POISON SCOOTER

Double Dose of Damien and Fiona

Fiona Apple/ Damien Rice
Tweeter Center Camden, NJ [7/28/06]
Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ [7/29/06]

This was my first time seeing Fiona Apple live and to be frank, I was not nearly as interested as I was to see Damien. It is no secret that Fiona has had a troubled past as she tells you all about it in her music. Her cult following of mostly women fans look at her as the queen of hurt. During her concerts she will hit herself while she sings it seems to feel the pain that she once felt; experiencing the moments that inspired her to write the very songs that she performs. With a tendancy to scream out loud, away from the microphone things like “shut the fuck up” and “I hate you” she come across as though she is reliving those moments from her past in her music and as a result, some of her real emotions come through to the audience. A real distraction is her freakish, Elaine Bennis kicks (Seinfeld) while dancing that all drunken women participate in apparently.

Anyone who has ever been to a Fiona Apple concert has to be aware of the boring factor. Playing the same songs every night of the tour, I was worried about two nights in a row. The second night could have been a snoozefest, thankfully the Bogata is air conditioned, has stadium seating and my flask of Chivas Regal set me at ease. The Borgata show was the last stop on the tour for Damien, so he surprised Fiona with a duet of the classic Stand By Me by Ben E. King. Damien handles the majority of the tune while Fiona just was in awe of Damien citing she was sad to see him go. Hightlights from the set list (below) were Paper Bag, Get Him Back, Sleep to Dream, Extraordinary Machine and my new personal favorite Limp. Criminal, Fiona's big hit, was shockingly bad and Slow Like Honey was just outright boring.

[Set List]
Got Him Back
To Your Love
Shadowboxer
The Way Things Are
I Know
Sleep to Dream
Limp
Paper Bag
Tymps
Oh Well
On the Bound
Slow Like Honey
Not About Love
Better Version of Me
Get Gone
Fast As You Can

Encore:
Extraordinary Machine
Criminal



Although I had seen Damien Rice once before, I was unsure pf what to expect due to his lack of albums since the gem O was released in 2003. Of course I wanted to hear all the hits from the very hard to compete with O, but I also was anxious to hear some new songs from his highly anticipated sophomore album.

The first night at the Tweeter Center was way more intense and rewarding then the Borgata. Lisa Hannigan was a little under used in my opinion as she has one of the best voices around today. Seeing her sitting on the stage for the better part of the night was crazy. Damien introduced the crowd to some killer new songs such as Rootless Tree (floating around titled Fuck You), Accidental Babies (Lisa Hannigan's best song with Damien to date), Blowers Daughter Part II (nothing like the first but still very good) and the best song of both nights Me, My Yoke and I. On this track Damien drops the acoustic and picks up the electric and rocks out. On top of that anyone who has saw Damien before knows about the two microphone set up, and he utilizes the distorted microphone perfectly on this track.

In Ireland a yoke is more commonly called a penis. The way Damien tells it, one day he figured out what it was really for. But due to the staunchly catholic nature of 1970's Ireland, he felt guilty after each of the (shall we say) "episodes". So he started putting ten pounds (quickly reduced to five pounds) into the church collection plate after each of the aforementioned occurrences, until eventually he had no money left. At which point he "turned to god to ask about his fishing rod". If anyone finds an MP3 floating around of this track, hit me up @ krm2547@yahoo.com.

Damien also introducedd a new solo acoustic song which was incredible (I Only Wanted to be Wanted by You). A lot of people are fed up with the acoustic singer/songwriter due to a major hangover from your high school and college years with Dave Matthew’s Band, but Damien is not following in those footsteps. He is staying true to his roots with his acoustic act but also crossing over and trying new things with the electric guitar and distortion peddles and is succeeding unlike DMB (Busted Stuff). If you are a fan of music and live shows you must see Damien Rice once in your life before you die.

[The Borgata]
Volcano
Me, My Yoke, and I
The Blowers Daughter Part 2
Cold Water
9 Crimes
Eskimo
Cheers Darling
The Blowers Daughter
The Gigolo John Song
Accidental Babies and Stand By Me (w/Fiona)

[Tweeter Center]
Then Go
I Remember
Delicate
I only wanted to be wanted by you
Me, My Yoke and I
Cold Water
Is that all right if I give my God away
Cannonball
Rootless Tree
Blower's Daughter Part II
Blower's Daughter

posted by Anonymous @ 6:07 PM