What a fantastic concert. Its been nearly twenty years since we saw Elvis Costello at the Feile in Thurles in 1991. He has taken many musical twists and turns - that what I like about him. Currently he is touring with a band called the Sugarcanes. In theory promoting their album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. This is a bluegrass and country themed album. But in practice the concert was the full repetoire. It's a long time since Elvis played in Dublin - I'm not sure how long - but I missed the last concert and I won't be missing the next one.
The band is pretty good line-up, featuring singer songwriter, Jim Lauderdale on Guitar and Vocals; Dennis Crouch on Double Bass; Stuart Duncan on Fiddle; Jerry Douglas on Dobro; Mike Compton on Mandolin and Jeff Taylor on Accordian.
Vicar Steet is such a cool venue. We had a table in the third row so as you can see from the photos and videos, the view was pretty amazing. He was clearly enjoying himself and didn't play just one long encore - but as you can see from the setlist below he played 3 encores. His main set was a very acceptable 15 songs. However he played another 13 in the three encores!
The Setlist was as follows (thanks to setlist.fm)
1. Mystery Train
2. Blame It On Cain
3. Down Among the Wines and Spirits
4. New Amsterdam / You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
5. Good Year For The Roses
6. Condemned Man
7. Complicated Shadows
8. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
9. The Delivery Man
10. Jimmie Standing in the Rain
11. Slow Drag With Josephine
12. Little Palaces
13. Friend of The Devil
14. Everyday I Write The Book
15. Don't Lie To Me
Encore:
16. Girls Talk
17. The Spell That You Cast
18. That's Not the Part of Him You're Leaving
19. Sulphur to Sugarcane
Encore 2:
20. Mystery Dance
21. Poor Borrowed Dress
22. Alison / Wind Cries Mary
23. Shipbuilding
24. (What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?
Encore 3:
25. The Crooked Line
26. Happy
27. The Race Is On
28. American Without Tears
Well after that interesting day yesterday we have arrived at out last day in New Orleans. Packing is the name of the game today. We go through the house moving everything towards our bedroom. Then we take some time by the pool.
Mags and I head into Riverwalk where we can get the Louisiana Sales taxes back. Riverwalk is a big shopping mall. We ask at the visitors desk convention centre. They are not sure and direct is to a shop downstairs. They are not the place but they direct is back upstairs. Just when we thought this might all be a bit of a fools errand we spotted it "Louisiana Sales Tax Refund Centre" can't be any clearer than that! We collected our refund of just over $40 in cash. If we had known the procedure earlier we might have recovered more - next time we will be wiser!
Then we took a stroll down to Cafe Du Monde for a last but of New Orleans flavour. We had coffee and beignets and listened to the street musicians. The we got the tram back to where we had parked the car. We finished packing and booked a taxi for 8 am in the morning - our flight to New York is at 10 am.
We went out to Crescent City Steak House for dinner. We had excellent steak in a real old style restaurant - only been around since the 1930's. It was a nice close to an excellent fortnight. We have had warmth and relaxation combined with good food and good music as well as a couple of good away days. We have been busy - but not too busy and we are ready for the hectic pace of New York. We will certainly try to get back to New Orleans again. There is still so much to see and do. It has been a very interesting time to be there four years after Katrina. The city has made a lot of progress in four years - but the scars are still visible in places. It would be interesting to see what another few years would bring.
After a couple of quiet days we needed some action. This morning planned to head down to the French Quarter Flea Market and the Farmers Market. Senan decided he needed a break from shopping and stayed at home.
We drove down and found the market. I drew, while the Mags and Lisa hunted for bargains. After about 50 minutes a downpour started. It lasted the usual 20 minutes. As it cleared we headed towards Bourbon Street. As we didn't have Senan with us we thought it would try Pat O'Briens. But we were too early for the pub although the restaurant was open. We ordered 3 Hurricanes - even if it was before noon - its tea-time in Ireland and we're on our holidays!
We had a very interesting conversation about Katrina with Rick, our waiter. He was New Orleans born and bred. He didn't leave before Katrina because they had no where to go, all their friends and relatives were from New Orleans. They lived in Algiers on the other side of the Mississippi so they had bad wind damage but not too much flood damage. However they had to evacuate about a week after Katrina because there was no water or power and it just wasn't feasible to live there. He went to Houston and stayed there for about 10 months. He got separated from his teenage kids at the time of the evacuation. Eventually he had to put out a missing persons alert to locate them. He was pretty philosophical about the whole thing. "It makes you think about what's important". We headed back for the car after buying the souvenir glasses and promising to send Rick a postcard from Ireland.
The Hurricanes had quite a kick. There is 4oz of white rum in each plus an unspecified Hurricane mix! I'm sure they were just tired but both Lisa and Mags had a little snooze when they got home. Me? I don't remember!
Mags made pasta for lunch when we got home. Maybe that's why she had a snooze. More resting by the pool was necessary because that night we were planning to go to Preservation Hall.
This is a music venue just off Bourbon Street which is dedicated to the preservation of Dixieland jazz. It is a most amazing location - it could do with a good lick of paint - though you would have to repair and plaster the walls first. Its all part of the look!
No drink or food - its just like we were in someones front room. The band was great. They started at 8 am played for about 50 minutes, took a 15 minute break and then started up again and played again for 2 more sessions. Requests cost $5 but a request for "The Saints" cost $10! We got "The Saints" in the middle of the second session. It was another great night. We left just as the third session was starting. There is lots of standing room, but only seats for about 30 people. Lisa and Mags did get sitting for the second session. They allowed photography but no flash and strictly no video. Well, we could resist the following few segments.
Afterwards we watched the madness develop on Bourbon Street from a little pizza place next door. We had french fries while we watched. Two policemen on horses came down the street and stopped at the bar across from us. The bar staff feed the horses and watered the cops! It looked like a regular nightly visit.
We lazed around the pool most of the day. Mags ventured out to the supermarket on her own - didn't get lost and brought home an Indian Curry fron the Curry House on Carrollton for lunch. In the evening we went to the Lebanese Cafe on Carrollton and had excellent Kebobs and Hummus. After we were feed we went to the Rock N Bowl - this time to go bowling as well as listen to an excellent Blues Rock band.
Our bowling was a little rusty - but there were a smattering of strikes. The place was not as busy as last Saturday. The music finished at 11 and we left just a little after that.
It was another lazy day by the pool. The sky was clearer and the sun was hotter. But there are lots of shady spots in the garden. When it gets too hot we can either go for a swim or go inside where the air conditioning is a cool 70 degrees.
We consulted Zagat again and decided to see if we could locate a good value point. We also thought we might explore the French Quarter again. We settled on Adolfos on Frenchmans Street. Frenchmans is also a good place to check out the music venues - d.b.l. and Snug Harbor being just 2 I have read about. We headed out around six and we found a parking lot at the Farmers Market just on the eastern edge of the Quarter.
We walked up Frenchmans and found Adolfos . We almost past it by. It is located above a bar in a run down looking timber building. Only for the name on the door; some reassurance that the address was correct and that we were using the current edition of Zagat we would have assumed it was closed down. We went up the dark stairs and found the restaurant on the second floor as Zagats had promised. It also promised southern Italian cuisine with a Louisiana touch. The room was dark but cool. We were a little early but there were some diners there before us. We were greeted by someone who looked like he might even be Adolfo and he showed us to a table by the window. Adolfo gave us the menus and asked us if it was our first time here. When we confirmed that it was, he then advised us that it was cash only if that was ok! No problem!
The menu was very interesting, seafood of course but also a range of veal and chicken dishes. Adolfo told us that the house speciality (not on the menu) was rack of lamb. Another speciality was the blue ocean sauce which was a seafood sauce with shrimp and crawfish. It all sounded delicious. I ordered the veal with ocean sauce; Lisa decided on the Cannelloni and Mags ordered spicy chicken. Senan went for the rack of lamb. Each main course came with a salad or pasta served Italian style, as a first plate. The meat dishes were each wonderfully tasty. Senan's rack of lamb was amazing as you can see! We couldn't even think about dessert so we paid up and headed out into the evening. We certainly are planning a return trip there.
We wandered over towards Bourbon Street. We were at the far end of the quarter but we could see the bright lights of the Bourbon Street bars in the distance. By now it was dark and it was also warm and humid. There were some interesting houses at this end of Bourbon Street. Most buildings had what looked like a 2 seater sofa out front - they were steps up to the door with a little low wall built up each side.
As we walked along we wondered if Senan would get into any of the bars or venues. One of the first bars we passed offered European Jazz and we noticed a family with some young kids sitting inside the door. We marked that down for later, in any event the music wasn't due to start for another 30 minutes. We wandered into a Voodoo Shop selling all sorts of things including dolls - very strange. There was an interesting poster and photo shop - Senan got some postcards of Jimmi Hendrix and Bob Marley. As we moved down Bourbon the bars got louder and although it was mid-week and not too busy it was still starting to rock and you could see how it might be at the week-end or during Mardi Gras, or even at 2 in the morning!. Most bars had live bands. There was probably more rock than jazz being played in the bars we passed. We didn't go the full length of the street it was just getting brighter and louder!
Somewhere past Pat O'Briens we headed back to the first pub we had seen. The music had started and as we stood looking in we were ushered to seats just in front of the band - we ordered beers and sat in and enjoyed the music. It turns out that this was Fritzels, one of the better known spots. The band played old fashioned jazz. The trumpeter played and sang in the Louis Armstrong style. Senan was pretty impressed with the banjo player. The place was pretty small but they packed them in and sold them drink. We were on a narrow bench with a table behind our backs - not the most comfortable but we had a good view of the action. We stayed about 40 minutes. The music was very good - but we were getting past our bed-time! We headed home exhausted. Another good day.
This year we are going to try a house swap again. The exchange with Vancouver was so successful we decided to try again this year.
We had hoped to get an exchange in the New York area. But while there appeared to be some interest in Ireland, when it came down to it seems that Dublin just doesn't do it for New York exchangers this year. So around April we widened out the search. We had some interesting offers from Italy, France and Spain. We made requests into Santa Barbara and Berkley in California. Then we saw New Orleans and after a couple of false starts to get our dates aligned BINGO we were agreed. We booked our flights. Travelling out through New York meant a long wait in Newark and arrival in New Orleans at 11.30 at night, a journey of more than 18 hours. However the flight via Chicago saves more than 6 hours off the journey and we arrive around 5pm.
It is hot and tropical in New Orleans in August - it's probably not the best time of year to visit. But our exchange has a pool in the back garden and along with air conditioning we should be fine. There is much to see and do in New Orleans. By all accounts the damage done by Hurricane Katrina is repaired in the main centre city areas. I am looking forward to the jazz clubs and the music. We are also doing a car swap so we will venture out around Cajun country and visit some of the old plantation houses.
On the way home we are going to spend 3 days in New York. We are staying at the Roosevelt Hotel on 44th street in Manhattan. We will be there from Saturday until Tuesday. I have just booked to see the famous Les Paul on Monday night at the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway. In case you don't know Les Paul is the inventor of the solid electric guitar and now at 94 years of age still plays every Monday night at the Iridium. We went to see him a couple of years ago and are looking forward to seeing him again. We will also take in a Broadway show - Katy saw Mary Poppins last year and recommends it strongly.
Of course with the dollar exchange rate still good we will have to do some shopping! Just a little over 2 weeks to go - excitement is building!
Finally got my act together and have uploaded the video taken at the Dublin concert on Friday 29th of February.
The first is the cover of ABBA's "Knowing me Knowing you"
The second is Different for Girls
The final clip is On Your Radio
Read my review. Joe Jackson in concert, Olympia Dublin - 29th February 2008
See the photos on Flickr.
Joe Jackson Set
And just as a treat for Joe Jackson fans have a look at this from You Tube - Must be more than 25 years old - Joe looks younger but Graham Maby looks almost the same - must be the hair! Is She Really Going Out with Him
Joe Jackson has just released a new album - Rain and the concert tour has just started. He played Dublin last Friday night. Its our third time to see him in the Olympia in the last 5 years. The first time was for the Night and Day II tour, then we had the tour that was later recorded as Afterlife. As you can see from the set list below, this concert was very focused on the new album - which I have and would recommend.
We had a couple of curious covers - first we had ABBA's Knowing Me Knowing You - Joe introduced it as a slightly naff song which he has always liked., We have a video and will publish it when we get it on YouTube. The encore also had Frank Zappa's "Dirty Love" better kown in this house for the Freddie White version on "Do You Do".
As well as a good crop of photos - we got a video of "On Your Radio" and "Different for Girls", again to be published in due course.
The band were his old reliables Dave Houghton on Drums and Graham Maby on Bass. They were with him way back when on Look Sharp and while Dave Houghton was missing from a lot of the albums until more recent years Graham Maby has been bass on all, as far as I can tell.
The Complete Set List
Home town
Stepping out (Night & Day)
Invisible man (Rain)
Too Tough (Rain)
Real Men (Night & Day)
Obvious Song (Laughter & Lust)
Stranger than Fiction (Laughter & Lust)
On Your Radio (I'm The Man)
Solo (So Low) (Rain)
Rush Across The road (Rain)
King Pleasure time (Rain)
Different for Girls (Look Sharp)
Knowing Me, Knowing Youe (ABBA Cover)
Dirty Martini
Good Bad boy (Rain)
Blaze Of Glory (Blaze of Glory)
Encore:
Dirty Love (Frank Zappa Cover)
Going out with him (Look Sharp)
A Slow Song (Night & Day)
First gig of the new year was with Christy Moore at Vicar Street last night. It was his second night of what was originally a 4 night run this week. But demand has lead to 2 extra Vicar Street dates on the 14th and 15th of this month. If you're quick these extra dates are not sold out yet. See tickets
We had good seats up on the balcony a little far back but the photographic results are still pretty good. Have at look at the complete set on Flickr. Concert Photos
It was a very mellow set. It started with a very measured and deliberate version of Jackson Browne's Before the Deluge, which he first recorded with Moving Hearts back in 1981. That pretty much set the tone. After three ballads Christy remarked on how chilled out the audience was "after too much feckin turkey over the Christmas just like meself and Dec" before breaking into Delirium Tremens and that got us going. He chilled us back with Motherland and Lobby Bar (needed a prompt from the audience - it wasn't evening or August but AUTUMN in Mayfield) it before playing "Don't Forget your Shovel" in memory of Christy Hennessey.
But he switched back to mellow with "A Pair of Brown Eyes". At this stage Christy pretty much had the audience eating out of his hands. He talked about the South Pole Bar in Annascaul and John Egan as a lead into "Casey". A little change of the words in the second verse about Casey and Michael Clery saying mass with the Pope, with a hilarious line on ridin' for Ireland. Then Declan sang "I Will". Back with Biko Drum and Smoke and Strong Whiskey before the set list was abandoned and the requests took over. We had a lovely version of Nancy Spain followed by a song that "some people think we shouldn't be singing 'cause its out of date nonsense", Joxer of course. It was now well over an hour and a half as they began to wind up "you've been a lovely audience - I've changed me mind Dec F*** it we'll do 2" and they did - City of Chicago followed by Quinte Brigada. Then the bows, and he greeted some friends in the front row and off. But of course we got an encore: Ride On and Lisdoonvara sent us home happy - 2 hours of Christy - now that's a good start to the new year and a gig to remember.
1. Before the Deluge 2. One Last Cold Kiss 3. Ballad of Wandering Aengus 4. Delirium Tremens 5. Motherland 6. Sixteen Jolly Ravers 7. Magic Nights in the Lobby Bar 8. Don't Forgot Your Shovel 9. A Pair of Brown Eyes 10. This is the day 11. Drunken husband 12. North And South of the River 13. John O'Dreams 14. Casey 15. I Will (Dec) 16. Biko Drum 17. Time Has Come 18. Smoke & Strong Whiskey 19. Nancy Spain 20. Joxer goes to Stuttgart 21. Voyage 22. Back Home In Derry 23. Missing You 24. Quiet Desperation 25. In the City of Chicago 26. Quinte Brigada ENCORE 27. Ride On 28. Lisdoonvarna
Cathy Davey played in the Temple Bar Music Centre (now known as the Button Factory) last night. Excellent concert and excellent venue - she doesn't talk a lot - but she sure can sing. We got there early and had a spot right by the stage. Took loads of pictures - only uploaded a few so far.
Because we were up at the front I was able to grab the set list at the end of the night. It ran as follows:
No Heart; The Collector; Clean and Neat; Hoochie; Cannonball; Mr Kill; Long Time Gone; Come Over; Moving; I Feel Love; Reuben; Sing 4 Supper.
And for the encore: All of You; End of end; Rubbish Ocean.
