The Frames, Mark Geary,Melanie Horsnell @ The MetroTheatre, 30/03/2005

Thu 31st Mar, 2005 in Gig Reviews

Was The Metro Theatre crowd shy tonight? Melanie Horsnell, alone on the big stage with her acoustic guitar, dared to ask the question. I don’t know if anyone has ever voiced those types of sentiments at a Frames gig before but tonight was one of those nights.

With delicate fingers and a soft, fragile voice Melanie Horsnell took the growing crowd on a journey; the quiet moments, filled with contemplation and regret, of Birds and Beautiful Excuse before changing the tempo with I Just Want Some Love which has a great rhythm which builds throughout the song.

On his first trip to Australia, Mark Geary did initially seem a little overwhelmed when straight into his first song, America, he caught the crowd singing along. His brash guitar playing, lyrics thick with his Dublin accent, and melodies evoked feelings of old Irish rebel songs. There’s a certain straight forwardness in his delivery that makes you believe he’s opening the door to his soul for just the briefest of moments to let you in. Ever the joker, in between songs he was joined by the crowd, who at this stage had almost fully arrived, in a loud and boisterous sing along to finish his set on Volunteers.

Without much ado Glen Hansard, vocals and guitars, Joseph Doyle, bass, guitarists Rob Bochnik and Simon Good, and drummer Johnny Boyle, better known as The Frames, took to the stage to ecstatic shouts from the packed house in front of them. Boyle languidly counted the band into Caution to the Birds and we were away.

There was a palpable energy in the air tonight as it almost felt like the band were holding back slightly, before crashing into the song’s chorus with loud and distorted guitars. Across the stage as Hansard delivered the angst filled lyrics, Doyle and Bochnik were miming along really fealing what was happening. It’s always a very exciting thing to see bands get into their own music on stage.

As the slow burning Keepsake quickly caught fire Hansard forsook guitar duties, dancing around stage as the song crescendoed in classic Frames style – all instruments pushed to their limits in an intense mix of melody and noise. The sobering Dream Awake began with accompanying claps from the crowd. Hansard, in-between fits of laughter and singing the song, put it frankly when he said “This is hardly a clap-alonger!”

The crowd was keen to get involved. And this is the most tangible of elements at a Frames gig – the interaction between the band and the audience. The audience seems almost an extension of the performance, allowing the natural ebb and flow of The Frames wide-ranging resonance. And it is the intuitive crowd, their deep understanding of the band’s performance mechanics and the music that opens up the gig for Hansard and Doyle to delve into the more subtle moments of certain songs, played out in the finely balanced harmonising of their two voices.

The idea that an audience has come to see a band perform a swag of songs is made to seem weary and dated when standing up next to the band on stage in full flight. It’s a communal gathering, a celebration. Whether having seen the band only once or more than half a dozen most of the hard-core many fans would tell you with a knowing look that the most recent gig they have seen from them was the one that moved them the most. It’s more than hearing your favourite songs performed by exciting musicians playing beautifully composed songs. Each experience will differ from any you’ve ever been to before. The down-to-earth charm of the band, their humility when faced with the wave of emotion from the crowd evokes something new and special with each date.

Tonight was no exception. New-to-the-fold drummer, Johnny Boyle, certainly earned his stripes on Dream Awake with such an intensity it must’ve hurt.

Finally ended the opening movement, and not since Radiohead in The Olympia, Dublin, in May 2003 have I seen a band so totally committed to it’s new music that they begin a gig with four new songs straight, off new album Burn The Maps, and have the crowd hanging off the walls. And it was just before the climatic moment in Finally when Hansard taunted the audience: “What have you got?”

Supreme confidence.

Dedicating What Happens When the Heart Just Stops? to Paul Hester, the night was filled with little moments of reflection. Red Chord’s near-to-heartbreak melody giving way to Van Morisson’s Here Comes The Night before blending in Heyday, originally written by modern Irish folk hero, Mic Christopher (1969-2001), whose ex-Mary Jane’s band mate and now Frames guitarist, Simon Good, lowered his head, nodding solemnly while the band treaded lightly.

Events seemed to take a turn for the bizarre when after a noodling solo by Bochnik, Luka Bloom sauntered on stage to perform Fools Rush In in his patented deep drawl. Soon after, while trying to get some hush from the crowd before beginning Star Star the band walked off stage after someone on the crowd told Hansard that he should shut up and stop asking the crowd to.

For five minutes the crowd wavered between trying to be ultra-quite and making so much noise the band would have to return. They did of course, and finally got through Star Star, with Doyle ending the song with the sweetest version of Rolf Harris’s 2 Little Boys.

But I think the connection was severed, ever so slightly. The Frames are great showmen, but was what happened part of the show or a manifest frustration with an un-cooperative crowd, something The Frames aren’t known to experience all that often?

Revelate packed its usual euphoric punch and after Trying, an understated song filled with resignation, Hansard was pleased to let everyone know that during the song he got the quiet he was looking for.

Suffer in Silence ended the night with the feeling of a warm embrace – not to heavy, not to light. There was good feeling between the band and crowd and I’m sure if there was any hope of the band doing a third encore people would’ve hung around until sunrise.

The most exciting thing about The Frames live is that they play with such enthusiasm and passion. This is evident in their faces while performing, in the looks they exchange between each other and the rapt attention they get from the audience. Tonight was no different, yet I left feeling something very strange and unusual had happened.