Here's a quick note about the Aberdeen show on the 28th feb this year ( followed by old news )
Scotland is a very cold place to be in February, it's also a very long journey by coach from the midlands, 13 hours to Aberdeen to be precise ! With these facts in hand Cara and I jump onto the 10.30 PM National Express service to Aberdeen clutching only an overnight bag and two tickets to see The Divine Comedy play the last of the four Scottish gigs airing their new material prior to going into the recording studio. Work commitments had forced me to miss the 2 Edinburgh gigs on the 25th and 26th along with the first night at Aberdeen on the 27th, but there I was travelling overnight to make the 28th. Upon arriving in Aberdeen a hotel was quickly arranged through the very smiley lady at the tourist information ...... let the games begin....
It was great to meet up with a good email pal James and his lovely wife Terry along with Mike and Paula , unfortunately it was just Cara, Paula and myself for the gig that night as the others had 'done' the previous gigs and were heading home. They were all kind enough to spare me their views on the new material so that I could go into it unblinkered, open minded and raw.
Down to business: Let me introduce you to the set list...
HEART OF DARKNESS
MONASTERY
GENERATION SEX
YOU
NO EXCUSES
GERONIMO
DUMB IT DOWN
MASTERMIND
BAD AMBASSADOR
SWEDEN
DANCE TO THE MUSIC
THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE
PERFECT LOVE SONG
---------------
BLACK BEAUTY
NATIONAL EXPRESS
SOUL TRADER
REGENERATION
(Yes, I know it probably tells you nothing about the new stuff and having only heard the material once myself ( and being far to lazy to make notes) I can't tell you anything specific either! )
The venue had a capacity of about 200, mainly seated around tables in front of a quite small crowded stage with an all important bar to the one side of the room ! The band came on to a huge cheer and launched straight into the first track, sat there it was like listening to a new band, full of energy with a new sound so diverse, there were tracks that were so obviously in the style of the likes of Oasis/Beatles, there were sounds ranging from hard rock to country, and all of it was done to perfection, the bass had a strong sound and was thrust upon our senses like never before, but just when you got to grips with the bass you heard something else, so many sounds all coming together to supersede any other material from any other group of musicians. Whatever sound The Divine Comedy are trying to achieve they do it very very well.
Neil Hannon is to be the Rock'n'Roller he wants to be !
Reaction to the music was very mixed, but to be fair their were many people at the gig who hadn't gone into it knowing The Divine Comedy so were they therefore going to appreciate their unique sound and style?
Has anyone noticed the rather sweet instumental of 'certainty of chance' on the new Network Q advert? .........You know what this means don't you? ....... You can phone everyone you know who dosn't know of The Divine Comedy and show off !
Irish Fans can look out for Neil on 'From a whisper to a scream' , RTE, Tuesdays, 8.30
The bonus Cd to accompany A Secret History Ltd Edition has now arrived and it's really quite special....
Here's the track listing in Neils words..
Here are the pointless meanderings of a sad and jaded old man.
Please take them all with excessive pinches of salt and don't
tell me off!
1.Bernice Bobs Her Hair - A sparse but energetic
acoustic rendition of the Liberation tune, greeted with polite
curiosity by the Tori Amos faithful.
2.Bleak Landscape - Two demo's
of the Fanfare tune (made for possible inclusion on Liberation)
cunningly spliced together for maximum oddness.
3.The Booklovers - At the
insistance of the venue we were not allowed to have a drummer at
this show. We managed to hold it together until the second
chorus. We've spared you the unlistenable outro.
4.The Certainty Of Chance -
Initial Spacemen 3 type demo of Certainty with odd lyrics put
through even odder effects.
5.Commuter Love - A pleasent
moment from last autumns Fin De Siecle tour. Hillary beats the
electric guitar hands down.
6.Dear Lord And Father - Why an
Anglican hymn then? Well, as another Irishman once said,
"the Catholics have cool stage gear but the Protestants have
all the best tunes.
7.A Drinking Song - A live solo
rendition of the Prom song complete with free-form scat in the
middle. Why? Because that section's virtually unplayable on
guitar.
8.The Frog Princess - One of the few remaining
unreleased moments from that glorious night in West London.
9.Generation Sex - Of all the demo's for Fin
this one got by far the closest to the eventual sound. The lyrics
came later unfortunately.
10.Life On Mars - Young french
instrumentalist Yann Tierson provides the music for this rather
lovely Bowie cover. A hugely satisfying calaboration (for once).
11.Life's What You Make It - Talk Talk covered
in typical early D.C style during the sessions for Promenade.
12.The Model - Kraftwerk covered in equally
typical (if not as well recorded) fashion during an early sojourn
to Germany. I'm told that they were never actually that big in
Germany which would account for the bemused
reaction of their home-town.
13.National Express - The 'ba
ba ba da' chorus makes 'de do do do, de da da da' sound
positively intellectual. Good sing-along at the end though.
14.Painting The Forth Bridge -
You may recognise the hotel lobby-esque melody from a certain
Casanova song. As far as the lyrics are concerned, well this an
important example of how record companies can sometimes be right.
15.Queen Of The South - A
Promenade era take on a Liberation era tune.
16.The Summerhouse - Another cut from the
drummerless Paris show. The first appearances of both Bryan and
The Pinkster make this a truly memorable occasion!
17.Soul Destroyer - Hmm, the phrase 'airing
one's dirty linnen in public' springs to mind, but there is
something naievely cute about this, an extract from the demo that
got the band signed to Setanta in the first place. Big
thanks to John McCullagh, Kevin Traynor and Lawrence Hoy.
18.Your Daddys' Car - Recorded in the wilderness
years of '91/'92, this was just one of many takes on this song.
It was also John Allens' final D.C appearance. Big respect to him
and everyone else who put up with my whims over the years.
Cheers.
In MM, Neil is found confessing to 5 obsessions starting with Dogs and ending with Manchester United!
And .... Neil's going to the gym, Hmmmm.
The Divine Comedy played the Flux benefit concert with Ivor Cutler and Roddy Frame at the Barbican theatre on 12th November, pics soon....
Neil Hannon was a guest on the Chris Moyles Radio One show last Saturday (29th October) it was a scarey moment when Neil almost choked himself gargleing !!
Neil looked unusually relaxed when he was interviewed on The Big Breakfast on Monday 1st November, in the past he mentioned that his new wife was trying to get him to work on his interview technique, it must be working....nice one.
Now released a very limited (7,500) double CD/Book of 'A Secret History' which is a 7" square 40 page hardback book featuring photos over Neils career to date and notes from various people who helped him along the way . the second Cd hasn't been isued yet and is due around the end of November, will have live tracks and demo recordings of various songs. This release is available exclusivly from Setanta's website www.setantarecords.com now. It will cost you £22 including postage and any remaining stock will be on sale in shops from Nov 08th.
Also on the Setana web site you can find a new video jukebox where you can watch any of TDC videos (you need real audio on your computer)
picture from the BBC N Irleland
Well. The service itself was really lovely. Neil was more scared than I've ever seen him, but relaxed visibly when Orla came into the church. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress, as did her bridesmaids. They were Orla's sister, best friend and little cousin. The ushers were Ivor, Neil's brother Brendon and Orla's brother Ciaran. Bryan was Best Man, and a very good one as well. Whether you were religious or not (I'm not) the service was really good, Catholic but with Neil's father doing some non-denominational bits. My reading went well, by that I mean I didn't fall over on the way up there, and all the words came out in the right order. Neil's old music teacher was on organ for the way in and out, and I swear that he (we didnt put him up to it!) slipped a bit of 'songs of love' into the music at the beginning and a bit of the star wars theme into the end. Thanks Sarah, by the way for your nice comments about my dress! I was rather pleased with it myself (jigsaw sale!). And yes, very unlike me to wear a colour other than black or grey, but we were all forbidden to wear black by Neil and Orla. The cardie was black, I'll admit, but that was just for the church - the dress was far too strappy for anywhere religious. And no hat! I know I was letting the side down, but I suppose I'm just not the kind of girl who suits hats.... The reception was fairly calming after the nerves of the wedding. Or it was to start with, anyway. There was a string quartet to start, which Joby was in charge of (which was why he disappeared off, he had to go and get them started) They played a specially written composition of his. Then the meal, and the speeches which were very funny, particularly Bryan's. And then the dancing, which of course went on all night. Lots of major celebrating going on, in the best Irish tradition. We got drunk, we danced, talked nonsense and generally had a wonderful evening. The nicest thing about the wedding was that it was very much a family affair, none of your celebrity nonsense. Lots of Hannons, lots of Littles, and more than a few small children made for a lovely atmosphere. Had a very sore head yesterday but still managed to lift it long enough to celebrate our highest chart position ever for the best of, at no 3. All in all, a brilliant weekend. ________________________________________________________________________________
As Neil continues on the publicity trail he was found on the Jo Wiley Radio One show (Tue 10th Aug), the subjects of conversation :
Neil has been in the Studio with Tom Jones recently, a Portishead track called ALL MINE, Neil claims it's "one of the best things I've ever done"
