Day Two at The Music Show opened with a panel on The Arts Under Attack, with poet Theo Dorgan providing a hugely colourful commentary on the proposals in the McCarthy Report, among whose most controversial proposals were to cut the funding to the arts (see panel). Over on the live stage, meanwhile, The Brilliant Things played to a thronged arena and went down a storm, with Marie Junior giving it loads upfront and co-conspirator Greg French more than looking the part in eyeliner and natty threads. If the ecstatic crowd reaction is anything to go by, electro pop is back in Ireland, especially when its delivered with this kind of energy and musical smarts! The Brilliant Things are looking like the real thing.
That storming opening was followed by the debut of Vengeance and The Panther Queen, fronted by Tara McCormack, and with a number of Republic of Loosers in the engine room. They made an impressive noise and McCormack looked every inch the rock’n’roll star. If ‘Mane-iac’ isn’t a potential smash, then we don’t know what is...
There was a rush to get to the panel on production, featuring the James Bond composer and Shirley Bassey producer David Arnold, local whizz kid Gareth Mannix and the hugely successful Nicky Ryan. There were insights aplenty from all three, with Nicky explaining in detail the fantastic intricacies of multi-tracking Enya’s vocals and explaining the limitations of using click tracks as well as talking about his approach to recording traditional music. Arnold, meanwhile, recalled working on Damien Rice’s O, offered insights into his approach to creating James Bond soundtracks and talked about just how rock’n’roll Shirley Bassey’s approach turned out to be!
Up in the Green Room, ace sticksman Graham Hopkins was giving a drum clinic, presented by Zildian, followed by another drum clinic from Drumtech.
With their superb new album You Can Make Sound ready to hit the shops, Delorentos are building up to something special, and you could tell from the way they hit the stage, brimming with confidence and a new sense of purpose. With chiming guitars, pumping bass, playful synths and those familiar soaring vocals, truly they are one of Ireland’s most potent forces right now – the next few months are going to be really interesting for them...
There was so much going on around the Main Hall it was hard to keep track! Taking into account the rattle and hum of anxious queuing fans, the rabid strumming of a hundred oddly harmonising guitar strings and the sight of aspiring drummers making out on kits, left right and centre, The Music Show is not a place for the faint-hearted.
So it’s nothing short of a musical marvel that Villagers – here in the small but perfectly formed shape of the main man himself, Conor J. O’Brien and his guitar – managed to captivate a gadget-giddy crowd to pindrop sobriety. Even for those congenitally opposed to the ‘singer-songwriter’ model, O’Brien’s subtle and solemn alt-rock, in particular a heart stopping Anthony Hegarty vocal moment on ‘On A Sunlit Stage’, is a breath of earth shattering loveliness. Coming to the Music Show with a new deal with Domino Records under his belt, and wooing the crowd to such marvellous effect (including a superb cover of Roy Orbison’s ‘Crying’ in his set), I think we can conclude that A Star Is Confirmed.
The atmosphere created by O’Brien was an inspiration to David Kitt, who performed a new song and generally took a more adventurous route in his set. He really has matured brilliantly, the full band sound taking him way beyond the limitations of his original identity as a gentle singer songwriter. Why, oh why, has he not got a big record deal?
Back in the Red Room, the panel entitled Record Companies Still Have The Best A&R Scouts turned into a right ding dong. Ossie Kilkenny struck an apocalyptic note, insisting that the major record companies are finished, stating that promoters were now the real power brokers in the music world and challenging Nick Seymour of Crowded House as to why artists hadn’t stood up to the threat of illegal downloading. Nick was unperturbed, pointing out that the game wasn’t over by any means. Warners UK A&R man Conor O’Mahony, meanwhile, took a more sanguine view: records, he said, were still important to get people to an artist’s gigs. It was all strong stuff...
Drummers were also having a field day, with a drum clinic by ace sticksman Graham Hopkins, presented by Zildjian, being followed by another drum workshop from Drumtech.
Next up in the Green Room, and bass players were drinking in everything they could absorb from Keith Duffy, best known for his work with The Corrs. After a great opening with the Beatles’ bass-centric ‘Come Together’, the full house hung on every answer and note – and Duffy proved to be a natural, full of wit and stories as well as musical wisdom. He was joined by his brother Jason Duffy on drums, fretboard wizard Anto Drennan on guitar and singer Donal Kirk, who delivered some superb vocals. Duffy talked about Philip Lynott, and played ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’ and a version of the Cream classic ‘Badge’ left no one in any doubt that these boys have the chops...
The head of the lovable scamp department at 2fm Rick O’Shea was offering the kind of insights that bands need into the Irish broadcasting industry at Broadcasting - It’s All In The Music. Alongside the alarmingly funny Hector O’hEochagáin, who is planning a heavy metal band, in which he will play drums, Dermot McEvoy of The Late Late Show and the irrepressible Tony Fenton of Today FM, Rick pointed out that the extent of his influence over his radio show’s playlist stretches to only one track weekly – in other words, it’s the programmers you have to convince not the DJs.
Over in the Green Room, a guitar masterclass saw Anto Drennan back on stage, this time to accompany Horslips legend Johnny Fean. Opening with ‘Trouble With A Capital T’ was a smart move, following which Colm O’Hare proceeded to take Johnny through his career and influences. For young gunslingers there was brilliant guitar playing to witness in glorious close-up from both Johnny and Anto. Versions of ‘What A Day For A Daydream’ and The Kinks’ classic proto-metal ‘You Really Got Me’ were very fine, and they did a brilliant treatment of ‘Dearg Doom’, changing keys and roles in superb fashion.
Back out on the exhibition floor, there was a constant stream of people to see Rory Gallagher’s famous 1961 Fender Stratocaster, as part of the Rory Gallagher exhibition, presented by Fender in association with X Music, which had been placed right in the centre of the action. Nearby on the 2fm stand, which earlier in the afternoon hosted a typically charming set by sister act and HP fave Heathers, the wonderful Ms.Sharon Corr was drawing by far the largest crowd of the weekend. The crowds swarmed around good humouredly and the acoustic band swept into action. For anyone who might have been in doubt, having traded licks with banjo player extraordinaire Gerry O’Connor, Sharon proved that she’s not just a dab hand at the fiddle but a fine singer into the bargain. It was one of those occasions that plucked hard at the heartstrings of rockers for whom songs like ‘Radio’ – which Sharon performed with aplomb – were firm (in some cases secret) pop pleasures. The 2fm stand also saw performances by Michelle Ann Kelly, The Dirty 9s and The Last Tycoons, while many of hte acts who played the live stage also did a stint for 2fm over thev weekend.
Is it folk, is it art, or is it rock n’ roll? was the title given to the Public Interview conducted by Niall Stokes with the venerable Christy Moore. The maestro had the audience rolling in the aisles on occasion with stories about the tradition, songwriting, Planxty, Moving Hearts, touring and, of course, getting caught in possession of class B drugs. But it was a serious discussion too in which the quality of our politicians, the Republican struggle, the position of travellers and the canonisation of St. Arthur Guinness were all discussed. (Christy is thinking of writing a song about that!). This was followed by an excellent DJ workshop with turntablist Tu Ki, aka Aidan Taggart...
Sunday was a good day for percussionists too, with rousing drum sets at the Roland and Keynote Music stands and with XMusic’s spectacular parade of Pearl drums, complete with Samba dancers .
Republic of Loose were in typically ecstatic form on the Live Stage, almost bringing down the house with their superb – and by now wonderfully slick – funk and soul groves. This much is clear: Mick Pyro is still right up there among the finest frontmen in this part of the world. Enya producer Nicky Ryan summed it up at the Producer’s panel. “Have you heard their records?” he asked David Arnold. “Why no major label has signed them by now, I will never understand.”
The Live Music panel covered the spectrum, with a promoter Vince Power, a booker Steve Strange, a production wizard Steve Iredale and an artist R.S.A.G. There was a consensus that live music was where it’s at right now, with Vince Power accepting Ossie Kilkenny’s assertion earlier in the afternoon that promoters were the most important people in the music business right now and Steve Iredale in particular insisting that bands had to work harder to put on a show.
And then – appropriately enough! – it was over to The Blizzards!
With a souped up and altogether rockier ‘Fantasy’, and a killer ‘Trust Me, I’m A Doctor’, Brezzy and Co. are shit hot right now and they did a blistering set. They found time nonetheless, between uproarious applause from a packed arena, to thank your humble publication, adding that at least there is somebody who gives a shit about Irish music. Job done in fine style, they went to meet the hundreds of fans, who were queuing up for autographs at the Tower stand...
For all the seasoned professionals at the RDS, and the wealth of brilliant music and fine insights, one of the great joys of the weekend was provided by the snippets of brilliance at the various stands, the countless talented Music Show revellers checking out the amazing iTabs, thrashing about on the Zildjians or banging out some Gershwin on a Yamaha – and making wonderful noise while they were at it.
There were lots of famous faces in the building – but it was exciting too to feel that some of the unnamed music lovers in our midst could well have their own spot on The Music Show line-up for 2010.
Which is the way it should be. Here’s looking forward to next year, already...