25 November, 2005

The problem today with music journalists and TV programmers is that they are given the slenderest trees to shake; those that only drop the most immature and indigestible fruit. I say ‘given’ rather than ‘find’ because the popular and hyped are handed to them on a plate. If they tried to discover those thicker, deeper-rooted trunks hidden deep inside the most beautiful forests, a strenuous shake would reveal the most rare and delicious fruit…

They could take a lesson from the many music consumers who, with little insider knowledge, manage to discover real musical talent. Take for example the capacity crowd who crammed into the Shepherds Bush Empire last Friday night to watch Irish band the Frames perform. I spoke to a few of them while waiting in the pit to take photos. Friends had spoken to friends who had spoken to friends, and so on. One young lady had heard a single song played on radio and ended up acquiring virtually the whole collection of Frames albums. In my case, a friend had passed me a promo album and I was soon driving over to a tiny club in Liverpool to see the band play.

I then went over to Ireland to watch them play a couple of festivals before seeing rare live performances back in the UK. Then I started to question why the band had not been written about extensively over here, and why it wasn’t one of the biggest bands in the world. When the band’s biggest selling album FOR THE BIRDS was released it went straight to the top of the Irish album charts, while a friend of mine promoted it to the UK radio media. One well known BBC Radio DJ loved it, and then happened to find a still-sealed copy of the 1999 Frames release DANCE THE DEVIL that had been gathering dust and ignored for well over two years!

This profound lack of music media interest in Ireland’s best-loved rock band has led to the Frames concentrating its live performances in other European countries, Australia and the USA, and who can blame them? UK live performances are few and far between, and almost unheard of at venues like the Bush Empire - hence my 450 mile round trip down to London to witness this rarer-than-rare event. How many people would attend? How would the guys perform? Was this to be a token promo gig to promote the new album, BURN THE MAPS? Or could it be that the UK has been given one last chance to appreciate just how good this band is?

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When we arrived at the venue there was a definite and recognisable buzz about the place. On entering we found that it was about half-full for the support act The Boy Least Likely To, who I didn’t know from Adam. Well, I now do know the band but am still trying to fathom out what it is trying to musically achieve.

This seven-piece band (two girls, five lads) took about half the set to warm up, as it performed music best described as pop/rock, with the emphasis very much on pop. Opening songs Be Gentle With Me, Fur Soft As Fur, Spiders, Monsters and The Battle Of The Boy passed almost unnoticed although I did sense a reasonably good reaction from fans.

The display was almost comatose, with only the part-hidden bass player showing signs of animated life. That said, the final three songs, Paper Cuts, Hugging My Grudge and Apple Wagon did spark my interest with their strong melodies, and quasi distinctive sound. These songs coincided with the band performing as a tight unit – but it took to long to arrive at that point. I began to wonder why a band like this was supporting the Frames…

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I had to leave the auditorium to deposit my camera gear at the box office and on route noticed that the venue was filling rapidly for the Frames. By the time I returned, the place was full to bursting and I found myself struggling to reach the pit area. The bar area at the rear of the venue is elevated well above stage level, and it’s some distance down to reach the standing area in front of the stage. It’s also quite a large area (about 25% of the total floor area) and when the Frames eventually arrived it became clear that this layout had an extreme influence on the venue’s acoustic quality. The chatter from the crowded rear bar area could not be defeated by the stage speaker system that was directed out to the side walls, rather than towards the centre of the venue. Doubtless this challenge would not have been discovered during the sound check in an empty venue.

This problem emerged during the first three songs with lead man Glen Hansard looking visibly concerned, and while sound tweaking helped a little, the problem persisted, especially with the very full bar area. That was the bad news. The great news is that the band produced the finest live rock show I have seen in 2005. Opening to a massive crowd welcome with the fast pace of Finally and mixed paced Dream Awake (from the latest album), the band quickly found its bearings and launched into a show that underlined this band’s genre-leading, superlative live quality.

The classic and moving Lay Me Down from the last studio album (FOR THE BIRDS) arrived quickly, and with it the first of several audience singing sessions. This was followed by another glacially-paced beauty from the same album, What Happens When The Heart Just Stops. Audience response had been enthusiastic and I reckoned the band must have thought they were back in Dublin. Hansard has said to me in the past that, “We only play where we are appreciated.” No other rock front man in my long experience comes close to the spell this guy casts over an appreciative audience. And no other band can play in a room full of strangers and leave as best friends.

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However, on that night in Shepherds Bush the temperature was about to raised to an unprecedented level with the arrival of Fake. In live terms, it’s a song that is capable of cutting that last strand of audience involvement ribbon (it was also a smash hit single back home in Ireland). For both the band and the audience it was the point in the gig that any remaining shackles fell away. From the back of the venue I witnessed a force 5 develop into a force 10 and sweep through the place. It was unprecedented in my many years of watching live gigs. I also suspect that the band may have been just a little bit surprised…

Two more songs from the new album arrived in the form of Underglass and the dark, threatening and contemplative Happy. Hansard then performed the slow and utterly beautiful Your Face with a delicate guitar solo from Rob Bochnik, and yet another audience accompaniment. Hansard then launched into a crowd favourite from the FITZCARRALDO album called Revelate, and turned the response screw even further with characteristic soaring guitar riffs, devastating drum beats, winding fiddle notes (from a star of the show, Colm Mac Con Lomaire) and pleading, rocky vocal. More audience singing, more acclaim (listen to the band’s live album SET LIST and you’ll hear what I heard), and I began to wonder if the band would ever be allowed to leave the stage… I wasn’t wrong. Live favourite God Bless Mom came with its dramatic change of route from smooth tarmac to bumpy track as it rocked out.

Other old favourites including Perfect Opening Line, and Pavement Tune (both from DANCE THE DEVIL) followed before a gorgeous new song was unveiled. A quick wave and the band had finished – well sort of… The calls for an encore reached a crescendo before the band re-appeared and played four more songs including a superb rendition of Friends And Foe (from FOR THE BIRDS) and prime singalong tune The Blood. Despite the sound problems, the band had triumphed in a spectacular fashion and proved beyond doubt to be the finest rock band in the world next to Radiohead. Off the guys trooped but this time to even stronger demands to return (if that were possible…). We all watched for the lights to come on to signal the end, but they stayed dimmed to the largest din of the night.

Back they came to perform two more songs including Fitzcarraldo, unhitched gear and gave the most sincere and heartfelt thanks to a totally captivated audience. The band had played for nearly two hectic hours, and as the crowd nearly lifted the roof off the venue, Hansard eventually turned to his band and snatched his guitar from the stage floor. The guys followed suit and then, finally, the night’s last song Star Star arrived dangerously close to curfew time. Half-way through this firm concert favourite, Hansard handed over lead vocal duties to bassist Joseph Doyle who sang a new seasonal verse to the song. During this final passage Hansard retreated to the back of the stage so that the spotlight was firmly on his friend and founder band member.

The band had triumphed against a backdrop of sound problems and a history of UK media mediocrity. The guys had played a feast of songs from several albums including many from the new release, and had missed just one favourite of mine, Keepsake (from BURN THE MAPS). That night in Shepherds Bush will never be forgotten by the hundreds of fans and the many new friends that finally departed the venue. They were witness to a stunning performance by a band that puts others, like Coldplay, into the dim, dark shade; and inspired and moved with songs rich in emotion, quality, melody, and integrity. They had found the best tree with the best fruit and, shit, it tasted like nothing on musical earth. I sincerely hope the final outcome will be a band more willing to keep coming back to these shores. We need this great Irish band more than it needs us.

If you want to experience what we heard and saw, buy the band’s live album, SET LIST which will make a fantastic music gift for this Christmas.

ED