Setlist: Julie Feeney, NCH, 29 May 2010

Great review of Julie Feeney's National Concert Hall gig with full orchestra on May 29th over on Pensamiento Aleatorio, read it here. The orchestra was called "The Pages Orchestra" and they played the album in full as well as material from 13 Songs.

Setlist:
* Autopilot
* Monster
* Alien
* Grace
* Instrumental Interlude
* Valentine's Song
* Stay
* Nothing to Declare
* Knock Knock
* Wind Out Of My Sails
* Myth
* Excerpts from Songs from Liquid Days
* Fictitious Richard
* Mr. Roving Eye Guy
* Aching
* You Broke The Magic
* Life's Nudge
* Hallelujah
* One More Tune
---
* Love Is A Tricky Thing
* Impossibly Beautiful

Live Review: Choice Music Prize 2009

Last night saw some excellent live performances from many of the nominees for the Choice Music Prize 2009 (don't worry, you are looking at the ceremony held in 2010, it's just for the best Irish album of 2009), but by far the best were Dark Room Notes and And So I Watch You From Afar. Both bands are on their debut albums, so who knows what the future may hold awards-wise.

CODES opened the night strongly, before Julie Feeney toned it down a notch. Feeney had been the darkhorse when nominees were announced, but crept up to become favourite with PaddyPower heading into last night's show. Her outfit last night was definitely note worthy, probably moreso than her performance. (Check it out here.)

Dark Room Notes were next up and impressed many people who may have missed them first time around, or else wrote them off. Their live show is so much better than the album. Duckworth Lewis Method released one of my favourite summer albums of 2009, but with Neil Hannon already having a gong in his possession, it was always a longshot to see them winning. Their live stint last night was fantastically entertaining though.

Valerie Francis was also very impressive. It was a nice, subtle nuanced performance which contrasted well with the all-out rock of CODES and the jangly pop of Duckworth Lewis Method. Her live take on 'Punches' was especially great. It was a real treat to see so many wonderful Irish acts performing a variety of genres. I suggest you grab a ticket for the Choice Music Prize 2010 Award Show as soon as possible next year.

When I saw the nominees, I didn't actually expect The Swell Season would play, but play they did and gave a fine performance. It's just a pity for Glen that his second album with Marketa wasn't a patch on the first. Last night, they were joined on 'Paper Cup' by Leonard Cohen's guitarist, unfortunately not Leonard himself, but it'll do for now.

Adrian Crowley was second last on stage, but would return later to pick up his gong. He's a damn fine performer, and definitely a worthy winner. And So I Watch You From Afar closed the night with a stonking set, infused with marvellous instrumental rock. Some people had definitely written them off before, but I'm sure they converted many last night. If I had to guess, I'd say they were probably in the running but narrowly missed out.

Laura Izibor couldn't make it last night, due to something or other, nor could Bell x1 (touring commitments) but so many other great acts played, it didn't make too much difference. It would've been nice to have them all there though. Maybe next year...

Watch the Duckworth Lewis Method at last night's show:

Live: Drop Haiti's Debt at Vicar Street

There's a fine amount of benefit gigs happening around the country, but this one is definitely worth mentioning. Cathy Davey, Julie Feeney, Villagers, The Chapters, The Chakras, and more will be playing Vicar Street for the Drop Haiti's Debt campaign on Thursday 11th of February. Tickets cost €20 and are on sale now.

Today, Haiti still owes some US$890 million, much of it to global financial institutions, and is due to make millions in debt payments in the coming year alone. As a result Trocaire has started the Drop Haiti's Debt campaign. All money from this concert will be going towards that.

Ciara Gaynor, Trócaire’s head of campaigns said ‘It will take decades for Haiti to recover from the earthquake. The country must not be faced with the additional massive burden of debt repayments. Any emergency earthquake assistance must be in the form of grants, not loans, which will only increase Haiti’s debt burden in the long run. The people of Haiti have suffered for too long. Please join the call for debt relief, and help Haiti on the long road to recovery from this devastating disaster. Please support the campaign on www.trocaire.org and join the ‘Drop Haiti’s Debt’ group on Facebook”.

Watch The Chapters - 'Your Voice' live in 2006:

Live: Swell Season, DLM, ASIWYFA at Vicar Street

Great news comes my way from Jim Carroll and his On the Record blog. He announced this morning that eight out of ten cats acts nominated for this year's Choice Music Award will be performing on the night.

The show takes place in Vicar Street on March 3rd. Tickets are €27, and for that bargain price, you'll get approximately ten minutes each from all of the following:
And So I Watch You From Afar, Codes, Adrian Crowley, Dark Room Notes, The Duckworth Lewis Method, Julie Feeney, Valerie Francis, and The Swell Season.

Bell x1 and Laura Izibor are the two absentees as they're touring elsewhere. But for €27, how can you argue with a lineup like that?

Get your tickets here.

Here's 2007 winners Super Extra Bonus Party performing at that year's event:

(Video courtesy of Nialler9)

Setlist: Julie Feeney, CrawDaddy, 10 June 2009

Promoting her new album Pages. C has a little tiny review and a photo of the setlist here:
http://pensamientoaleatorio.blogspot.com/2009/06/julie-feeney-live-at-crawdaddy-june.html

UPDATE: Full review here:
http://pensamientoaleatorio.blogspot.com/2009/06/julie-feeney-pages-live-at-crawdaddy.html

Jammy git!

Setlist
Hiho - Julie a capella
Autopilot
Judas
You Broke The Magic
Wind Out Of My Sails
The Reaper
Aching (with Harmonium)
Alien
---
Nothing To Declare
Grace
Valentine's Song
Mr Roving Eye Guy
Myth
Stay
Life's Nudge
Knock Knock
One More Tune
Monster
---
Love Is A Tricky Thing
Impossibly Beautiful

2nd Encore:
One More Tune

Watch: Julie Feeney - Love is a Tricky Thing

Props to Nialler9 for posting this too. It's the first single from Julie Feeney's new album Pages due for release next month. I can't wait.

Watch:


More info:
www.juliefeeney.com/

Download: Julie Feeney - Love is a Tricky Thing

Inaugural Choice Music Prize winner Julie Feeney is about to release her new album, and has made lead single 'Love is a Tricky Thing' available as a free download. Two of my favourite general Irish blogs have it to stream and download, so I'll link to them rather than reposting it myself. It's taken from new album Pages which is out at the end of this month.

Stream it on culch.ie here:
http://www.culch.ie/2009/05/05/julie-feeneys-love-is-a-tricky-thing/

Download it on "This is what I do" here:
http://darraghdoyle.blogspot.com/2009/05/download-julie-feeneys-love-is-tricky.html

More info:
http://www.juliefeeney.com/intro.html

Other Blog Posts: Pensamiento on Julie Feeney

The impossible to pronounce Pensamiento Aleatorio has a great new post about former Choice Music Prize winner Julie Feeney and her new album Pages here which I thought you guys should check out:
http://pensamientoaleatorio.blogspot.com/2009/01/julie-feeneys-pages-coming-soon.html

Watch 'Aching':