The show got off to a pleasant start, with Rice strumming the obscure ldquo;Sand rdquo; solo. Vocalist Lisa Hannigan joined in soon after to trade verses on the lovely ldquo;La Professor and La Fille Danse. rdquo; The pair rsquo;s vocal interplay and harmonies were outstanding.
Unfortunately, Rice rsquo;s need to flex his anger muscles popped up early and often with tunes such as the menacing ldquo;Face, rdquo; which found the singer screaming into his microphone to the point of distortion. Granted, a set composed entirely of Rice rsquo;s quieter tunes would make for a rather sleepy show, but his attempts at mixing things up seemed forced.
Rice rsquo;s penchant for morbidity and depressiveness remained, exemplified by the interminable jilted-lover piano ballad ldquo;Accidental Babies.
rdquo; The dreary mood was immediately lightened with cellist Vyvienne Long rsquo;s mock-serious interpretation of the Flaming Lips rsquo; ldquo;Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. rdquo;
A silly death-metal version of Rice rsquo;s big hit ldquo;The Blower rsquo;s Daughter rdquo; may have been funny for one verse, but he kept up the gag for the entire tune, prompting a woman in the crowd to shout for the singer to ldquo;sing it the proper way. rdquo;
Perhaps the most poignant moment came on the encore, when Hannigan emerged by herself and sang the mournful traditional ballad ldquo;Blow the Winds Southerly.
rdquo; Rice and the rest of the band returned to finish the show with lovely versions of ldquo;Cannonball, rdquo; ldquo;9 Crimes rdquo; and ldquo;Rootless Tree. rdquo; For Rice, the lesson is clear: Keep it simple, stupid.
Irish cult hero Glen Hansard, the lead singer of the Frames, opened with his new side project, the Swell Season.
The talented songwriter rsquo;s rakish charm and dynamic presence combined with his band rsquo;s autumnal grace were enough to upstage the young upstart headliner.
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