Damien Rice - San Francisco Great American Music Hall - 9/11/03
4/5
By: Lauren Gallagher
Tough to envisage now, yet just one year ago, a 'Google' search on Damien Rice resulted in minimal coverage; simply, some of the best online music-databases had little or no information on this latest inspiration to the world of alt-music.
Come 2003, his debut album 'O' stands an international success, with the Shortlist Music Prize to boot. Admirably, Rice has worked his way up from the pubs of Ireland, to headlining his own shows - including not least San Francisco's Great American Music Hall, to which Rice brought his brooding charm this October.
Suitably, the elfin Irishman opens the night with the powerful, angst-ridden 'Woman Like A Man', terrorizing the mic and belting out, 'You wanna get boned/'You wanna get stoned... You wanna be master of yourself,' while the accompanying Vyvienne Long rocks her cello - literally. Rice's tiny frame, exhausted already, allows a sweaty, heaving exhale to form the opening of the tender 'Delicate', and the ironic transition causes nothing less than shivers.
Influences from blues, Buckley, Dylan, and an Irish heritage could be heard with every song - notably all three amid an especially visceral rendition of 'Amy', where Rice's trademark howl is instantly swapped at a given moment for a fragile, earnest tenor. And in an age of programmatic, cheap rock and even cheaper thrills, such versatility gave Rice's performance a sincere, vitality - one too oft lacking elsewhere.
Intensity aside, and the concert took a comic turn when all band members swapped instruments and tried to tackle 'Cheers Darling' while clinking glasses full of red wine. Long was dwarfed by the stand-up bass, while Rice's drummer took to the vocals with the crowd singing along. The jams continued with their finale - a three-way marriage of Prince's 'When Doves Cry', segueing into Portishead 'Glory Box', with a touch of 'All Along the Watchtower'. The result of the medley with accompaniment from Pedestrian's Joel Shearer, was at once delicate, rare, and tragic while Rice wailed without hesitation 'Give me a reason to be a woman'. The contrast between Beth Gibbons' sultry vocals and Rice's scraping cries couldn't be greater, but he fully transcended the gender barrier.
Collectively, Rice's quick wit, guilty Catholic conscience, and Long's playful solo renditions of 'Blue Moon' and 'Purple Haze' did not stop this concert from being anything but epic. The intimacy and almost sacred mood of Rice's previous visits to S.F. at the clubby Cafe du Nord was not lost on this crowd. Among 600 people, a pin could be heard to drop during 'The Blower's Daughter'. Rice's fans gave this popular ballad its due respect, and not without a few tears. Striking, elegiac, and brutally honest, like the best artists, Rice forces one on the road to soulful introspection, leaving no stone unturned. And we love him all the more for it.
Artists in this article: Damien Rice
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