Damien Rice w/ Marketa Irglova
McCaw Hall, Seattle, WA
04.21.15
Take an Irish recluse and a Czech songbird and throw them solo onto the stark, darkened stage Seattle’s McCaw Hall opera house and what do you get? A once-in-a-lifetime live set. It seemed an endurance test to wait eight years between Damien Rice’s albums, but those patient enough and passionate enough were finally rewarded last week. Crisscrossing the world in support of his November 2014 release My Favourite Faded Fantasy, Rice swept through Seattle with a surprisingly buoyant set and enough personality to validate the ticket price.
Opening his set with “Cannonball” and merging seamlessly into “Volcano” Rice quickly knocked out two of his most acclaimed tracks and easily won over a crowd with his tweaked renditions. Then stopping halfway through “Volcano” he got the house lights raised and decided to make use of the venue’s spectacular acoustics and invited the audience to join him on stage. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for him to be surrounded by fans for a call-and-response finish to the song, closing with a thorough round of handshakes, selfies, and a forgotten pair of glasses that he had a hard time getting someone to claim.
The rest of the set proved just how much you don’t know Damien Rice. Perfectly aware that the crowd was expecting a depressed guy singing depressing songs, his overtly giddy attitude was on point instead. There were stories about almost every song, explanations and social commentary and laughter. There were repeated references to taking a crap as a metaphor for songwriting, all in the most humorous, spirit.
“It Takes A Lot to Know A Man” is apparently about understanding the behavior patterns between a penis and a vagina, while “I Don’t Want to Change You” may be the only love song he’s ever written. The insights were in abundance, the personality endearing, the music a cacophonous display of talent. While Rice’s albums might be perfect for a self-inflicted melancholy, it’s hard to deny that the guy sings like his life depends on it. There’s passion in every layered chord, every reaching falsetto. The melodic subtleties and instrumental experimentation are impressive, especially when you consider it’s just him, on a stage, alone.
At the end of Rice’s set, he finally realized he was out of time, having so much to say all night, so we all pretended to take a pre-encore break, and he brought out opener Markéta Irglová to grace us again with her piano ballad “The Hill” before closing the show with “Long Long Way.” Here’s to hoping it won’t be another long, long time before we hear from Rice again.
Speaking of Markéta Irglová, her short opening set of five songs ran in a similar pattern to Rice’s – heavy on the spectacular voice with plenty of conversation. Her rendition of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from the 1970’s Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar was eye-opening and accompanied by her quietly humorous tale of a childhood crush. If you haven’t taken the time to explore her solo catalog yet, it’s definitely worth a listen.
Damien Rice Set List
Cannonball
Volcano
Older Chests
The Professor * La Fille Danse
9 Crimes
Elephant
I Don’t Want to Change You
It Takes A Lot to Know A Man
Colour Me In
Trusty & True
The Hill (Markéta Irglová)
Long Long Way
Markéta Irglová Set List
Only Love is Real
The Leading Bird
If You Want Me
Remember Me
I Don’t Know How to Love Him (from Jesus Christ Superstar)
Review by Stephanie Dore
Photos by Sunny Martini
Damien Rice
Marketa Irglova
