2022 - the year of the dan: chapter 18
Chapter 18
Roadtrip Number Three. This might be my favourite live show of the year. Even if it is the year of the dan.
Mid August. Heatwave ongoing. It started on a big green bus. Mercifully air conditioned. Wearing as little as possible. Arrive Kilkenny sultry evening time. Locate B&B on Castlecomer Road. Feels like halfway to Castlecomer.
One cold shower later I meet P in Cleeres Bar. He is ensconced in conversation with a local who is in possession of a box of books. Specifically local GAA books bought off a man in Meath. The story of Cavan’s 1947 All Ireland triumph for example. We learn he writes about sport for The Examiner. Could this be an installation performance, perhaps as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Cleeres Bar. Audience of two.
He departs with his box and we go to find The Set Theatre where Keeley Forsyth will play.
She is compelling from the first note. Her accomplice Matthew Bourne arrives onstage first setting brooding drones in motion. She walks out onto the floor and lies face down on the stage.
Back lighting. Smoke machine. Black dress. Black boots. Black hair.
She rises from the stage after a few minutes and begins to sing and move. That haunting voice. Her body interpreting the words. The hair hanging over her face like the girl from The Ring. Hands only visible. Unconnected at the end of black sleeves. Microphone in one hand. Hunched over it.
Primal. Dramatic. Dark. A kind of blues with organ backing.
A theatrical performance. No breaks for applause between songs. No banter. In character. No encores.
Whispering under her breath at times. Tilting her head. Following her words with her hands. Up here down there.
A voice from the north of England channelled through Billie Holiday or Beth Gibbons or take your pick. A stretched fragile instrument. Avant garde without being up itself. You would say effortless except for the obvious effort involved.
At the end she walks off to the side. Then comes back on. Pushes the hair away from her face for the first time and smiles. Light has broken through the dark.
What an experience this was.
Roadtrip Number Three. This might be my favourite live show of the year. Even if it is the year of the dan.
Mid August. Heatwave ongoing. It started on a big green bus. Mercifully air conditioned. Wearing as little as possible. Arrive Kilkenny sultry evening time. Locate B&B on Castlecomer Road. Feels like halfway to Castlecomer.
One cold shower later I meet P in Cleeres Bar. He is ensconced in conversation with a local who is in possession of a box of books. Specifically local GAA books bought off a man in Meath. The story of Cavan’s 1947 All Ireland triumph for example. We learn he writes about sport for The Examiner. Could this be an installation performance, perhaps as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Cleeres Bar. Audience of two.
He departs with his box and we go to find The Set Theatre where Keeley Forsyth will play.
She is compelling from the first note. Her accomplice Matthew Bourne arrives onstage first setting brooding drones in motion. She walks out onto the floor and lies face down on the stage.
Back lighting. Smoke machine. Black dress. Black boots. Black hair.
She rises from the stage after a few minutes and begins to sing and move. That haunting voice. Her body interpreting the words. The hair hanging over her face like the girl from The Ring. Hands only visible. Unconnected at the end of black sleeves. Microphone in one hand. Hunched over it.
Primal. Dramatic. Dark. A kind of blues with organ backing.
A theatrical performance. No breaks for applause between songs. No banter. In character. No encores.
Whispering under her breath at times. Tilting her head. Following her words with her hands. Up here down there.
A voice from the north of England channelled through Billie Holiday or Beth Gibbons or take your pick. A stretched fragile instrument. Avant garde without being up itself. You would say effortless except for the obvious effort involved.
At the end she walks off to the side. Then comes back on. Pushes the hair away from her face for the first time and smiles. Light has broken through the dark.
What an experience this was.
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