I thought this might have been a good gig and my it was, and then some. You know when you listen to some spectral folk singer and wonder to yourself whether an artist can do it alone or whether its all production. In The Cobblestone’s intimate back room with about 40-50 people or so, Sam Amidon proved not only can he do it alone but he can do it with panache and a captivating personality.
He played Appalachian folk songs, Irish folk songs, wrapped his tunes around others like Tears for Fears ‘Head Over Heels’, R. Kelly (watch the video), screeched like a banshee mid-song startling everyone, did pushups mid-gig, played guitar, fiddle and banjo and told funny stories about his dreams/songs where he drank wine in the woods and floated atop snow dunes, hung out with conceptual artist Paul Simon and had auditory hallucinations where he re-imagined new Thelonious Monk material. He cast out demons in a strange incantation dance on stage, told us the last time he was in Mayo he slept in a football field and was generally awesome. His voice has a brittle, smooth, American twang it’s hard not to like. Brilliant, brilliant gig.
Go see him NEXT WEEK in Cork and on June 1st/2nd with Phosporescent in Dublin/Cork.
Friday May 8th – Nico Muhly & Sam Amidon Union Chapel, London
Sunday May 10th – Fiddle Fair, Glebe Gardens Amphitheatre, Baltimore, Co. Cork. (Sam Amidon Fiddle performance) / doors: 2.30pm / tickets: €15
Monday May 11th – instore @ Plugd Records, Cork @ 1pm – Plugd Records, 4 Washington st, Cork City
Tuesday May 12th – DeBarra’s, 55 Pearse St, Clonakilty, Co. Cork – doors: 9pm tickets: €10/€6
Monday June 1st – Whelan’s – w/ Phosphorescent, Dublin
Tuesday June 2nd – The Pavilion – w/ Phosphorescent, Cork
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.
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Sounds really brilliant. Deadly venue that, innit? Was at Fennesz last night so couldn’t make it (this was last night, wasn’t it). Will try and catch him at the Phosphorescent gig solely based on this recommendation so he better be awn fiiiiiire 😉
Wonderful gig! Been listening to this guy for over a year now and knew this gig was going to be special, but I was really blown away last night. Beautiful.
great gig – went on basis of your earlier post and really enjoyed- thanks
amazing gig, thanks once again for the heads-up. i would have happily paid a lot more to have the chance to see him in such an intimate venue with a lovely crowd atmosphere. twas very special indeed.
picked up his album last year purely because Ben frost was involved with it. only finding out he played now, bummer. oh his “stage” name is all one word, no space just so you know.
It’s quite confusing cos he has both all on his myspace. I should have asked him last night when I chatted to him.
His music is great
ya,saw him today in plugd in cork,got his album a while back,really enjoy it..
kind of annoying though that he went through the same shit you mentioned above with the dreams,forests,thelonius monk,push ups and feigned spontaneity at the instore today as well,kinda bugged me..but as i said its a very enjoyable album.
re:wayne – very reasonable criticism. i have been inspired by it. the show you saw yesterday was approximately my 50th of the year so far… i have at least 40 more to go before the year is out. my new goal is to not repeat ANY material at all, even once, for the entire rest of the year!
Great gig last nite in deBarras – 100% new material – cheers wayne.