Sting - The Symphonicity Tour - O2 Arena Dublin - 7 Oct 2010

Sting has been a superstar forever and his musical pedigree is truly impeccable. Apart from his hugely successful solo career his previous incarnation as front man with the Police had already made him a rock legend long before his own solo albums would produce modern pop/rock classics. The problem for someone like Sting these days is two-fold. Firstly, how do you top what has gone before and Secondly, how do you remain true to your art in a musical landscape that elevates mass karaoke (XFactor etc) ahead of real vibrant original popular music. It is almost impossible these days for a new talented rock band or original pop singer/songwriter to be heard let alone successful. The recent breakthrough of Irish band ‘The Script’ does give some small grounds for hope. Equally it has become genuinely difficult for established stars to crack the charts and remain successful and relevant to a generation hypnotised (one hopes not permanently so) by the musical equivalent of a quick buck.

Mounting the Symphonicity world tour which involves not just Sting and his own band but just by the way the entire Royal Philharmonic Orchestra must have been a huge financial risk even for someone as famous as Sting. Its worldwide success has been achieved with relatively little media coverage and in many ways is all the better for that. The show is much more than just another Sting concert it is a true musical event. If you missed the tour buy the DVD filmed at Denver’s Red Rocks Concert venue as Symphonicity is simply un-missable.

To review this show is almost pointless as it simply has to be experienced. Sting & Maestro Conductor Steven Mercurio ensure that this brave fusion of classical musicianship and outstanding orchestration with modern contemporary popular music at its best works beautifully. Sting’s songs are expertly reinterpreted with brand new orchestrations arranged by Jorge Calandrelli, David Hartley, Michel Legrand among others. Police classics such as Roxanne, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic and Every Breath You Take are featured along with some of the biggest hits from Sting’s solo career, such as Englishman in New York, Fragile, If I Ever Lose My Faith in You, Fields of Gold and the stunning re-imagining of his 1980s masterpiece ‘Russians’. The finale featuring his most recent success ‘Desert Rose’ brings the evening to a close in an almost dreamlike frenzied atmosphere.

Symphonicity showcases just how magnificent much of Sting and The Police’s musical output actually is and how it borrows from more classical roots. Mozart himself would not be out of place in Sting’s world nor he in his. This is not just a great show but a work of true musical magic. Stings vocals and artistry blend perfectly with the orchestra’s magnificent sound combining to make Symphonicity one of the hottest tours in years. To accompany the world tour, Sting has released a new CD ‘Symphonicities’ along with the aforementioned DVD and TV special for Biography Channel. The music Sting has created is truly eternal.

Sting - The Symphoncity Tour - Live at the O2 Dublin - 7th October 2010

Review will appear soon

Leona Daly - A Star whose time will come

Why Singer ‘Leona Daly’ at Eurosong 2008 showed us how Crazy Ireland Inc. had become

Much has been written of late about how Ireland is perceived internationally and how vital it is to have a serious and positive image abroad to lend credibility to our State. We wonder how it all went so wrong blaming our leaders for all the harm rather than also looking at our own role in creating this mess.

In 2008 at the Irish national Eurosong final some signs of how cavalier our attitudes towards our international reputation had become were clear for all to see. At that stage elements of the general public in this country had become so arrogant that we felt it would somehow be amusing to send an (at best) mildly amusing glove puppet turkey to represent us at Eurovision rather than a multi talented stunningly beautiful new female singer songwriter (Leona Daly).

Her clever and original song ‘crazy after all’ would have had a serious chance of winning Eurovision, instead she was forced to stand aside and see her brilliant performance voted second best. Somehow we in Ireland felt that the joke would transfer internationally. It did but the Joke was on us. When Europe dismissed our folly we blamed the continent for lacking a sense of humour not ourselves for behaving like idiots.

In the ensuing mess a great new emerging talent was overlooked. One can only hope that soon Leona Daly will emerge successfully in her own right and be able to put the collective madness of that night in 2008 behind her. One hopes also that Ireland too will realise that we should be celebrating our best and brightest not wallowing in misplaced arrogance. Crucially we as a people must also take at least some responsibility for our damaged international reputation and realise that no country can afford to ignore international opinion.

Leona Daly’s experience that night is important. She was the best of the best asking her country to give her a chance to shine internationally and by association also show Ireland at its best. Instead we chose a stupid colloquial comedy act and expected Europe to laugh along. They did but the joke was entirely on us.

Daniel Lindon
http://daniellindonreviews.blogspot.com

Red Hurley (With Rita Coolidge) Grand Canal Theatre Dublin 25 September 2010

Red Hurley once the King of Ireland's Pop Muisc Scene in the 1970s and early 80s has of late been enjoying a huge career resurgence both in Ireland and the USA. In 2010 he celebrates 40 years in show business with a sell out tour of Ireland with legendary US Singer Rita Coolidge. The highlight was the sell out show at Dublin's spectacular Grand Canal Theatre where Red was joined on stage by legendary US singer Rita Coolidge and many of his friends. The audience profile saw just how successful Hurley's return to the top has become with fans of all ages packing the venue and giving the veteran star 2 standing ovations. He delivered knockout performances of his many chart Hits while dipping into pop history to showcase how his amazing voice can breathe new life into classic pop songs. Particular highlights of the Grand Canal Concert were beautiful and moving performances of Gospel classics 'Deep River' and 'Amazing Grace' (a duet with Coolidge). He closed the show with the truly spectacular 'Danny Boy Trilogy' a fusion of the familiar 'Derry Air' with the American 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' which literally makes grown men cry such is the depth of emotion and pathos which Red Hurley brings to the piece. This man is quite simply not just one of the best singers in the world but also one of the finest interpreters of popular song.

A new admirer of Red's is none other than American Icon (Pullizer Prize Winning Author) Maya Angelou who calls Red 'Her Son' and who has helped introduce Red Hurley to a whole new audience in America. Between 2003 and 2010 Red has recorded 6 successful new albums including a Gospel Album 'How Great Thou Art' and returned to the Irish Top Ten in 2009 with a greatest hits compilation Red Hurley 'The Hits'. He has also starred in a coast to coast TV special for PBS in America in 2006 filmed before a live audience in Dublin's Olympia Theatre. A second PBS TV special is planned for 2011. Speaking in Sept 2010 of the renewed interest in his career Red said that he is 'delighted and really enjoying his life again'. Kevin Myers writing in the Irish Independent in Sept 2010 said 'His intuitive sense of the beautiful is one reason why Red Hurley is such a wonderful singer. He will find the key element of any song -- a single note or phrase -- and elevate that into an unexpected little musical jewel'.

Rarely has an artist had the persistence and self belief to rise above so many career setbacks as Hurley has and re-emerge once again triumphant. His is without a doubt one of the best male voices of all time and his international success is long overdue'. It has taken the world a long time to discover just how great Red Hurley is. Lets hope he keeps entertaining us for many years and that the media both at home and abroad come to appreciate just how great a singer he really is.
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Marianne Faithfull - Live In Concert 2010

Marianne Faithfull: Live: Grand Canal Theatre Dublin 23 June 2010

The ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ tour (named for the slow burning successful 2009 album of the same name) finally came to an end at this Dublin concert after almost 18 months of concert performances worldwide. Perhaps the last full world tour to be undertaken by this legendary artist, this final show of the tour was one of the finest rock performances I have ever seen. Everything about the show was perfect, the band, the songs, the ambience, the venue and of course Faithfull herself. Forever linked in the public mind with the swinging sixties, Marianne Faithfull is one of the last great surviving icons of that era. She is however much more than that. Her talent is truly unique and her live performances are a truly moving experience. Haunting and at times genuinely macabre and even disturbing, Faithfull’s work has few parallels in modern music. Her contribution to music, now increasingly recognised, is immense. From her early 60s pop ingénue chart hits to classic works like 'Broken English’, ‘Strange Weather‘, ‘Secret Life’ and the stunning live album ‘Blazing Away’ recorded in New York through to her latest album, Faithfull has managed to carve a niche for her particular brand of music. Her live audiences are transported to a different place entering the world of Marianne, light and dark, amusing and moving, occasionally truly unnerving, the artist herself is left ragged and tired having literally given her all for her art.
One of the world’s best interpreters of a variety of music styles spanning rock and roll, country and western and pure pop to the more theatrical work of Brecht & Weill, Faithfull has done it all in a career encompassing movies, theatre, recording and live concert performance. This show was all that one has come to expect from Marianne, moving, haunting, funny, offbeat and at times genuinely disturbing. Through it all Faithfull remains above all true to her art and one of the most interesting personalities to emerge from the sixties. Her work has rarely stood still and her life itself has been a roller coaster ride. From chart topping pop princess to down and out drug addict, comeback honky tonk queen in 197Os Ireland (where she recorded her classic version of Waylon Jennings ‘Dreaming my Dreams‘) and her eventual reinvention with 1979 masterpiece, ‘Broken English’ which led to a permanent revival in her career, Faithfull has remained interesting and defiantly different throughout. She is without doubt one the great icons of our time.

The tour is now completed but the album which inspired it 'Easy Come, Easy Go' featuring ‘18 songs for music lovers’ and collaborations with some of the biggest stars in music has been described as one of the best adult pop records of the last decade. Do yourself a favour, Buy It. The lady is a true living legend and still delivers original and challenging work.

Review: Brian Kennedy Live at the National Concert Hall (Dublin) 16 June 2010

I have reviewed Brian Kennedy concerts many times and on each occasion have managed to find further superlatives to use in describing just how talented and truly gifted this man is as a performer, songwriter and interpreter of the work of other artists. For a critic he is the worst nightmare as he is simply so talented that trying to find any fault at all is almost impossible. His most recent NCH concert (part of the 2010 tour) again showcased the particular strengths of this great artist and bona fide Irish superstar. I could reach for the keyboard and list out the high points of this latest Brian Kennedy show (the stunning performance of Brown Eyed Girl, the songs from 'Sweetmouth' his lesser known 1991 collaboration with Brian Nevin, his duet with guest Juliet Turner and so on but I am not going to review this years show in the conventional sense.

Instead given that this is the year when he has been given the Meteor lifetime achievement award, I am going to share with you some of the thoughts that ran through my head as I sat in the front row with the hard core fans and listened once again to yet another magical Brian Kennedy performance covering over 20 years of the significant pop music that he has produced.

If you stay around long enough in any Job people become used to you and begin to take you for granted no matter how talented you may be. Brian Kennedy has been entertaining us for over 20 years and yes his fans do take him for granted but that would be a mistake. Entertainers like him are as rare as hen’s teeth and are sent by the angels to show us just how special the human race can be. It is easy to be critical of most entertainers who often have limited gifts as performers but in Brian Kennedy’s case there really is no point in wasting time on criticism, as he is so talented that resistance to his unique talent is futile. Simon Fuller a manager who should know something about talent as he has recently received his own star in the Hollywood walk of fame once said that of all the artists he ever managed, Brian Kennedy was the most talented. He is right, Brian Kennedy is not in the same class as other entertainers, he is in a class all of his own.

SO

Thank You Brian For:

Preserving the concept of stagecraft and performance in British and Irish pop music in the past 20 years.

Adding significantly to that concept with live performances that are astonishing in the manner in which they combine vocal ability, style and grace, extracting emotions from songs that other lesser artists cannot even dream about.

Being inspired by the great performers and show business legends to produce live shows that are always interesting, spectacular, entertaining, magical and brilliant.

Not allowing the occasional sneering of critics to detract you from developing a variety of musical styles which ensures your live shows are always enjoyable and entertaining

Writing, sourcing, recording and promoting a wealth of original material, which ensures you can dip in to a host of interesting songs in live performances.

Preserving and reinvigorating classic older material with your own distinctive vocal style thus ensuring that a host of new younger artists will rediscover these wonderful songs.

Being open about your own life but concentrating mainly on your art thus providing the perfect example of how a true star can maintain a certain distance from his audience to enable us to continue see him as special and unique

Living the life of a true artist so that others can see it can still be done and that art, good music and success can still go hand in hand

Not allowing recording companies to force you to make poor dull uninspiring records for short term gain instead always doing something different and unexpected to ensure that your audience never becomes bored

Enabling us to hear the sound of your beautiful voice that can move grown men and women to tears and using this unique instrument in a restrained and inspiring manner.

Making us feel love and emotion for each other through the lyrics you write and the way you deliver the lyrics of other writers.

Long may you reign supreme as the greatest male entertainer in these Islands.



Daniel Lindon

Finbar Wright- Bringing 'The Irish Tenor' to the Modern World

The Irish Tenor for the Modern World
Review: Finbar Wright Live in Concert:
Venue: Gaiety Theatre Dublin
Date:Sun 23 May 2010
Finbar Wright is the greatest Irish Tenor of his generation and a fine singer in any genre. The genre he is identified with ‘the Irish Tenor’ has suffered from a degree of unfashionable and often embarassing performers over the years who damaged the appeal of a once popular music field. Through a well planned series of excellent and successful recordings issued over the last 10 years or so, Finbar Wright has restored the reputation of the Irish Tenor not just In his native country but abroad, particularly in the USA where he has a significant following as a live artist. His concert at the Gaiety had been cancelled 2 weeks before due to Wright's recent persistent throat problems but the show was worth waiting for. His live shows are always a delight but his performances on the 2010 tour have been among his best to date. Moving with ease from the regular Irish tenor fare through to songs from writers as diverse as Leonard Cohen, Jimmy Mc Carthy and Lennon/McCartney, Wright proved yet again that not only can he sing in any musical style but he can interpret each piece in a unique and original fashion. His audiences at live shows are a diverse and eclectic mix of young and old. This Irish star is really at his peak just now and his voice and vocal range never better. He is one international hit album away from being a new Pavarotti, a man he paid tribute to in this show though in style he perhaps owes more to greats such as Mario Lanza and John McCormack. Over the next few years with the right recordings and a braver choice of repertoire, he could move to even-greater success. Right now we are fortunate that the genre of the Irish Tenor is in safe hands. Another feature of the show's success is Wright's choice of excellent musicians to accompany him. For his Gaiety theatre show his ensemble included the brilliant classical guitarist Conor McClane, backing singers The Cookies and the musical genuis that is Andy O'Callaghan ,who as musical director for many high profile Irish live artists manages to make all those he works with sound amazing.

Million Dollar Whitney

Review: Whitney Houston Live at the O2 Arena Dublin 17th April 2010
She may not be the singer she once was but Whitney Houston is still a superstar. From the moment she took to the stage in the first of her 3 sell out shows at Dublin’s O2 arena, the audience were willing her to succeed and seemed literally in the palm of her hand. Sure she was coasting a little at times and yes her upper range is not what it used to be BUT Whitney Houston’s voice is still one of the best in the world.

Her recent material from the double platinum CD ‘I look to you’ is strong and contemporary with impressive production and has produced 3 major hits alone in the past 12 months. Whitney Houston has been written off before, her spectacular 1990s comeback album My Love is Your Love was initially a slow seller and took off only when MTV got behind the hit track ‘Its not right but its ok‘. Eventually the critics were falling over themselves to praise it as innovative, original and a masterpiece.

Commercial success has always come relatively easy for her but music critics just as they do with her main contemporary Celine Dion, rarely praise her recording work for fear they might be outed as closet pop diva fans. She and Dion have the two best female voices in modern pop music and have between them sold over a third of a billon records, yet critics prefer to muse about obscure and often irrelevant artists rather than praise the work of these widely popular stars.

Her tour thus far has received some awful reviews. Some of the criticism is deserved. She does leave the stage in the middle of her set, she does talk too much, on occasion she seems temporarily lost in her own thoughts, yet if her Dublin show is a reflection of the tour in general then these bad reviews are exaggerated, unfair and misleading. At times during the concert there are moments of vocal brilliance such as her Gospel set or her 20-minute long segment showcasing her early pop hits. If an artist in her late 40s with a success rate like hers cannot take artistic licence with a note or two without having the media in overdrive predicting her demise then we truly are living in a very sad and intolerant world. Whitney Houston always gave slightly erratic live performances. Her 1990 Barcelona concert televised by Sky was full of the same overlong pauses, talking with audience members and long disappearances for costume changes etc. In essence the current tour is Whitney as she always was just a little edgier and if anything better than before. It is certainly not a performance by an artist in decline.

Whitney Houston has literally been to hell and back in recent years and judging by the occasional high points during her Dublin show, she still posesses elements of her past vocal genius and a presence that if anything is more intense and more authentic than her younger pop princess persona. In the tradition of many black female artists who came before her, Whitney has suffered at the hands of abusive men and unscrupulous music business sharks. Luckily for her, her mentor and friend the legendary music mogul, Clive Davis, was always there to pick her up when she fell. Despite his own advanced years, he is still very much involved with her career and recent comeback. He oversaw the recording of the current album, selecting the songs and producers. The result 'I Look to You' is another pop gem which to date has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

There are many who would like to write her career obituary but Whitney Houston has so far defied the odds. Her fans like those of all true superstars adore her and are loyal to a fault. If this show had been a disaster then I would be honest and say so but instead what I witnessed was an intense, exhilarating, occasionally flawed but always entertaining concert by a true legend of pop music culture. She may have failed to hit the occasional high note but in many ways the current Whitney is more interesting than the previous one. She has made mistakes and lived to regret them but her music is stronger for it and her lyrics sound more authentic and effective. Her closing song Million-Dollar Bill showed a woman who still has something interesting to give to the music world. It may be a tad early to write off Ms. Whitney Houston just yet. She is beginning as her new CD suggests to ‘know her own strength’ and maybe her past problems were caused by an innate shyness and lack of self-confidence which time has helped to mellow somewhat. Watch out world, Whitney the million dollar girl is BACK.

Ronan Keating 2010 Tour Review

Review: Ronan Keating Live at the Grand Canal Theatre Dublin
Date: 23 March 2010
Ronan Keating has often been dismissed by some in the Irish Show business establishment, more comfortable with the old guard traditions of Irish rock or folk stars rather than glamorous handsome pop singers such as Keating. In truth he is part of a long and distinguished tradition of pop singers which Ireland began to produce as far back as the Showband era in the late 1950s and 1960s. Many of these artists who had highly successful careers domestically in Ireland (such as Joe Dolan, Dickie Rock, Red Hurley and Johnny Logan etc) are directly comparable with Ronan Keating. All sang pop rather than rock and all focussed as does Keating on entertaining their audience rather than preaching social change. Ireland’s mass light entertainment pop industry in the 1960s and 70s is not endorsed or praised in the official versions of Irish music history, anymore than Boyzone & Westlife’s success story is today. In short Ireland’s rock and folk establishment are not comfortable with Pop and never have been. In the UK the co-existence of rock with Pop finds more widespread acceptance thus Keating has conquered that market cleverly and with relative ease. Louis Walsh (in reality a brilliant and visionary pop music mogul) is largely derided in the Irish Press for his ‘poor musical taste’ not acknowledging that he has made Ronan Keating the First Internationally successful mainstream Irish male pop star and steered the careers of Boyzone and Westlife into the premier league of pop stardom.
Ronan’s Grand Canal Theatre concert was as perfect a pop performance as can be achieved in a live setting with competent vocals, excellent visuals, outstanding musicianship and above all a commitment to entertain the audience who already know the problems they face and who go to shows like Ronan’s to forget their problems for a few hours and simply enjoy themselves. His set was flawless if somewhat predictable but the big change in Ronan Keating these days (apart from his overly buffed muscles) is the huge improvement in his voice. The one thing that cannot be faked in a live setting is the vocal and Keating has listened and learned from many years of boyband practice how to both sing competently and indeed soar to the higher range when required.
Those who have said in the past that Ronan Keating cannot sing very well should listen to him sing live now and also to his more recent solo Albums (Songs for my Mother and Winter Songs) so well showcased in this excellent live set. His growing maturity as an artist and his improved and more confident vocals make these truly impressive and well produced pop albums. Ronan Keating has grown up and come of age as a performer to be reckoned with for the long hall. I enjoyed his show as did everyone present. He has become a great and professional entertainer. In an era when so many of his contemporaries have faded his survival alone in the cutthroat world of showbusiness is a small miracle. Clearly he is one very determined guy.
Daniel Lindon

Gilbert O'Sullivan 2010 Tour Review

Review: Gilbert O’Sullivan Live at the Grand Canal Theatre Dublin,
25 March 2010
With a public more used to live sophisticated Karaoke a Gilbert O’Sullivan concert tour is a risky venture for any promoter these days. Back in the 1970s and early 80s Waterford born Gilbert (born Raymond) O'Sulivan was a true pop superstar. Managed by leading impresario Gordon Mills, who had previously managed Tom Jones, his was a meteoric rise and throughout the decade he had one of the most prolific, successful and innovative careers in popular music history. Recording only his own original material Gilbert was a true trailblazer for all Irish artists, cracking the UK market at a time when it was almost unique to find any Irish acts at the top of the British charts. Often melancholic and quirky he wrote and recorded some of the finest songs of the decade, which have completely stood the test of time. Responsible for a slew of million selling pop masterpieces bought by an army of young fans who literally worshipped at his feet, Gilbert often cut a curious figure in the pop world, more Amadeus than Abba, yet he managed to break through and find a real niche for his distinctive and often brilliant music.
In recent years Gilbert has been gradually re-entering the public psyche. With a back catalogue of true original pop music gems to die for and a pen that is still sharp and composing good new material, his live concerts have been increasingly well attended all over the UK, Ireland and the far east. On his last visit to Dublin, Gilbert played to sell out crowds for almost a week at the Olympia. This time he chose the new, splendid but still largely unknown Grand Canal theatre and his opening night audience was not at capacity as a result. Nonetheless this didn't deter the pop genius and privately shy man from giving a performance to rank with the very best.
Showcasing some of his classic pop hits such as ‘Nothing Rhymed’, ‘Clair’ and ‘Alone Again Naturally’ along with brand new material and beautifully coordinated images from his long career, the audience ended the night with a 10 minute long standing ovation. One male fan summed it up best shouting to a stunned Gilbert from the front row ’you’re still a genius man’ something which he had been proving all night long. The finale found a mature Gilbert find his younger pop star Mojo once again. Jumping onto his grand piano to sing the final section of his 70s anthem ‘Get Down‘ his fans caught a glimpse for a few brief moments of the younger man who conquered the music world and who is responsible for some of the finest songs in modern pop history. With a cast of brilliant musicians and backing singers this really was more than an evening of mere nostalgia for an Irish pop icon, it was a master class from one of Ireland’s very first international pop superstars.
Daniel Lindon

Welcome to Daniel Lindon Reviews

The purpose of this web blog is to publish in one place any reviews I have done for concerts, theatre shows, albums, books etc. Over the next few months I hope to gradually move copies of all my reviews to the blog. I hope you enjoy my reviews and please let me know if you agree or disagree. Life is about freedom of choice ok, thats my philosophy. If you say something over the top I will remove it but otherwise I dont mind. Enjoy the blog.