Irish singer/songwriter Damien Rice has received good reviews for his debut album “O” and is becoming big on the British islands, so expectations are high at sold out KB in Malmö. And there is reason for it: Rice is a good singer, good songwriter and a good musician. The problem is that he tries to be a 1970s singer/songwriter as much as he possibly can in every aspect and all the things combined become too much. Unshaved, old t-shirt, acoustic guitar, as dark stage as possible, candles, whispering, total seriousness.
There are some good elements in the concert. In the beginning Rice manage to keep the interest alive and on the songs where the band – drums, cello, bass, guitar, background singer – is allowed to play and when Rice picks up the electric guitar the bits often fall into place. “Volcano”, “Delicate” and “The blowers daughter” also has the desired moving effect. The angel-like voice of background singer Lisa Hannigan is also a plus. Of course she too fits perfectly into the singer/songwriter cliché with hair down to the waist and maid-from-the-Middle-Ages appearance.
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A role model for Rice is (the seventies) Leonard Cohen and he plays two covers, “Hallelujah” and “Famous Blue Raincoat”. He makes them even quieter and slower than the originals and probably thinks that they therefore are more sensitive and honest. But even though he is a much better singer than Cohen, the comparison is not to Rice’s advantage. Where Cohen, with all his limitations as a singer and musician, is perfect, Rice is so pretentious and convinced that his sensitiveness and his voice are the most interesting things in the world. There is so much of the extremely slow and quiet here – too much for the over two hours long show. It the end people are sitting down on all available chairs and on the floor and makes small talk while the most devoted fans are hushing. When the pace and volume increases a few times the mood gets higher, but of course Rice immediately has to slow things down and start whispering again. To make things worse the bar is closed at the artist’s demand, so there is no beer to save the atmosphere either.
Rice says in an interview in Dagens Nyheter (February 27) that his goal at concerts is “hundred percent honesty”. I wish it weren’t. I want to see a great concert – not two hours of honesty if that means Valium. I come to think of Hamell on Trial, which I saw a few day’s earlier (see review). Both Hamell and Rice are man with acoustic guitar, but besides that they are each other’s antithesis. Hamell makes a concentrated, explosive, fabulous show with a sense of humour while Rice wants to make a sensitive, honest and dead serious concert that in the long run is way too boring. And while Hamell’s music is made for the live experience Rice’s is preferably enjoyed at the cosy evening at home.
/Erik Sandberg
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