This afternoon between the hours of one and two I witnessed one of the greatest moments in the history of the state. I mean, if Bord Failte wanted a photo opportunity it was today in St. Stephen’s Green. An Garda Siochana Band played a free concert at the bandstand in the Green. A group of about 50 people sat and watched the show in the sun. All the old easy-listening classics were pulled out: ‘It’s Not Unusual’, ‘My Way’, even Glenn Miller’s ‘In the Mood’ got an airing. It was pleasant enough, laying around in the sun but what really got me was when they played ‘I’m A Believer’ (vocals by Garda Brendan Murphy) and the children with special needs who’d been sitting to my left and the junkies to my right started dancing together. Garda Murphy needed no encouragement: C’mon, let’s see you all clapping your hands!, he cried, as he stood on the edge of the stand during the sax solo. And there were no taunts or jeers for the Gardai up there giving it socks! No-siree. People started clapping along and then a freaking conga-line was formed. No joke. When they went up a key the thought did cross my mind, “maybe we will see Heaven on Earth”. And people should have that thought more often. Especially during a work lunch break.
Cheap laugh.
Cheaper.
VILLAGE PEOPLE
After previous misfortune associated with The Village, I still went to see Jason Mraz play there last week. A bit of a disappointment compared to his last gig in Whelan’s in February. He’s good and puts on a show but some of his fans are a joke. Read: kinda teeny-bopperish (do people still say ‘teeny-bopper’? Am I Marge Simpson?) For example, at one point, during the outro of a real quiet song one guy just bellowed “Wordplay!” (his most commercially successful song). Stuff like that. Also, if he wasn’t asking people to clap along with a song or making banana-related euphemisms some of the little cretins seemed totally oblivious to the show. “Eimear, they’d no Smirnoff Ice so I just got you a WKD, is that ok?” they would shout. “Here’s your change. No! You can buy me a drink later, it’s fine!” But he must know he brings a lot of it on himself.
Anyway, here’s the controversial point (and one I’d like a second, maybe even a third, opinion on), he didn’t come out for an encore. It’s my first time ever to see that happen and I’ve been pondering as to the possible reasons. I think he was disappointed to realise that his fans (at least in Dublin) only seem to want to hear the hits over and over. Having said that, I did find his set at The Village a little dry and self-indulgent. There were too many ballads (read: The OC/Dawson’s Creek soundtrack contenders). It seemed like he pulled out all the stops for his first show in Dublin, playing all the crowd-pleasers to…well…please the crowd, I guess. It also guaranteed a larger audience for his return (as the return was to follow only a few months later). As a result of this, however, the Village gig then seemed to fall into ’second-leg’ category- as opposed to a show in its own right- and meant he played only a few of the same songs ( i.e. the most popular) again and tended to concentrate on some more recent, previously unheard tracks.
I’m divided as to whether the lack of an encore was unprofessional and sulky or exactly what his fans deserved. Hmm I think encores are a must, actually. It’s like being at a party, excusing yourself to go to the bathroom and grabbing your coat from the hall and legging it. From your own party. Just as you were about to blow out the candles.
What do you think? Yeah, you at the back asleep. Well?
Oh and a special shout out to John, an American guy behind me who was talking to ‘Fiona’ about how he wished he had a “cool” name like Fiona. “You know, like, everyone’s called John! ‘Hi, Johnny’, ‘There’s Johnny over there’ or, like, ‘Dude, here’s Johnny now!’ I wish I had a real weird name, something, like, quirky!” Oh dear. Poor John. Such a troubled young man. It’s ‘cos he’s got so much on his mind, I guess.
GOTS TO HAVE MUSIC
If you’re thinking of picking up a CD in the near future, Ojos de Brujo are a flamenco/hip-hop act from Barcelona who are all I’ve listened to recently. They fuse traditional flamenco styles with hip-hop and more electronic sounds. ‘Bari’ (2003) is beautiful and only improves on increased listening. Their new album ‘Techari’, at two or three listens, is more of the same. However, the closest they play to Dublin this year is Paris.
Simian are a band I’d like to talk about here if you don’t mind. They broke up in 2003 but still managed to produce some of the freshest and most unique sounds available today. The brevity of their history, spanning only two albums, (’Chemistry Is What We Are’ in 2001 and ‘We Are Your Friends’ in 2003) is tragic and ended with a breakaway group forming (Simian Mobile Disco), who concentrate mainly on remixes (woop-de-woop). ‘Chemistry’ is experimental, quirky, harmony-laden pop while ‘Friends’ leans more towards where Mobile Disco is now; heavier, electro-pop/rock songs, with similar quantities and quality of harmony. They also deserve special props yo for some of the artwork on their CDs. One of my favourite artists who are still around…Oops. *sniffs*
stigmund will never be alone again
