Dead Can Dance, The Barbican Hall, 06.04.05

[zoo_music_girl]

I am not a Dead Can Dance fan, I own one album which to be honest I've not really listened to much, and I went along because I thought it would be a good show and an experience I'd enjoy. I did.

My first exposure to the band was on the 1987 4AD compilation Lonely is an Eyesore to which they contributed two tracks, The Protagonist and Frontier. I can't actually remember what the first of these sounds like, but the latter was a gorgeous blends of drums and That Voice.

I don't much care for Brendan Perry's vocals, I tend to find them dull and monotonous (and was amused and agreed with laurelei that he sounds like Neil Diamond at times), but I could drift away to Lisa Gerrard's voice all night, and indeed I was surprised to realise that the concert had been two full hours, with just two very short breaks between encores.

The sound was gorgeous. As well as Lisa and Brendan there was an assortment of other musicians, who changed instruments for practically every piece and sometimes during the same song. I don't even know what some of the instruments were, and I sometimes found it hard to tell what was synthesised and what was live, but it sounded good.

They played a wide mixture of styles and songs. There were Eastern influenced swirls and Medieval sounding hurdy gurdy, there were songs that were just Lisa and a soaring synth and one that was just Lisa's vocals without backing. There was even one song with Brendan singing, which Lisa actually left the stage for, which sounded to me more like country and western than anything else. I definitely strongly preferred the songs with Lisa as a focus.

She was wearing a rather dramatic outfit too. Barefoot, with a huge billowing gown in sunshine yellow, she looked like she'd been transported from another place and time. For most of the gig she had a stand for her instruments which was covered with a white cloth and in the changing coloured lights it sometimes looked like part of the dress, they matched up so neatly.

Lisa apart, the light show and the visuals were not anything special. I'd have been as happy to close my eyes and listen, and indeed did that a couple of times. It was a lovely concert, and the first song nearly brought tears to my eyes, but after that I just wasn't emotionally engaged and I'm not sure why, although I was very tired. I did enjoy it though, and I am glad I went.

I do hope the Forum gig tonight is as good, and that the audience show the same hushed reverence we enjoyed last night, but my experience of Forum audiences makes me sceptical. I believe that this is not a show that can be enjoyed with someone chattering a few feet away.

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

Medieval sounding hurdy gurdy

Or their "Dead can fucking Morris Dance" style as I think of it.

[childeric.livejournal.com]

Yes, I thought the sound was pretty good too, and I liked the vocals being so high up in the mix.

OTOH, with a voice of her quality, I did slightly wonder about the need for electronic amplification at all. In a place with such a good acoustic as the Barbican it shouldn't really be necessary for someone who can actually sing properly, as DCD-woman, whatever her name is, can. OK, when the rest of the band were playing then she'd have been drowned out by all the amplified sounds, but there were some songs where she was pretty much solo, but still used a microphone, which seemed a little bit of a cop-out.

The other thing that bemused me about the sound is the fact that such considerable expense and effort has gone into making absolutely sure that the Barbican, despite its size and cavernousness, doesn't have an echo. But considerable expense and effort had then also gone into putting an echo back in electronically in the course of processing and amplification of the sound. Yes, sure, I know why it happens like that, but it does seem a little nuts. :-)

Seriously, it made me think of what bloody awful sound quality most rock venues have, mainly because the Barbican's is so extremely good. Why on earth do we put up with it?

[gothbabe.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I am going to the Forum tonight for the same reasons that you went to the Barbican. Sounds like it will be exciting. I think the Forum will be good because, to me, it is a fairly intimate venue compared to the arenas.

[funkyplaid.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review, the likes of which I always enjoy in your journal. I'll be looking forward to seeing them here in California a bit later on in the year.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Heh, I actually asked Krys to email me your Barbican review (which I knew you'd've posted) before I went to see them at the Forum last night. Almost sorry I did because of that NEIL DIAMOND COMPARISON (Holy HELL, I'd never even noticed that but now you've said it, it's all I can think about!) but aside from that, great review.

You were psychically accurate in predicting the Forum audience would be an inconsiderate bunch of tossers, by and large, but the performance was absolutely astonishing... I'll post a review some time soon when I get more than five minutes on LJ.

[andypop.livejournal.com]

Oi. Nothing wrong with Neil Diamond.