Michelle Shocked

It's all a little bizarre. Michelle Shocked, one time spiky folk singer of this parish, is shaking her not inconsiderable barnet, shimmying around the Vicar St stage and giving her electric guitar a right good thrashing. On a Jimmy Hendrix cover. As career reinventions go, it's something akin to Marilyn Manson releasing a Daniel O'Donnell tribute album. Whatever the reasons - and one will become evident as the evening progresses - Shocked certainly seems to be having fun. Perhaps a little too much fun, as the whole thing turns less into a gig than a bunch of mates having a jam session. Her two musical cohorts (bassist and flugelhorn maestro Rich Armstrong and Hothouse Flower Fiachna O'Braonain) help Shocked bludgeon her once simple back catalogue into a mess of power chords and endless guitar solos. Things reach their most overblown during 'It's Amazing', a ten-minute, Liam O'Maonlai-assisted medley of 'Amazing Grace' and 'Cumbaya' that tells of the singer's finding of God. And boy, does she want to testify. There are, however, some nice moments to be found amongst the bluster - the sublime 'Anchorage' manages to emerge from the heavy fingers unsullied, the behatted punter who takes the stage to play bass on 'Strawberry Jam' receives a hero's welcome and there can only be huge delight taken in watching the band shake their arses at the audience and then insisting that the audience return the favour. Generally, though, a somewhat baffling, if not entirely unpleasant, experience.