Words by Kev Meagher

Where does the time go? The last time I saw Josh Ritter live it was in a packed tent at Electric Picnic 2006 when the talented American had just released his third album, ‘The Animal Wars’, and was beginning to receive praise from music critics in the states. Now here I am, five years later, sitting in a sold out Vicar St. to see the Idaho native once again, who since I had last seen him, had released two acclaimed albums and developed the reputation as one of the most gifted American songwriters of his generation. When you consider Josh would play open mic nights around Dublin less than a decade ago its a testament to his talent to have come so far.

Arriving late to the venue, I miss the support act for the night, Tiff Merritt, but judging by the crowd atmosphere as I took my seat it was warmly received. Vicar St. was in it’s all-seated setup, but that did not dampen the atmosphere. Josh Ritter took to the stage on his own and opened with ‘Bright Smile’, which was accompanied by a bright smile of his own, as he was joined by his band for a re-interpreted version of ‘Other Side’, he was clearly a man who is enjoying performing at the moment. This energy was not lost on his audience, who were in good voice for the chorus of ‘Good Man’  and ‘Lillian, Egypt’ which followed and quietly respectful during the slower part of the set that included ‘Southern Pacifica’ and ‘The Curse’, running into old favorite ‘Harrisburg’.

Josh kept smiling throughout, and seemed clearly delighted to be back in Ireland. He alluded to the story of Hamlet midway through Harrisburg, stating there is nothing worse than waking up on a Tuesday to find you are the King of Denmark, then going into an excellent cover of Talking Head’s ‘Once in a lifetime’, which was one of the highlights of the night. This was followed by ‘Wild Goose’ and ‘Galahad’ from his new E.P ‘The yet unknowing world’, Galahad tells the story of Sir Galahad searching for the holy grail and is as close as Josh Ritter gets to a dirty limerick and in the end he had even himself laughing.

With two more beautifully written songs in ‘Monster Ballads’ and ‘Another New World’, Josh shows once again his ability to captivate a crowd with the rich imagery he creates. A cover of ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ by The Velvet Underground, but you could mistake it for yet another song from Ritter’s back catalog, wonderfully delivered with the rest of the band providing a vocal accompaniment. Another old favorite followed in the form of ‘Lawrence, Ks’, which was once again re-interpreted by the Royal City Band, which then took us home with crowd favorite ‘Kathleen’ and a wonderful performance of ‘Change of Time’, which gently faded out with the crowd still softly singing the chorus, a perfect representation of the type of night it was. With the end in sight, the band turned the tempo up with ‘Lantern’ and left to a standing ovation from the crowd.

With the grin even wider on his face, Josh and the band returned to the stage to play a foot stomping version of ‘Wolves’, Josh then invited the support act Tiff Merriet out to play a song, which in fairness was a bit of a mood killer, with half the crowd sitting down. The band closed with ‘To the Dogs or whatever’, that despite the momentum being hindered by the previous song, had everyone dancing up again.

As the band took a bow on stage you would have never guessed they had been playing for nearly two hours as they soaked up the applause from the crowd, with Josh’s smile the biggest it’s been all night, he clearly enjoyed himself as much as the crowd did. Josh even hung around for two hours after the show to meet the fans and sign, something you rarely see from other artists.

While a majority of the set was songs from his latest album, there was no drop in quality throughout the night. He is a songwriter at the top of his game with a back catalog of wonderful songs, some of which didn’t even make the setlist tonight, such as ‘Snow is gone’ and ‘Temptation of Adam’, but I can guarantee that I won’t be leaving it another five years before seeing him again.

Setlist

  • Bright Smile
  • Other Side
  • Good Man
  • Lillian, Egypt
  • Southern Pacifica
  • Folk Bloodbath
  • The Curse
  • Lark
  • Long Shadows
  • ????
  • Harrisburg
  • Hamlet/Once In a Lifetime (Talking Heads Cover)
  • Wild Goose
  • Galahad
  • Monster Ballads
  • Another New World
  • Pale Blue Eyes (Velvet Underground Cover)
  • Lawrence, Ks
  • Kathleen
  • Change of Time
  • Lantern

Encore

  • Wolves
  • Another Country – Tiff Merritt
  • To the Dogs or whatever