Damien Rice – Warsaw – Brooklyn , NY December 8, 2003
by Alice Farrell afarrell@jigtime.com

Neither snow nor flu kept Damien Rice from making a packed room in the wilds of Williamsburg Brooklyn the warmest place in New York to be on Monday December 8 th . Even after having seen his shows a number of times in the past year, I was still blown away by his power and artistry.

Coming on and apologizing in advance for the state of his voice, it would not have been apparent if he hadn't mentioned it, as his voice was a strong and vibrant as I've ever heard it as he launched into Volcano , which is quickly becoming somewhat of a signature tune for him. He set out as he meant to go forward, with a pulsing beat that revved up the room.

He must have been aiming for somewhere outside the stratosphere, as he launched from Amie into Eskimo Friends which built with a majestic crescendo. Layering his voice and guitar he created the effect of a spaceship taking off, aided by some lighting and a mirror ball, seemingly lifting the ceiling off the venue and the spirits of the audience went right with him. No worry about his having the audience with him as they hung on every word and loud applause greeted the opening chords of almost every song.

And what is a Damien Rice gig without the angelic voice of Lisa Hannigan? Well, it would be much less, even though Damien is masterful on his own, the combination of his and Lisa's energy, or Lisa's singing on her own, are something truly not to be missed. She shone beautifully on the Nina Simone tune Be My Husband with Damien as her beatbox, kneeling to play on the back of his guitar. And Lisa also soloed on the song Cannonball which took on a whole new color being wrapped around her smoky voice.

Even the cellist Vyvienne, who's been known to break into Purple Haze upon occasion, brought a vivid rendition of the White Stripes Seven Nation Army which had the crowd whooping along with her! There are definitely some great senses of humour running around on that stage!

Probably the most transcendent moment for me during the gig was the beautiful combination of Cold Water into Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. The latter has become a staple with so many singer/songwriters in the past few years, none giving it more honor and purpose than Jeff Buckley. Being in New York , I couldn't help but think of the message of the lyrics “Cold water surrounds me now…” fading into Hallelujah evoking for me real memories (having known Jeff quite well) and having Damien conjur an eerie presence of him into the room. Damien is rumored to be appearing at a Jeff tribute gig in Dublin this weekend at Solas, and if you can find a spare ticket, I would imagine you might find his spirit visiting Damien onstage for awhile.

Called back on for numerous encores, and playing for nearly two hours, a beautiful culmination to the evening was brought with a sean nos version of Raglan Road –sung by Eamonn Bonner, a friend of Damien's, who has a beautiful and forceful voice and then finishing off the evening with Lisa's version of Silent Night a lovely holiday gift for the New York audience.

Seeing the fervor of the fans at this gig, I don't think it will be too long before Damien rises to the larger venue end of the New York gig scale and hope that there will always be a place for a more intimate setting in his tour schedule. But I think that the power he has to draw the audience right into his words will help him along the road to commanding larger audiences for many years to come.

Bring on the new album and come back to New York soon!