From: Aoife
| Okay, I'll come clean and save myself any embarrassment:
I haven't been a Verve fan for too long, so the best angle to take on this
review is the personal one. So please excuse the lack of musical critique
and commentary on the set list. You'll either be well-informed or have a
laugh. The doors opened at 7.30 for the show to begin at 8pm, and I arrived at around 8.05. The SFX is a dingy place and I overheard someone saying that The Verve prefer to play less glitzy, mainstream locations. From the very front barrier, we could see Richard and the lads peering out from off stage. It was enough to get a buzz going, but the crowd was pretty tired by the time they made their entrance - nearly an hour and a half after the billed time. A New Decade opened the concert. Richard Ashcroft made his unconventional, shoeless appearance, throwing his sneakers on the stage floor and coming downstage to torment the audience. He was shouting - or mouthing - non-stop, but it was impossible to hear what he was saying. He took his place on the rug at the microphone and began to sing. Wonderfully. The second or third song was This is Music. And I know they played Bittersweet Symphony, Drugs Don't Work, A Man Called Sun, History, Life's an Ocean (with dreamy blue and green lights) and Stormy Clouds. I think A Northern Soul was in there- close to the end, maybe. There were chants for Gravity Grave and So Sister, but they didn't play Gravity Grave, much to the disappointment of some of the dedicated fans beside me. Richard's charisma rules the stage. He looked like he was on speed the way he danced and ran and crouched and contorted. I just kept thinking "He moves like a spider...he moves like a spider.." over and over. He took the piss out of Nick's guitar playing (Nick was too used to it or too busy to notice) and ran up to Peter during one of the songs. He didn't talk to the crowd much, except to announce the titles of the songs and said "this one's for you, DUBLIN CITY!!" (on the last song before the 2 encores). All in all, it was a most excellent gig. Richard Ashcroft is so sexy, so frightening, so intimidating and.....well, it makes you wonder how the rest put up with him. But they seem to be managing just fine. And I hereby declare myself a fan. |
From: Stephen Cummings
| The Verve finally managed to play in Ireland after their non-appearance at the Féile festival in 1995. They played at the SFX on Dublin's north side on Friday August 22nd. I'm afraid that this was only three days ago and I'm still in a state of shock. I expected the gig to be amazing but I didn't expect it to be that good. I had such a good time that I managed to resist the temptation to kick the guy in front of me to death (he was wearing an Oasis T-shirt, very tasteless). They played all of the songs from A Northern Soul except So it Goes, Brainstorm Interlude, Drive You Home and No Knock on My Door, They also played Slide Away, Bittersweet Symphony, Drugs Don't Work, Come On, Man Called Sun and another new song which was amazing. September 29th, can't wait |
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