Eels play the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. Hmm…
donnie darko tattoo
First of all, I don’t like how the word "Eels" looks in type, so I'm tempted to make it "eels" from now on. Another tough call for my misdirected thinking…
donnie darko tattoo
Anyhow. Dr. J sent me a mail proposing this concert two or three days beforehand. As I’m nothing but a person of pure ambition and drive, I agreed to attend.
donnie darko tattoo
We met up at the Temple beforehand. I was spaced out of my mind from too many computers and trippy satellite TV. I sat waiting on the ground by Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, then saw Dr. J chatting with the elusive Fashid and went on over.
donnie darko tattoo
Food:
Steps of Rome.
Easy table.
All good.
donnie darko tattoo
We wandered down to The Olympia and strolled in. The front area was off limits, so we got second row in the non-front area. The two girls in front of us turned around after a while and we chatted with them. They were nice Americans, from New Orleans. Of greatest importance was one girl’s tattoo – the time from Donnie Darko imprinted across her lower back. Since it’s still possibly the best movie around, having a Donnie Darko tattoo was pretty frickin’ impressive. I didn’t convey this to her, for I was shocked at a coincidence.
donnie darko tattoo
Support: a guy called MC Honkey, E’s favourite DJ. We thought it was E in a disguise. We were wrong. He was good.
donnie darko tattoo
A while later the curtain stayed down and the band began to play. Curtain up, and I wondered where E was. A guy on stage started shining a light around, and I wondered why he would do that. Follow the light, and there’s E up in one of the Olympia’s Boxes playing a mouth organ. He climbed over the edge onto the PA stack and down to the stage. Entrances – you don’t have to just walk on and play.
donnie darko tattoo
It was a good show. Musically I liked it all: the loud songs, the quiet songs, the songs where they played both loud and quiet. The band played good and looked great. Their names were Pudding (drums), Pretty Boy (guitar) and Koool G (bass). Checking the eels site, I’m not so sure about these names, but that’s what I heard at the time.
donnie darko tattoo
The show played through with a reasonable number of encores. I enjoyed it. The sound was pristine. There were no songs that lost my attention, and pretty much all of it was first listen. Of course, I’m getting very good at first listen shows, and perhaps these evenings are my superior alternative to the theatre (plays freak me a little).
donnie darko tattoo
The lights finally came up. After a brief standaround we exited to the alley and headed up Dame Street. Dr. J popped into Centra for a magazine and I hung around on the street, developing a quick taste for it. We then hung around the Central Bank for a while, attracting both the homeless and the addicted (but no pretty girls, as Dr. J so wisely pointed out).

We walked up Georges and Aungier Streets, perplexed that the stolen record shop was still open and reeking of booze (at 11pm?).

I crossed the Green to get my stinking suicide-bus. I found a very nice feather on the way.


notes:
1. Dr. J saw the guy from the McAlmont and Butler gig on the way to the Olympia.
2. I downloaded the "Saturday" video from the eels site, and E seems to be wearing the same clothes/sunglasses and playing the same guitar as he did last night. See pic below.
3. I just wrote on myself again…





(he looked just like this on monday)