more light-heartedness. Despite Damien’s growing popularity, he came across as very down-to-earth, and chatted comfortably with the crowd. In the music, too, there was room for humour. The encore started with only Lisa and the cellist returning to the stage, and the cellist soon broke into the riff of ‘Seven Nation Army’. The song took on a ‘rock, classical-style’ feel, and I will never hear the original quite the same again.
The night closed out with the band leaving only Damien and Lisa on stage to perform ‘Cheers Darlin’’, acting it out with a lit cigarette and a bottle of wine, making the song a bit more playful than the original’s sad, hurt tone. It was a semi-sweet ending to a moving evening of music.
Marie Diamond
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