overlap

Despite having been there on the same day the previous week, it seemed a very long time from my previous visit to that venue, the end of eight days of five gigs, a football match, a fascinating lecture, around a thousand miles of driving and somewhere in the middle of that taking a very heavy flyer on ice and being barely able to walk for a couple of days, so at least not having far to go was a relief. In a break from recent routine, and a concession to pragmatism, I was there sufficently early not to miss a note as I realised I didn't have the cash to pay for the car park, which was the likely consequence of not being on time to get one of the few street parking spaces before what I already knew to be a sold out show. Openers The Noelie McDonnell Band don't have a hard job to warm up the already swelling crowd, and it's a bold move for anyone to expect to come across well over tight electric rhythm section with just a voice and an acoustic guitar. The warmth of McDonnell's voice makes them sound like a stripped down Hothouse Flowers (and that is definitely meant as a compliment by the way!). He's an appealing frontman, gets the crowd to join in with repeat choruses of the word 'happiness', on what I imagine is the song of the same name. You can't ask for much more of a support band, and it's a great way to start the night. Back in the early 90s, I had come across the name The Saw Doctors well before I picked up copies of their first two albums from a chap I was working with in France, and was immediately hooked. After half a dozen shows in the mid-90s, I hadn't seen them in quite a number of years and after charting hits over here, we're now back into venues where the capacity is in hundreds rather than thousands, and I'm well overdue for catching up with them again. A lot of what I said about the Show Of Hands gig applies equally, it's an honest, open and ultimately human experience. But where SoH play with a fire that's underpinned by a more distinctly political element, Leo Moran and Davy Carton's songwriting give this show an undoubted streak of humour. From Tommy K (with its accompanying actions) to Bless Me Father, there's a lot of fun in what turns out to be a big party on a little stage, but for me the real catch is in the unashamed emotional yearning in the likes of You Got Me On The Run and Exhilarating Sadness, which Leo introduces tonight by saying "I recently got asked to add someone as a friend on Facebook, which happens to be someone I wrote this song about twenty years ago, but that's the way it goes sometimes..." Despite the cramped confines of a sold-out gig, some people still reckon their having a good time is far more important than respecting anyone else's personal space, so there are a few tense moments which could have been avoided if people behaved more like grown-ups. With a distinct lack of room to move about, there is pushing and jostling caused by an insistence on conversation in some quarters, and repeat trips to the bar and the toilet, often by the same people who are desperate to tell their mates what a fantastic time they are having, and it gets a bit unnecessary. And yet despite that I'm glad to stay to the end of a full two hours of a set which comes towards a close with a fantastic Red Cortina, including the cunning trick of keeping the vocal refrain going at the end while everyone moves around and plays a different instrument to the one they started on. I could happily have done without the final extended run through Hay Wrap, as its comedy novelty has long since worn off for me, but although I rocked a lot harder for A, I haven't sweated as much as I did at this gig for some time. Special mention for the stellar backing vocals of Antony Thistlethwaite. *The second Saw Doctors album, All The Way From Tuam, has only two tracks I'm not really a fan of, and provides a pretty good five word intro to them!

Labels: gigs, Noelie McDonnell Band, The Saw Doctors