Venue:
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Date: 23/10/2015
No I didn’t know they were still going either, now some 25 plus years since their memorable guestslot at Eurovision 88, bit I didn’t miss the opportunity to grab me a ticket, their live reputation lingering over the years, despite the solitary Best Of on my shelf. I don’t even think there’s any new material, but what’s that as detail with what they had in store. Liam lurched on to stage, with a beard as wild and itchy as the ill-fitting tweed suit he was wearing, gurning and gesticulating like Skip Spence’s homeless elder brother. A voice like an fallen angel, the repertoire hit all their boxes: soul, rock, african, irish folk, hell, even a few bars of ‘Imagine’, mawkish in anyone else’s hands. Playing mainly piano, he revealed his no mean talent at the keyboard, ably and competently hemmed in by the rest of the band, tonight augmented by token englishman, Martyn Brinsford, on double bass. This allowed Peter O’Toole to mainly play some guitar/bouzouki hybrid, except in a couple of numbers when he strapped on electric bass, allowing a duo bass back line, the extremely competent drumming of Dave Clarke keeping all the noise in place. Longtime Flower Fiachna O’Braonain weaved in and out with guitars electric and acoustic. Did I know the songs? Largely no, but it mattered not a jot, they all seemed and became familiar. The band clearly were having a gas, all smiles and appreciation. Bizarrely, their hit, Don’t Go, played as an end piece, was possibly the weakest link, as they tried to disguise it with a bossa nove start, ahead of lengthy solo workouts. Encores saw some irish, bhodran and whistles, O’Maonlai switching to irish harp and then acoustic. Wonderful, necessitating a celebratory pint of stout in the Post Office Vaults on my way back to the train
The audience:
Highly partisan, knowing all the choruses a wider cross section than Brum normally produces at this perfect hall.
It made me think..
Easy! Go. And. See. This. Band. Now.
Cripes, they could blow the roof off at Cambridge, Shrewsbury or any other of the festivals I frequent. I hope they do
First saw Hothouse Flowers at the International in Manchester on their first tour just as the `Hit` was becoming one. They played like they had been playing for 30 years just like they now have. I last saw them in Manchester (again) at The Lowry, I think, in the `00`s playing a similar show to that you have reviewed so well retro and they were then superb. A great live band.
Saw them in the Top Hat (there’s one for the southsiders) in Dun Laoghaire in 1985 when the dreamy Maria Doyle was still sharing the singing duties and before they disappeared up their own fundament. Still one of my top three concerts ever. Glad to hear they’re back and in form, and you enjoyed the show.
Went to see them in the Brooklyn Bowl last night, a bowling alley in O2 in North Greenwich. Much as retropath2 says, a band very comfortable in their own skin and clearly enjoying themselves. I liked it a lot.
I have a plate from the Top Hat. It’s not there anymore. The Top Hat that is, not the plate. The plate’s in my cupboard.
Bloody hell, they’re still going? I remember one of the most wondrous nights I’ve ever had at the Sydney State Theatre in the 90s where their stage was invaded by the audience, invited up. It was wall to wall people and they just kept going, handing instruments to the crowd and finished the song. I have never seen anything like it. I don’t know if that’s their MO but I remember it as a beatific and uplifting sensation, and I wasn’t stoned. As far as I know.
Everyone raves about their shows
Never seen them but,even now,given the chance I won’t pass it up again.