in tent for the fall

The Fall are a bit like Marmite, you either love them or you hate them. All the same you've got to have a taste everyone once in a while to be sure that you still don't like it. I mean I never liked cauliflower as a kid but I'm well into it now. I never liked The Fall as a kid and I still don't like them. I like the idea that Mark E Smith is still dragging them along 27 albums later but at the same time I'm always wary of any band that has that kind of output. To me it means that a lot of it is going to be shit. On the basis of their performance in The Spiegeltent as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival I'm still a bit wary. I can't fault the band. They looked like a bunch of teenagers beside the wily old Mr Smith but they were certainly able to rock it. They were pretty tight to boot. On the other hand, the incoherent and inaudible ramblings by Mark E Smith just bore me. I just can't get a buzz out of the guy. Mind you at points I was looking at him and thinking he was a dead ringer for Alex Higgins. That was enough to keep me interested for a while, along with a sixty year old Fall fan at the left hand side of the stage who began to gurn at one point. He finally relented with his madness when he gave a disdainful looking Mark E Smith a rub on the sleeve.

Far more interesting was the support act, Rarely Seen Above Ground. This dude is a one man show, except it turns out he's two. One dude sequences the backing tracks with video footage and then the other dude sings and drums live over it. At leats I gather that's the case. It sounds a bit unusual and to be honest it is. Theres all kinds of stuff in his work that can veer from sounding like Talking Heads to sheer conga madness. RSAG are joining a growing list of talented people I've come across from Kilkenny. I don't know too many people from Kilkenny but I do find that most of them are pretty good at whatever they choose to do. Even hurling apparently.

All of the above action took place earlier tonight in the Iveagh Gardens. The Spegeltent has found a perfect home for the next fortnight or so. There's a slew of acts and gigs coming up so don't be a stranger. One handy tip for those going to the Iveagh Gardens. The entrance is on Hatch Street. Don't be a sap like me. I tried the entrance on Earlsfort Terrace, then the one on Harcourt Street until I eventually was steered round to Hatch St. There waas a great Tuesday night mix of punters. The staff of Cafe Bar Deli on Sth Great Georges ST, Eddie from Anseo, Donal Dineen, a load of Donegal heads that i hadn't seen in ages, the Mullet and myself. Oh and a few hundred others too. Most of them seemed to like The Fall so I guess its just me.