Gav was at the Kevin Drew show last night. Here is how his night went down. Photo taken from here, of another gig.
It always happens. Human error really is inescapable, no matter how much importance you put on something, and so it was that i found myself hurtling towards Tripod from Leeson Street after receiving a text that the man (and band) had taken to the stage. We seemed to levitate up the stairs and there he was. Kevin Drew, defacto leader of Broken Social Scene and author of possibly one of the albums of the year in ‘Spirit If…’ kicking out the jams to a packed house. All is well.
We just missed album staple (and personal favourite) “Safety Bricks”.The first song of the night to prick the ears is a typically languid version of “Fucked Up Kid”,with BSS compatriots Brendan Canning and Justin Peroff adding to not only the musical palette but the sense of occasion. Drew could’ve rested on his laurels and played only album tracks-but that’s another instance of human error. THAT bassline rolls out,and “Stars and Sons” widens the smiles of the throng present, with the goofily hip Canning taking lead vocals while Drew bashes the keys.
Another surprise is rolled out in the shape of a track from Canning’s forthcoming ‘…Presents…’ album, an uptempo rocker that suggests that Drew doesn’t wear the songwriting pants entirely! “TBTF” is introduced as “a song for your best friend” and the arrangement glistens and sparkles live as opposed to merely glowing on record. “Frightening Lives” is wheeled out in style as the keys from American Analog Set’s (and sometime BSS contributor) Andrew Canning come to the fore and the first swing dancers of the evening are spotted. That swing turned into rapturous bouncing as “Cause=Time’s” distinctive beat comes out. I raced to the front for this and discovered – as myself and Niall have noticed-that there’s always more room up the front than at the back in Tripod. Odd.
“Superconnected” came barging out of the speakers and we are lifted higher and higher, Drew himself noting “It’s upwards from here,ladies and gentlemen!” and asked us was it OK if he played the older stuff..I could’ve kissed the man. In tribute to Feist, he played a brilliant version of ‘Lovers Spit’ and Andrew Canning came out from behind his Rhodes to take the lead on an American Analog Set song. But then, those three chords and memories of climbing all over the owner of this very blog at EP ’06 came flooding back as Drew straddled the barrier and belted out a version of “Major Label Debut (Fast)”. How could that be topped? Well, As Nialler said in his previous post, by a cover. A U2 cover.”Oh my God,we’re teenagers again” squealed Drew as a thousand plus voices wanted to run and hide,and burn down love, and grab the fucker from where he was on the barrier and take him to ourselves.
Ending with a crowd-enhanced version of ‘When It Begins’, he bellows “DON’T-FOR-GET-WHAT YOU’VE FOUUUUUND!” and Tripod agrees-we’ve found something in this man,his band and his songs. A true celebration, marred only by the poxy sound (3rd gig in a row I’ve been to there and it has been dreadful-too low). Hurry back, we’ll be waiting.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
I got in just in time to catch Gang Bang Suicide, which I think was the opener anyway. The first half of this gig was pretty dull. The fact that the front half of the venue was half-full (or half-empty if you’re Drew) probably didn’t help. The crowd really weren’t doing much to liven it up, there seemed to be a kind of annoyance at the fact that he was playing all the “Spirit If” stuff, but the majority of that album isn’t exactly dancing/whip the crowd into a frenzy kinda tunes.
The second half of the gig was absolutely fantastic though. The turning point was quite clearly marked by Drew when around the Superconnected time whe he asked the crowd to wake him up and he explained that he had put too much pressure on the night. Once that was out of the way and he started pouring whiskey on the crowd, it was all good. the Dinosaur Jr cover was great (apart from that fuck up at the end) and the AAS cover was cool too. The U2 thing was pretty cheesey but if Jarvis can get away with Boys Are Back in Town, then Drew can be forgiven for taking the piss out of us for the sake of that big smile he had on while dangling the mic over the crowd.
Definitely a game of two halves, it was just a pity that he only came out of his shell for the second half which was mostly old stuff, cos the new album deserved better.
Brilliant Review there gav.
They really got going in the second half alright and overall it was great gig even if it didnt quite reach the heights of last years gigs in TMBC or Vicar St.
Streets have no name was a bit cheesy but if anyone can pull it off its BSS. They are always on top of their game.
Gav, I think you might have been standing right in front of me at the gig before you [quote comment=””]I raced to the front[/quote]. We were to the right of the stage back a little and the two guys infront of us made a bee-line for teh stage when “cause = time’s” starting rolling, im assuming that was you??
kDamo,consider me SERVED!I am still getting to grips with the titles of the tunes(having my ipod out of action i use a cd walkman),and i was convinced it was safety bricks.apologies.
Pmc,i’m sure it was.that’s my favourite tune and i was sick of standing off to the side.it’s a trend that’s prevalent at all gigs i’ve been attending recently and i’m sick of it.wanted a bit of dance as well.
No Gav, wasn’t correcting you at all. I was just saying that the first song that I saw when I got in was Gang Bang Suicide. I think you must have gotten in a little after me, because (as far as I recall) he then played Lucky Ones before doing Safety Bricks (which is a brilliant song).
Anyway, glad you had fun during Cause=Time, someone has to!