Review at Whelan’s on February 2nd 2012.
Reviewer: Claire Kane
When Cathy Davey announced a three night residency at Dublin music venue, Whelan’s, an immediate buzz of excitement circled among music fans in the capital, as it would be the first time Davey would play in Dublin in just over year. Rather than playing the same show on three different dates, Davey decided to offer fans a different kind of performance for each show; on the 9th she would revisit her critically acclaimed performance from the 2008 fringe festival, ‘Songs That Scare Children’, those heading to the gig on the 16th will be treated to a set entitled ‘Heroes’ in which she will perform covers of her favourite songs by the artists that have influenced her. On February 2nd however, fans of Davey were delighted to take in a performance of several of her personal favourite songs from her first three albums.
The gig was opened by Joe Chester, whose mellow soundings meshed well with the chilled out atmosphere before the crowd enlarged. Once Davey arrived on stage, the atmosphere changed as the audience grew in numbers and excitement. Opening with Habit, Davey seemed on good form, greeting the crowd with a genuine smile. It was not long until the room was buzzing as Davey churned out the hits with “Reuben”, from 2007 album Tales of silversleeve, getting a particularly warm welcome from the crowd. In Davey’s earlier career her timid demeanour was often the subject of commentary, however during the set she admitted that she had become more comfortable in her own skin, and was more at ease with talking to an audience in between songs; this lent a friendly and upfront quality to the already intimate gig. Her new-found comfort was obvious as she danced while singing more recent songs such as Dog and a relaxed confession that at one point she hated her first album. Her positive attitude certainly impacted her performance for the better as she delivered each song with gusto, not slipping up at any stage, apart from a minor hiccup. When the remarkable singer was launching into a cover of Billy Holiday’s Gloomy Sunday, a preview of what is to come on the 16th, she stopped during the intro to re-tune her guitar but, as with all true performers, she did not appear flustered and her band backed her up with an impromptu yet professional interlude as she tuned up.
One particular highlight of the evening was Sing for your supper, arguably Davey’s most remarkable song, her voice somehow seemed at its best than it had been throughout the entire night, almost sounding like a well produced, recorded version of the song, so perfect it was. The audience was in the palm of her hand, instantly seduced by the simple guitar and soft vocals of the song, and moved to clapping along as the drum beat built up. Once the main performance was finished, Davey and her extremely talented band returned to the stage to deliver the inevitable encore which consisted of two songs; the tender End of the End and her best known song, Moving. The latter was received with a woop of delight from the crowd, leaving the show off where it had started, with excitement and joy from both the singer and her fans.