Juliette and the Licks
Sunday 20th February 2005
Voodoo Lounge
Dublin

juliette and the licks - dublin voodoo lounge.


Juliette Lewis and the Licks. Some people might find this a case for musical politics. Miss Lewis has an acting career, which allegedly alters interpretations of her musical career. I won't bother overanalysing the different types of publicity afflicting this band. I attended with the expectation of a good time in the company of professional musicians. It could have been any band I hadn't heard before. It could have been any gig. It just happened that I'd see the singer on TV*. I'm pretty used to seeing things on TV*.

It's cold these days. I'd had a weekend of bed and fires. We (fee, me, denee) stood second row and waited for the band. Voodoo is small. The useful front gig area is titchy, the space behind stretches long and thin.

Band came out first. Lean musicians. Lean singer came out next. Visually it was pretty strange, as the stage was too small for that many people. We were extremely close. One or two bodies between me and the very foot of the stage. No security space, though two burly guys came and stood at the front. They got sweat on them. No-one was able to move back when they asked. But they were polite, unlike the jerks at The Point Theatre.

Anyhoo, it was another gig that shouldn't have been missed. Tough luck if you missed it. Sound quality - we were in front of (or behind) the main speakers, so our noise came from bleed and stage amps. Like a rehearsal. Or on the stage for that matter. It sounded good. The drums sounded damned good.

Juliette Lewis did her thing. Bended around a lot, messed with the crowd, gave presents (nice glove), took presents - she touched and sweated to her extreme credit. She also went for a little crowd surfing, which was a nice thing for her to do. Only saw one other person do that - Flavour Flav.

So yeah, it was a good gig. I've seen bigger names play worse.

Afterwards there was some hanging around. Fee got me a setlist, then I got her one. Sort of a strange way to get them. It still beats t-shirts.

Walked all the way to Ranelagh.

Went to bed and slept in late for work.

(again)





But what about the support?

Support one was a nice girl. She seemed to think she was screwing everything up, but her voice was good and her guitar sounded nice. So she played, then stopped, then told us how uncomfortable she was, then played some more, then explained how the strap was wrong, then wished out loud for a seat to hold the guitar higher. This might all seem crap, but still she could sing (deep dark smooth singing). I liked it. She had nice shoes.

Support two were a little stranger. Trio. Smelt of a different bands. Clothes said one thing, I thought the music said another. Nice guitar solos, lovely crunchy thinline. Strange boys. I wasn't convinced, coz I'm picky. The girl who started the show convinced me more. That said, these guys were still pretty good, they just needed more makeup and some smiles for the crowd. The bassist was doing fine with the sid thing. I'll wait and see...



* yes - I know she's a film actor. tv is just my way of saying popular visual media, and that makes it easier to explain. it's not worth this. (sorry fee)



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