Carl Barat at The Academy 2, Dublin on November 15th 2010
Review by Aisling O’Brien
Walking down Middle Abbey Street on Monday evening, I noticed a group of excited lads crowded around somebody. It turned out to be the star of the evening Mr Carl Barat obliging his fans with photos and autographs, which is always nice to see.
Carl’s support act came in the form of the excellent Dublin based band, Sweet Jane Lydia takes the driving seat on vocals with her soft voice which fits perfectly with Danda’s. Lydia is up there with the best of them, not only as a striking front woman but an expert hand with the tamborine, Where’s Your Money was one of the more uptempo tracks that a few moshers were loving which in turn sparked some crowd banter. The band’s record Sugar For My Soul is definitely worth a listen. After informing the buzzing crowd that Carl’s sound check sounded amazing, Sweet Jane left the stage.
Carl, looking like he may have had a sherry or two, came from the right hand side of the stage through the crowd and greeted us with a simple “Hello Dublin” which was met with a burst of man love, ” love you Carl”. Run With The Boys got the crowd going before The Man Who Would Be King excited everyone, particularly those there in a hope for a Libertine infused evening.
On Carve My Name and Love Is A Graveyard I noticed the bassist was now playing a cello. Carl told us that it was “the last night of the tour so thanks for coming down”. To be honest for parts of the gig, half the crowd were very enthusiastic and the other half seemed somewhat bemused. Maybe it was that his current album hasn’t been overly promoted, or people there for the hits, or that Carl himself was slightly worse for wear. Either way the enthusiastic members began chanting Carl’s name and were moshing away. The Magus received a great reaction from the crowd. “Are you having a good time?” Carl asked the crowd.
So Long My Lover inspired one fan to get his lighter out, what was a tender moment for some. I couldn’t help but notice the constant murmurs of chatter which promptly ended as soon as the opening chords of Up The Bracket were played. Needless to say everyone went mental and when he finished chants of We Love You Carlos echoed the room, to which he replied “Very Sweet”.
On a slightly morbid theme before a break Carl played Death Fires Burn At Night and Libertines classic Death on the Stairs, finishing with Dirty Pretty Things biggest hit Bang Bang (You’re Dead). “Thank You Dublin Mwah” and he left the stage. Chants for the song France ensued.
After a short wait Carl was back on stage ” Alright Dublin, what do you want? This seemed to have been more of an interval rather than an encore. There was some kerfuffle between Carl and a guy up the front.9 Lives and France were crowd pleasers. Carl then introduced the band who then delved in to Time For Heroes, a highlight of the gig for me.
Carl told the crowd that he really enjoyed the gig and launched in to What A Waster. “Want one more? Two more?” With that he played a lovely version of a personal favorite Music When The Lights Go Out. Finishing with Don’t Look Back Into The Sun and jumped in the crowd.