THE HANDSOME FAMILY – ROISIN DUBH – 7TH MAY 2001
As I write this review I am listening to a Weezer webcast. They rock. They are loud and fast and I suppose what a lot of people see as the perfect live experience. The Handsome Family aren’t particularly loud and often stay shy of soaring guitar solos. And there are only two of them. So really, as a live outfit, they aren’t exactly U2 and it will be a while before they have their own 40 foot lemon over beside the zither.
But the Handsome Family in the three times I have seen them, have pulled off the trick of packing the place and keeping the unwashed masses entertained. Rennie and Brett, despite their macabre songs and music drenched in minor chords, give off a warmth that makes people want to go up and hug them. (Or was this just me). The crowd react well tonight as they have done in the March and September shows of 2000, laughing at the sad bits and smiling throughout. The guy next to me (also alone, but no I didn’t get lucky…*joke*) beamed for the entire show, although he was probably pished.
Support was provided by a Dublin gent called Barry McCormack who ill be honest didn’t set my world on fire. He also supported them in March of 2000, when my upstanding friend called him something along the lines of “the most depressing person ever”. So it was with trepidation when I saw him take the stage. But he was ok, pedalling a familiar brand of folk rock; songs for the most part concerned with the hells of drinking. One could be cynical nay bitchy and wonder why he doesn’t just go to an AA meeting instead of taking it out on us but one wont.
Next up a band from Limerick I cant name for the life of me. I think it was something like ‘Drumdog’ or something but I could be completely wrong. Anyway its was my first live experience of a pedal steel guitar, so it couldn’t have been a disappointment. They did have the pub band clichés ; a bassist who bopped his head and looked at the drummer with a love unconditional every 30 seconds, a moody acoustic guitarist and a “funky jam number” at the end but all in all, they were reminiscent of the Pavement of ‘Father to a sister of thought’ which is a good thing…
Finally, to the delight of stoned longhairs and obsessed fanboys/grrls alike, The Handsome Family, Brett (guitar, vocals, beard) and Rennie (bass, vocals, zither, melodica) took to the stage, pressed a button on the minidisk, and with the invisible drummer ready, began the show. The first song was ‘Tin Foil’ which was chaotic but in a cute way and gave good evidence of Brett’s voice, a hefty heifer of a Texan drawl. There was much inter-band bitching during songs, providing laughter for what was a minorly tanked up crowd. The next song ‘Arlene’, also known as one of the greatest songs the world has ever known or heard, floored the place except for the ginnet who laughed out loud at “you were screaming please let me go all the way down to millers cave”. Heheh…
They ran thru versions of ‘Catherdrals’ ‘ The Woman Downstairs’ and ‘The Giant of Illinois’ as well as the wonderful ‘Weightless Again’ from 1998’s ‘Through the Trees’…’The Giant of Illinois’ a particular favorite of the crowd. Hell, we even snag along to ‘Drunk By Noon’, a particularly surreal site, seeing as how half the crowd managed to catch up in the space of two hours. Rennie, resplendent in a tiger tishirt and a frog dress (“you watch this time next year, it’ll be frogs, frogs, frogs!”) impressed all with her unique brand of stand-up comedy…hehe…while Brett took the easy route coming to the conclusion that all you needed to say to get a laugh was “George W.Bush”.
The highlights were many…A “synth-pop” (i.e a phaser) version of ‘Amelia Earhart vs. The Dancing Bear’ with a manical guitar solo, the inspired cover version of ‘The Banks of the Ohio’ which was made their own and also provided some giggles from the audience and the two new songs. The setlist reads them as ‘Dark Eye’ and ‘Asleep’ and they are both about parking lots. But they are the best two songs about parking lots the world has heard since ummmm that song that goes “paradise put up a parking lot” by Madonna…anyway…’Dark Eye’ was a slow piece which if memory serves correct had Brett singing over lolling guitar and Rennie’s sinister zither. But the best song of the night was ‘Asleep’, so sweet it would poison you, which finished with the line “no one will fall asleep alone”. Call me a sentimental arse, but it was lovely. And a good omen for what is to come in the Autumn. Oh and did I mention they played ‘Down in the Ground’? It was too good for mere wanky description.
After ‘The Banks of the Ohio’, someone representing Roisin Dubh PLC. turned off the power on stage, the time had run out and the crowd was a sea of sad faces (for the first time of the night). They promised us they’d be back, and like kids who have just found out Pokemon has been cancalled (oh if only), we filed out solemnly but happy that we had been part of something very special.
the setlist ran :: tin foil - arlene - cathedrals - dark eye - so much wine - drunk by noon - the woman downstairs - down in the ground - amelia earhart - asleep - the giant of illinois - weightless again - the banks of the ohio