Damien Rice @Beacon Theatre, Dec. 13th

Gotta keep this short cos I should have been in bed an hour ago, but called up Tina and caught up with her for a bit.

Tonight Bharat and I made it to the Beacon just barely to catch Damien Rice in concert for the second time in less than a month. In November, we were lucky to see him at the intimate Hiro Ballroom show. Today we had awesome seats -- 6th row center, baby! -- but the increased size in venue seemed to equate an increased number of assholes. We sat in Row B, in front of Row C, which must have stood for chatterboxes. On the left behind us was the woman who insisted on talking, not whispering, through entire songs, pausing only to call out for the one song she knew -- "the Blower's Daughter", and to the right behind us were the gabby fans who kept screaming "Lisa" for the band's angel-voiced chanteuse despite a lack of response. Lovely.



Anyway, we obviously prefered the November gig, but the non-acoustic billing allowed for additional, heartier songs to be played. Whereas for the Hiro gig, Damien and Co. were playing for a small room and seemed to be winging it to a certain degree (and amusing themselves in the process), the Beacon gig was more polished and proved to be more of a performance. In particular, I, along the rest of the audience was captivated by his off-mike, solo on acoustic guitar rendition of "Cannonball." Simply stunning.

At numerous times, Damien did display that he does have the Irish gift of gab. Here's the final song from the evening, "Cheers, Darlin'" performed with guest openers Glen Hansard (of the Frames) and friends:


Overall, it was a good concert, but it could not top the Hiro show. I'm ready to move onto the next sensation.

Okay, time for bed -- I'll add more vids later!