On Wedneday night, 2nd September, I went to see Mick Flannery for the second time in a month, in another tiny venue called the Blackbird, a pub in Ballycotton, around 30 miles from Cork, which has a small back room used for intimate (estimated max capacity of 50!) gigs. It was too small for the full band to fit in, and the drummer had to stay home; also, unexpectedly, did Yvonne, his back-up singer and usual duet partner. Violinist Karen had to step in and fill her shoes, and did very well under the circumstances!
A few weeks back, I wrote a long piece and review on Mick (see here), so I will keep this one short. Basically, the latest gig was very different, partly due to the line-up and also partly due to the set-list, which featured an idiosynchractic choice of cover versions, as well as the usual stuff from his two albums (some notable omissions included 'Safety rope'). Nonetheless, it was a great gig, and he was in sligthly more relaxed form (a relative term for Mick); I am becoming convinced he is developing a very definite stage personality which is based around not having a stage personality, and his nervousness and self-deprecation is an essential part of the charm package.
The first cover was Tom Waits' 'Martha' (as also played in the previous gig) and which he was somewhat 'pressurised' to do by my wife, after explaining the fact that our daughter was named after the song. Fair play to him for playing it out of either loyalty to his fans or fear, and it can be seen below (remembered to turn the phone around after the first few seconds):
The next cover caught me off guard as I was going 'I know it, I know it....' before my mental filing of everything Uncut taught me brought the Felice Brothers to my lips, and even the song name ('Frankie's gun'); I downloaded the album ages ago and this was the only track which really stood out for me. Eventually, after the penny dropped, I got a quick clip as seen below:
And finally, I will include another surprising (and yet fairly logical) cover, of Springsteen's 'The river', and the clip includes some audience banter and eventual mass participation (all 50 of us!) in a really lovely and powerful version:
As has happened before, my N95 lost the will to film at this point, and the battery faded badly, and so I missed what was still a good lively final cover of 'The night they drove old Dixie down', before a short encore (they couldn't go anywhere - the crowd was blocking the door), and the final song was, appropriately, 'Goodbye'.
Another great gig and I remain a true believer with the fervour of the convert; he has announed more gigs in Cork and the U.K. (see here) and wherever the hell you are, you should get to one of them.
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