Review of Bell X1 at Vicar Street – April 6th 2011
Review by Christof Dugarry
Photos by Sean Smyth
It’s well established that I am a huge Bell X1 fan and that I really think highly of their latest album (reviewed here). All I was hoping for on Wednesday night was an opportunity to hear some of the old material songs, songs of the new record that I had imagined would be played differently or sound better live and perhaps a sneaky ear into some of the B-sides. Given the amount of rigor I put myself through in reviewing an album coupled with having been a Bellies fan for the entire span of the career to date, it was hard to quantify my expectations really; I was at somewhat of expectation equilibrium.
Vicar street is my favorite venue in the country, not so much for the sound, layout, lighting (though all are very accomplished), but for the bands I’ve seen, the moments I’ve laid witness to and that promise the venue brings for the future. It will bring redemption for some bands and bring new acts to the front. The night kicked off with the atmospheric Ambience Affair. I have to say, I don’t usually get giddy about support acts, but these guys are fantastic. Their music resembles a more vivid Mice Parade, with drumming all the more relentless. Their lead singer has a tremendous voice, one of inherent intensity and above all anger. But not wrecking ball anger, more of a controlled explosion you might see for high standing buildings. Above all the control and balance is perfectly held and never really leaves the parameters set by the music. They played songs off ‘Patterns’ their quite simply perfect EP before giving us a taste of their album to come with a great number called ‘The Fall.’ It’s a measure of how impressed I was that I immediately left and purchased ‘Patterns’ in the foyer and I wasn’t the only one. Keep your eyes on these guys, a truly great act.
Enter stage Bell X1, who opened with the first three tracks of ‘Bloodless Coup’ their latest installment to great effect. I had suspected that the ‘Hey Anna Lena’ doubters would be compelled by its live performance. I wasn’t wrong; the build in the song was far more vivid and overwhelming. ‘Velcro’ will serve the band with a commercially enduring number that will become what ‘Rocky Took a Lover’ is to us now. The gig gave us a fantastic rendition of ‘Nightwatchmen’ and when the heavier guitar kicked in, all too akin to what the Juniper files sound like, you could really see why Paul said they were “dying to play these.” Then the guys appeased all of us “Music in Mouth” and “Neither Am I” fat cats with ‘Bad Skin Day’ ‘Next to you’ (with Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’ intertwined) and ‘I’ll see your heart’ (incidentally the first time I haven’t heard this with another song woven seamlessly with the end of the song). Musically, they guys are a lot stronger now and in particular the addition the drummer has given the band a real feather to their cap. The view we had from the balcony really enabled us to see exactly what was received well and what wasn’t. This was aided, in no small measure, by how many cameras were recording the performance. Such are the times we live in.
But trying to be balanced, and by Bell X1 fatigue, they were rusty in parts. Paul stalled twice, both during ‘Rocky’ and then again later in ‘Flame’ though all of their new songs suffered no such cobwebs to break out of. The crowd reacted well to all of it, with the one exception being ‘Safer than love.’ You could see the bands hesitation, Paul actually winced when announcing this was the last number they would play off the new record, after a stripped down version of ‘Trailing Skirts’ proving that innate strength of unplugged the guys possess. All in all a strong show was brought to a close with ‘Eve’ which was really received well and admission from the band that the strength of their fans encouraged them to find a new form of this song. On reflection, a great gig and the fact that the guys didn’t return to the norm with their renditions, heavier versions of ‘Tongue ‘ along with breaking from adding Flaming Lips or another compatible song to the end of the consuming ‘I’ll see your heart’, shows a band willing to be more nimble and test the boundaries. All is well in the state of Denmark; there is no loss in enthusiasm, no lower measure of fever in Paul’s dance moves, or signs of pure delight to be playing live. Number 5 is settling well, it won’t be long before it puts on its slippers and gets cozy in front of the fire, hopefully shortly followed by number 6.
