A sold out Academy witnessed a truly special performance by The Civil Wars on Wednesday night. Joy Williams and John Paul White delivered a wonderful stripped down show heavy on tracks from Grammy winning debut “Barton Hollow” along with a handful of covers and non-album songs.
Taking the stage a bit after nine pm Williams and White opened with “Tip of My Tongue”, before moving through crowd favourites such as “20 Years” and “I’ve Got This Friend”, even throwing in a cover of Portishead’s “Sour Times” for good measure. John Paul then got out his electric guitar for what was an expectedly powerful and hair-raising rendition of the album’s title track “Barton Hollow”, a real highlight of the show.
The second half of the set didn’t disappoint with six tracks from the album including “Falling”, “My Father’s Father”, “Birds of a Feather “and “Poison & Wine” as well as a Jackson 5 cover in “I Want you Back”. Joy and John Paul left the stage briefly just after ten to rapturous applause before reemerging in response to the huge noise calling for an encore. A cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love” followed to finish off the night.
The fantastic stripped down performance that showed off the duo’s great harmonies and excellent songs was also complemented by their charming stage presence, with John Paul’s deadpan humour a perfect foil for Joy’s chatty banter. With plenty of funny interplay between the band and the crowd, there was a nice level of intimacy in the Academy throughout the show. The Civil Wars will be back in Ireland to play the Olympia on October 29th, and I for one cannot wait. Highly recommended.
Set List:
Tip of My Tongue
Forget Me Not
From This Valley
20 Years
I’ve Got This friend
Sour Times (Portishead cover)
Barton Hollow
Falling
C’est La Mort
I Want You Back (Jackson 5 cover)
Birds of a Feather
To Whom It May Concern
My Fathers Father
Poison & Wine
Encore:
Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover)
Dance Me to the End of Love (Leonard Cohen cover)