The Revival Tour - Dublin Academy - 29th September 2011 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 05 October 2011
Written by Daniel Lynch
Raucous, acoustic, folky punk rock 'n' roll was on the agenda at Dublin's Academy as a sell-out crowd welcomed the Revival tour to town. The pack of musicians, led by founder of the tour Chuck Ragan, included Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon, Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano and Dave Hause from the Loved Ones. The premise of the tour, according to Ragan is 'the camaraderie and the way people are drawn to each other' through music, and this was much in evidence throughout Thursday's show.
Acoustic guitars, mandolin, violin and an upright bass were the weapons of choice as the quartet played a selection of covers and their own songs, accompanied by Jon Gaunt on fiddle and Joe Ginsberg on upright bass.
Every song sounded huge in the reasonably large venue, whether with solo vocal and guitar or, as was the case with almost every song, the main performer was joined onstage by one of his comrades to sing and play along.
The friendship and camaraderie between the musicians was evident as each performed solo sets punctuated with appearances from the other performers creating a uniquely collective atmosphere
Crucial to the maintenance of momentum was the lack of gaps between sets; with no amps or complicated set ups, as one walked off stage, the next entered the fray ready to start immediately, if indeed he wasn't already on. At any other gig the break between bands can disrupt the flow, but this was avoided by allowing for a constant revolving stage door.
Opener Dave Hause and Chuck Ragan after him benefitted immensely from the sheer ferocity of their delivery, both vocally and with the guitar. Both roared and screamed their raspy vocals into the mics, banging the guitar in time and keeping the audience involved with chanting and clapping to songs including a riotous cover of Irish classic 'The Rocky Road to Dublin,' which had the crowd in a frenzy of dancing and singing.
With a less powerful but no less impressive delivery, Dan Andriano had more of a job maintaining audience attention, but a cover of Alkaline Trio song 'Blue Carolina' was a hit with the crowd. Andriano at times added more to the performances of his partners in crime, with more appearances during their sets than Fallon or Ragan, but his solo set proved that he wasn't just making up numbers on the tour.
Most anticipated though, and by far receiving the biggest cheer on the night, was the solo performance of Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon. With Ian Perkins, the other half of side project 'The Horrible Crowes,' Fallon performed songs from their debut release 'Elsie.' A deathly silence fell over the Academy as,for the duration of 'Ladykiller' and ‘Cherry Blossoms’ the duo held the audience in a trance, broken only by the resumption of mayhem when the songs ended and applause erupted from every section of the crowd. Perkins left Fallon to perform Gaslight Anthem songs ‘Navesink Banks’, and a stripped down version of 'Old White Lincoln.'
Recent Gaslight Anthem albums have established Fallon as one of the great storytellers of his generation- the Springsteen comparisons are not unwarranted- while the variety of song style opened up by the Horrible Crowes project has illustrated his writing range. With a selection of hilarious anecdotes and an apology for the ‘stupid American’ obsession with St. Patrick’s Day his skills as a showman and performer were adored by the audience.
Fallon was finally joined by the remainder of the revival tour participants to perform recent hit 'American Slang' and the hugely popular '59 Sound,' climaxing in a cacophony of guitars, violin and frantic applause before the more than satisfied crowd poured back into the Dublin night.
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Acoustic guitars, mandolin, violin and an upright bass were the weapons of choice as the quartet played a selection of covers and their own songs, accompanied by Jon Gaunt on fiddle and Joe Ginsberg on upright bass.
