A DIVINE COMEDY, ASH, THE UNDERTONES - 03.11.2011

[MULLY]

BELFAST MUSIC WEEK & THE ALZHEIMER’S SOCIETY PRESENT –
A DIVINE COMEDY, ASH and THE UNDERTONES.

3rd November 2011 at the Ulster Hall, Belfast.

It was down to personal experience due to his father having to deal with Alzheimer’s that led Tim Wheeler to contact Stuart Bailie about putting on an event to fund-raise and highlight awareness for The Alzheimer Society hence this concert seeing fruition. Bands, security, promotion, everyone all gave their services free of charge – Tim personally ringing round to bring the gig to realization. He rang Damian O’Neill, who in turn contacted the rest of The Undertones to see if they would come on board (and of course they did). Therefore, to coincide with Belfast Music Week and the MTV Music Awards being held in town this Sunday, the gig-goers of Belfast had a very special occasion to attend – three of Northern Ireland’s own performing one of their seminal albums in its entirety. A nice little aperitif as I will be heading over to London in a fortnight to see The Strangler’s do the same - performing their masterpiece ‘Black and White’ at the band’s 2011 Convention.

Ironically, I had forgotten about this gig (dementia already setting in!!) and I had left it too late to get a ticket for an already sold-out event. Ringing the box office and ticket outlet was to no avail and scouring the internet for anyone selling tickets was proving to be off no use either. However, by pure luck late on Tuesday night I stumbled across an E-bay listing and on contacting the seller was able to acquire that all elusive piece of card that gained admission to the venue. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Eugene for arranging to meet up and hand over the tickets in person – a true gentleman.

Anyway – gig night. I stayed late in work as there was no point going home first, only to turn straight back round and head back into town for doors opening at 19.00. I proceeded around to the Ulster Hall from the office expecting a reasonable queue to have formed, but to my surprise at half past six, there were only a handful of punters standing outside the closed wooden doors of the hall. Popping into a nearby local hostelry, I watched the end of the Spurs game and headed back round to check out how things were progressing queue-wise. Although there was a bit of a crowd gathered, it was by no means the usual meandering trail around the corner of the building, but there were a number of camera crews in operation – the BBC, MTV and a few other media services were filming, interviewing and running about searching for that exclusive scoop.

Avoiding the limelight, I joined the end of the queue and soon numerous over-enthusiastic stewards herded us into three streams for box office collection, standing and seating. Of course, no matter how many times people were told, it still turned into a fiasco. Standing in what I assumed was the correct line I saw Owen McFadden (hold on until I bend over and pick up that name I just dropped) former drummer with Belfast’s premier power-pop/punk band Protex. I’ve known Owen for a number of years, being friendly with his younger brother, so as we chatted I ascertained he was also attending tonight and so he joined me in the queue. Shortly after the main doors opened and we were allowed access to the hallowed arena. Inside we decide to have a drink - £3.50 for a plastic bottle of Becks – YIKES!! It weren’t like this in the good old days – you couldn’t even have got a drink in the venue in 1977/78. Anyway, as we were sipping our beverage of choice we were soon talking to various other faces from the past who all commented on the same thing. Stuart Bailie, who was one of the comperes for this evening was also networking in the foyer and came over for a quick chat with Owen. Looking into the main hall, I could see the support act for tonight onstage. Young John D’Arcy was up there strutting his brand of pap (sic) whilst styling a Buddy Holly-esque, bespectacled look. I am not the greatest fan and take pride in the prejudice having suffered the trials and tribulation Master D’Arcy has smote upon me over the years. So it was with no regret that we continued drinking our lager out of earshot and awaited the main event.

Taking our second bottles through into the hall (again a new concept for my experiences of the Ulster Hall) it wasn’t long before Stuart came on to open tonight’s proceedings. After a short raising our awareness to why we were all here, he established the album concept and introduced the first act. Already onstage was a grand piano and a string quartet – so you didn’t have to be a genius to work out that the opening performance would be from A Divine Comedy. Neil Hannon came onstage suited and booted taking his place behind the piano. After the applause had died down, he introduced the opening tune – Side One, Track One of ‘Promenade’ – the second or third Divine Comedy album depending on who you listen to. Here followed an album full of classical tracks, film score instrumentals and quirky songs about falling in love, eating seafood and drinking. Interspersed with Neil’s droll sense of dry humour – commenting on why he hasn’t played this stuff for a while as it was giving him repetitive strain injury (he wasn’t particularly worried about the RSI my ears were getting though!!) There was only so much twee ivory twiddling I can take and even the comedic element was wearing thin. As he flexed his shoulder between songs and sipped his glass of white wine, he continued to interact with the audience but if it wasn’t for the first violin and viola players my interest would have been lost a long time before. These girls could come home with me for a bit off a fiddle and compare fingering techniques anytime. As the last notes of the last track were played out, Neil took a bow and gave the quartet their place for applause. Neil leaves the stage but is soon back for an encore – the crowd-pleasing ‘National Express’ which really got the audience on their feet – singing and clapping along.

Between A Divine Comedy and the next performers Ash, with the crew feverishly setting up the new rig(s), a screen was erected onstage and we were shown a short film about Alzheimer's - concluding with a cameo message from good ole Jimmy 'The Hobbit' Nesbitt reporting from Middle Earth in New Zealand. Next, Johnny Hero came out to introduce Ash and their rendition of debut album '1977'. The early Ash sound for me was split between proto-glam/Stooge thrash album tracks and power pop singles - never moreso than on this album. Starting straight into 'Lose Control' the three piece blasted their way through the songs. Tim as ever a maestro on the Flying V, Rick keeping the beat and Mark, the bastard son of Hooky and Dee-Dee, playing bass runs and chords round his ankles, upside down and spinning round. During 'Kung-Fu' a slight technical hitch with one of Tim's foot pedals allowed a bit of crowd interaction and joint participation - the band never missing a beat as the roadie fumbled around with the guitar board. Crisis over, the band continue through to the end of the track and so endeth Side One. Asking "How do you top Neil Hannon?" the answer was to drag him back onstage to sing 'Oh Yeah'. This is probably the one track he could carry off - althouigh personally I would have preferred this performed solely by the band. 'Girl From Mars' and 'Angel Interceptor' had the crowd singing along, but it was the final track 'Darkside/Lightside' that initiated time travel and saw the return of a teenage band onstage as they enthusiastically brought the set to a climax. The encore track chosen, after a lengthy thank you list from Tim (which would have put Kate Winslet Oscar speech in the shade), was 'Shining Light' - again raising the bar and a crowd pleaser par excellence.

After a very lengthy interval - as the back-set was changed - Stuart once more took centre stage and introduced a representative from the Alzheimer's Society who gave a moving speech, thanking the bands and the crowd for raising thousands of pounds tonight. And so headliners - The Undertones. Taking to the stage and with Mickey Bradley re-iterating the concept, the band started off with 'Family Entertainment'. Although I'm getting used to Paul McAloone on vocals, I have noticed the increased 'campness' in his delivery - and tonight it was even more in your face than usual as he strutted, wiggled and pouted through every song. Still as tight as a duck's arse the band produced a high quality performance - every song a classic and the crowd loving every riff, harmony and lyric. Mickey was joking between every track - some off which were very funny i.e. when Billy Doherty was adjusting his hi-hat cymbal (for the second time) he said "Be careful, you could have someone's eye out with that. In fact he already has - that's what happened Terri Hooley!!". However, it did become a bit stale as, for me, the comedic element became tedious - Mickey pulling numerous pieces of paper from his pocket and reading out inane comments about stalking and sandwiches. Regardless, the music from that debut album overrode any minor irritations I had and tracks like 'True Confessions', Jump Boys' and especially the inclusion of the 'Casbah Rock' reprise made it all worthwhile.

As much as the singer and bass player were taking centre-stage with their buffoonery, mention must be made of the book end O'Neill brothers whose understated presence on stage only made their contribution stand out even more. Looking like the long-lost runts of the Bee-Gee litter, hiding behind their sunglasses, they were the heartbeat of the set. After the Casbah reprise, the band continued with an encore comprising 'Teenage Kicks', 'You Got My Number', 'The Love Parade' and 'My Perfect Cousin'. Of all the tracks played I have to admit that the surprise inclusion of 'The Love Parade' was the stand out track - this really suited the vocal range of Paul and it was performed really powerfully. Before the band left the stage, the grand piano was rolled on for Neil Hannon and Tim Wheeler's guitar tech was seen holding his guitar stage left. The evening closed with an unsurprising re-rendition of 'Teenage Kicks' by the combined talents present. I wish they hadn't included the song in the encores if we were only to hear it again a few minutes later. A final bow by all concerned and the house lights came up to signal the end of the evening.

Making our way out, filing through the doors with the sweating throng funnelling into a smaller and smaller space, only to be expelled out into the crisp, cold November night, I was finally reminded of those distant days when the Ulster Hall was the venue for some of the best punk gigs in town.

[Blackbeered]

Great review (as usual) Mully, looking forward to seeing you again in two weeks time

[MULLY]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfmY84QicdI

Highlight of the night.

[BazinBlack]

Great review Mullsville, thanks for taking the time to share it. Bazza

[ThruBeingCool]

First class read Mulster

[MULLY]

Thanx chaps.

Here's the closer.... and how out off place does Hannon look at the end?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kjiT4ijFQI

NB: When the lighting is right you can see the steps (over Mickey's shoulder) running up beside the organ pipes, that JJ rat-walked up (still playing his bass) as 'Toiler On The Sea' closed in 1979.

[MULLY]

A couple of other clips from the gig...

A Divine Comedy - 'National Express' & 'A Summer House':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW4QOILp ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBH-l4xK ... re=related

Ash- introduction plus 'Lose Control' & 'Goldfinger':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwT3wjO3kPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlaToV-t ... re=related

The Undertones - 'Jimmy Jimmy' & 'My Perfect Cousin'

:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N74eRngrR8o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya0bqbiPczw

[Freddie Laker]

Brilliant read as always, Mully.

[SmallPaul]

Great review Mully, thanks.

"These girls could come home with me for a bit off a fiddle and compare fingering techniques anytime."

Paul

[miserablewoman]

Great review Mully - hoping you'll do the same for the Black and White gig next weekend?

[villainblack]

Great review Mully - hoping you'll do the same for the Black and White gig next weekend?