Well it wouldn’t be a protest gig without officious red-tape codology. Amid the “Make Love Not War” posters, the audience shared that solidarity that can only be expressed through a united sense of indignation while Gavin Moore got things going at a packed Vicar St.
Rory Heane introduced torture-survivor Chris Neilsen whose brief account of his harrowing experiences during apartheid rendered the astounded crowd utterly shocked and humbled. Neilsen’s quietly articulate talk was followed by rising-star Katell Keineg, who played an appropriately sensitive and hypnotic set.
Apres-Match legend Barry Murphy, with organiser Richard Boyd Barrett, presented some choice quotes from the leader of the free world. Those fish-in-a-barrel laughs included “a literate country, and a hopefuller country”, “I know it’s hard to put food on your family”, and “is our children learning?”
Christy Moore made the most important remarks of the night. Sitting like a monolith and with nary a smile to be seen, he declared “some of the finest songs I know are American, as are some of the finest people”. He expressed resentment that his involvement in the gig should be seen as anti-American. Moore made his point in the very simple but effective gesture of playing mostly American-written songs (including a stunning version of Nine-Inch Nails ‘Hurt’), before introducing The Haliburtons from Texas, who delighted the crowd with their own songs of protest.
Kila played their usual high standard of mad-dervish live music; we were also treated to The Revs, Mundy (who played his guitar with his teeth) and Mary Black’s rendition of ‘All You Need Is Love’.
Damien Rice (pictured above) is amazing live: the reason the man is so anaemic-looking must be because he puts so much of himself into his songs. With electrifying performances of his own songs and ‘Black Is The Colour’, Rice avoided overtly political remarks but his stories about personal battles could certainly be taken in a universal context. As Mundy puts it, “why do we always fight when there’s nothing else to do?"