- Loudon
Wainwright III
- at the Olympia
Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
- Sunday November
2nd 1997
I must have been crazy! I had
nowhere to stay that night in Dublin because every hotel / guest
house had been booked up for almost the past six weeks (the Halloween
holiday weekend), and I had only found out about the Dublin concert
a few days ago.
I sometimes think, (and I’m
sure a lot of readers would agree with me), that LWIII concert
dates are often like very closely guarded secrets and unless
you happen to pick up the right magazine or paper, at the right
time, then Loudon can often pop in and play a concert without
you being aware of it. I myself, only found out about the current
tour by picking up a discarded copy of ‘Q’ Magazine
on an underground train whilst on a visit to London. It didn’t
mention the Irish concert though, - only found out about that
from the Rosebud web site! Incidentally, the Virgin web site
(Loudon’s record label in Britain) didn’t help much,
they informed me that he was currently not on tour!!!!!
So off I went on the 100 mile
/ 3 hour trip to Dublin. I hadn’t even got a ticket - HMV
ticketshop wouldn’t book one by credit card because it was
too close to the concert itself, - so I just had to go down and
take a chance that there would be some left. All they had was
one in the back row of the circle, or some in the third row of
the Gallery! Oh yeah, I had a phone number of someone I might
be able to stay with overnight, but he worked on a newspaper
and was rarely in, I could have been lucky - as it turned out
I wasn’t (but then that's the story of my life!).
What about the gig? Well, there
was no David Mansfield, and not even Peter Blegvad. There was
however, a support band called ‘Naked’, apparently
an ‘upcoming Dublin band’ (well that’s what it
said on their printed cards which were dotted around the bar).
There was a personal message from them too, thanking Loudon for
this opportunity of supporting him (and yes, believe it or not,
they spelt his name with an ‘e’ between the ‘d’
and the ‘n’).....just like the song (‘TSMNWA’
from ‘Career Moves’)! Nearly as bad as the actual ticket
agency, who had him listed on their computer as London Wainwright!
What were ‘Naked’ like on stage? Well, they were sort
of as good as Boo Hewerdine, if that means anything.... After
two numbers I just had to get back to the bar, only returning
when the man himself came out, just on 8.55 p.m.
Never mind a ‘spiral notebook
and a scripto pencil’ - all I had was a ‘bic’
biro, the envelope that came with my ticket, and the back of
a handbill for a new pizza restaurant which someone had just
handed me outside the theatre. Believe me, it is extremely difficult
to jot down notes on a piece of paper on your knee, especially
when you’re having to write in almost total darkness, but
anyway here goes........
|
1. |
‘I’m not gonna cry’
- Loudon mentioned walking down Grafton Street this afternoon
(Dublin’s main shopping area) and being very tempted by
the signs advertising the Dublin Pub Crawl - until he saw the
Christmas lights! Cue to go straight into...... |
|
2. |
‘Suddenly it’s Christmas’
- This song got a very big round of applause! |
|
3. |
‘So Damm Happy’ - Very
humorous live version, putting on a very mournful voice whilst
singing about being ‘so damm happy’ - really got a
lot of laughs. |
|
4. |
‘Overseas Call’ - Loudon
said he hoped he could remember all the words.......and he did! |
|
5. |
‘O.G.M’ (Out Going Message)
- One of my two favourite songs at the moment (the other being
‘A Song’). I love the way the guitar follows the voice
so closely and the lyrics are just great. A very witty and, of
course, very bitter song about the ‘ex’. He stopped
briefly after the first verse to ask a woman who was leaving
her seat, “where are you goin’ babe?”, then adding
“seal the room”! |
|
6. |
‘What Gives’ - John Denver’s
name has been added to the Supergroup, between Stevie Ray Vaughan
and Buddy Holly! Loudon said that the next couple of songs were
about his favourite topic, death and decay. The first one was...... |
|
8. |
‘The Picture’ - One of
my all-time favourite songs, it ranks along with ‘Tip that
Waitress’ (although O.G.M is rapidly becoming my all-time
favourite). I just wish he would sing it the same as on the History
album as I find the way he switches between singing and speaking
throughout the song very distracting, and doesn’t really
do full justice to this excellent song. |
|
9. |
‘The Shit Song’ - When
he wrote this song (about two and a half years ago?) he originally
sang 'once I was worth a million bucks / now it’s about
5 grand', well he’s now changed it to just 2 grand!!! Made
some comment about 'the old blind guy' - "who's gonna tell
Stevie" (Wonder??), then adding "Ray's okay, though"
(Charles??). |
|
10. |
‘Primrose Hill’ - First
time I’ve heard this song as I still haven’t got the
new CD. Every time I try to leave the computer to go to the shop,
I read another e-mail criticising it. Loudon explained that he
had been living in London’s St John’s Wood (a very
desirable area, just north of central London) for the last few
years and Primrose Hill was nearby. He has now moved back to
Westchester County (just outside New York) where he grew up -
and we know a song about that!!! |
|
11. |
‘Bein’ a Dad’ - A
very catchy song, - could even be a single! Just before starting
this song, Loudon complained about some stuff falling from the
roof onto the stage (plaster or dust, maybe?) which led him to
joke “I can see the headline now - Skunk Man killed in Olympia
Collapse!” |
|
12. |
‘Homeless’ - A great new
‘unreleased’ song. Loudon then put down his guitar
and picked up the banjo. Someone instantly yelled out for ‘Dump
the Dog’ to which Loudon replied “I’ve sorry,
I’ve forgotten that one”. Instead he played...... |
|
13. |
‘The World’ - Another
one I had not heard before. Very jokey song which I don’t
think is really typical Loudon. He got great cheers though, when
he continued with...... |
|
14. |
‘The Swimming Song’ -
One of his most popular songs, (“clap you hands”) then
it was back to the guitar as he said he was going to play “some
older chestnuts”. Someone yelled for ‘One Man Guy’
and Loudon quipped “that’s not one of them”. Instead
we got... |
|
15. |
‘Be careful there’s a
Baby in the House’ - When he began the song, Loudon joked
that it was written back in 1913 though afterwards he said it
was from “1971 - my blue period”. He introduced the
next song as being “popular in some countries because it
makes fun of the English”, the song being...... |
|
16. |
‘You Don't Want To Know’ |
|
17. |
‘Unhappy Anniversary’
- Another ‘clap-along’ song, after which there were
calls for songs like ‘One Man Guy’, How old are you?’
and ‘Revenge’. Instead he played...... |
|
18. |
‘I’m Alright’ - Afterwards
he quipped “well actually I’m not alright, which is
why you came along to see me tonight”. There then followed
a lot of guitar tuning during which he said “I must warn
you there is absolutely no tuning on my new record”. |
|
19. |
‘Dreaming’ - He now put
down his guitar and started opening a tiny case on the stage
containing a ukulele - saying “time to take out my secret
weapon” and joked about using it to step into “the
vast cultural void left by the death of Tiny Tim”. He played...... |
|
20. |
‘What’ll I do?’ -
He also sang this on the last night of the British tour (Coventry).
Apparently it’s a Irving Berlin song, though it’s best
known in Britain as the theme tune to the BBC series ‘Birds
of a Feather’. He followed it straightaway with...... |
|
21. |
‘Little Ship’ - It was
10.10p.m and time to go, after just 75 minutes on stage. He’d
barely touched the far wall of his dressing room though, before
he was back to pick up his guitar. Many requests were shouted
out before he announced that he would play ‘The Man who
couldn’t cry’. As he tuned the guitar he said that
“Johnny Cash isn’t well at the moment.....he recorded
this song, one of my highlights of that decade”. |
|
22. |
‘The Man who couldn’t
Cry’ - Afterwards, loads of requests were shouted out including
‘Revenge’, ‘One Man Guy’, ‘Human Cannonball’
and ‘I wish I was a Lesbian’. Replying to the last
request he said “I can’t do that one, it’s cheap
and sleazy”, then “hey, let’s do it!” He
quickly explained how it came to be written and that he thought
it would have been a massive hit, but it ended up instead “on
an album that nobody bought” (Grown Man). |
|
23. |
‘I wish I was a Lesbian’
- Many more requests were shouted out from all over the theatre.
During a brief lull, someone yelled out for ‘How old are
you’ and Loudon replied “51 - but I’m happy with
it”. He then played...... |
|
24. |
‘Men’ - End of the first
encore (about 10.25 p.m). He returned a minute later, for the
second encore, picked up the banjo again, and played...... |
|
25. |
‘A Song’ - Loudon’s
new ‘closing song’, which closed almost every concert
on the tour (even the much copied Andy Kershaw session) - and
it was still only 10.30 p.m! |
It was back to the bar to mingle
with the LWIII fans and discuss the concert over a pint (or three)
of the ‘black stuff’. I was surprised that there were
quite a few people there who were only seeing him for the first
time, usually persuaded by friends who’d lent them some
of his records (and converted them). I even met up with the group
who’d been calling out all night for ‘One Man Guy’,
‘Revenge’ etc. and although they said it was great
to see him, they kept complaining that he didn’t sing any
of their favourites - various tracks from the albums ‘I’m
Alright’, ‘More Love Songs’, and ‘A Live
One’. I was then treated to very boozy, yet word perfect
(well almost), versions of ‘Natural Disaster’, ‘Clockwork
Chantreuse’ and ‘One Man Guy’ amongst others.
Who needs Loudon....eh?
And so it was off into the streets of Dublin, on a very wet Sunday
evening, phoning that number I had, roughly every half hour up
till about 2.30 a.m, before finally resigning myself to a night
on the streets! It was certainly no picnic, the rain never let
up, there were no all-night cafes to shelter in, just a few that
stayed open till 4 a.m and then after that nothing (except a
few all-night shops), until the burger bars opened at 7 30 a.m
- and the temperature sure drops during those hours. Oh well,
I guess sometimes you just have to suffer for your artist!!!
From Martin Martin (Belfast,
N.Ireland).
P.S Just can't help but agree
with a recent comment about Loudon missing out Belfast this time
round. After visiting Belfast regularly throughout the 'troubles'
(including some of the most blackest times when no one else would
come), it is really mystifying that he didn't play a concert
in Northern Ireland this year, now that we have peace here (again). |
