Apples and Rice
Concert Review
Damien Rice / Fiona Apple
July 14th, 2006
Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island, Chicago, IL
or 'You are not a kid anymore, heydomsar.'
Who do I think I am, going to a concert in Chicago on a weeknight when I have work the next day in Milwaukee? I got to bed at a little after 4:30 in the morning. That meant a little over 2 hours of sleep!! I had to pop a few vivarin to make it through the day and I haven't had to do that since my "all-nighter" days in college.
But you know what? Besides proving to myself that I am an old geezer who can no longer party like he did when he was a teenager, I also am sure it was worth every bit of the I'm-so-tired-and-caffinated-I-could-gouge-my-eyes-out feeling I have right now. With some minor adjustments, I would do the whole night over again and let me tell you why...
First of all, Damien Rice.
Not only was has his debut cd "O" become one of my all-time favorite cds, touching me like very few albums ever have, but he is also an exciting live performer. If you've heard "O" (if you haven't, please go find it!), then you might think Rice's material wouldn't translate well to a large concert venue. The album is "delicate" and breathy and intimate. But Rice is enough of an accomplished performer to know that in front of a large crowd (especially one that didn't necessarily come to hear him in particular), he'd have to step it up a notch. And so I was quite surprised at how different his songs sounded live. Where the album is sad and mellow, the live versions of his songs are amped up and intense. He even went so far as to use electric distortion effects on his acoustic guitar. Lilting ballads like "Volcano" ended in full-on "rock" mode with an energy unlike the album in any way. And that is how a concert should be. I've heard the songs on the cd a million times at home. When I come see them live, I want to hear them played in a different way. Change the style. Sing a new verse. At least explain where you are coming from with the lyrics. That's what I'm paying for. And that's what Rice delivered.
Next, the second reason the beating I'm taking now was worth it was Fiona Apple. 
You're probably thinking, 'Is she even around any more?' She took those 6 years off to do nothing and 2005's Extraordinary Machine was not a big seller, and not at all her best stuff, imo. But back in the day, I'm not afraid to admit that Fiona got me through some heavy adolescent drama and angst including betrayal and eventually defiant "I don't care, I don't need you" recovery (see songs "Sleep to Dream" and "Limp").
So I was excited to see the show, if nothing else, for the nostalgia factor. (Not to mention, girls love Fiona and the concert was chalked full of 'em.) But during the show, I remembered how stark-raving, bonafide, certifiably crazy Apple truly was and apparently still is. Remember her psycho music award acceptance speech from the 90's? She went off on a diatribe about everything being "b.s." and how no one should admire celebrities or the music biz because it's "b.s." and then was summarily dragged off stage. Well, it seems she also forgot to take her crazy pills on the night of her show in Chicago. She started the concert alright, seated at the piano, with just a little too much tremble in her voice; but, her escape from the looney bin became more readily apparent when she left the piano, letting excellent pianist Dave Palmer take over, and moved to center stage, where she really let her freak flag fly.
Flailing her arms, dropping to her knees, and tugging violently at her dress, at times she looked like a 6-year-old having a temper tantrum and others, a serial killer on her last nerve before going postal on the entire audience. People around us swore she was high since when not singing, she could barely put together a coherent sentence, but I think she was sober since she didn't forget any of her lyrics or miss any queues or mess up any piano parts. I think we just caught the rare treat of watching someone go through a mental breakdown, while simultaneously trying to keep it together long enough to finish a concert. But that's what made the show pure magic. I could honestly claim I had never seen anything like that in all my concert-going years. In broken sentences, she explained that she had/has been in therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorders and other problems, and that she was really having trouble dealing with all the bugs around her on stage that she was apparently killing and couldn't handle that fact. As the night progressed, her warbly singing decayed into barking and she repeatedly collapsed to her knees, rocking back and forth, and cradling herself in her own arms while staring blankly at the floor.
oh darlin, it's so sweet
you think you know how crazy
how crazy I am...
And then the men in white coats came and put her back in her "special" coat with the long sleeves and took her back to her trailer.
Posted by heydomsar
2006-07-17
go back | random brainstorm | go forth
Rachel Ray - 2009-05-03
The cold wind was the reason - 2009-03-02
The Collected Wisdom of Angela Chase - 2009-02-15
All's well that ends well. - 2009-01-07
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - 2008-10-04
