Support on the Felice Brothers tour is Carson Mc Hone from Austin Texas and despite being under the weather with a heavy cold since landing in the UK, she performed a set that was well received by pin drop silence from the full house. How Bout It and Drugs featured from her current album CAROUSEL - she added that Drugs was the song that caught the attention of Tom Bridgewater at Loose Records in the UK and got her signed at the label. Other songs included the haunting Tried and new material Folk Song, Someone Else and Hawks Don’t Share. She also performed The End Of The World, explaining that she wrote the song while touring Sweden late last year having been given the great news that a close friend had become pregnant. Worldly matters had been foremost on her mind at the time and she joked that maybe the title wasn’t the most appropriate to celebrate her friend’s good news. Her slot was a welcomed taster for her solo dates in Ireland in May, where she performs at The Kilkenny Roots Festival.
The Felice Brothers take the stage with Ian Felice, James Felice, Will Lawrence and Jesske Hume all looking ready for the challenge. It has been quite a while since they last played in Dublin and they are reminded by the capacity crowd of a cancelled date back in 2017 (due to health concerns for Ian), although James insists that they had good reason to cancel back then, the members all look fit and healthy tonight.
They first played Dublin back in 2008 at the Sugar Club and I also recall a gig at the Academy in 2012. If memory serves me, it was 2014 when they last played Whelan’s and no matter when they last appeared here, the joyful sound of their music has always remained a favourite among Dublin audiences.
Tonight, they focus on their most recent album, Undress, which was a highlight for many people last year upon its release. Seven songs are featured, spread over a lengthy set that included many other favourites from previous albums and the band enjoyed playing some requests and jumping away from the set list that had been planned. Included from the new album are the title track, Special Announcement, Hometown Hero, The Kid, Days Of The Years, Socrates and Salvation Army Girl.
There has always been a ramshackle elegance to their sound and the lyrical insights of Ian are at the cutting edge of their newly crafted vision. Although missing the colour and vibrancy of Doug Farley on fiddle, the trimmed down line-up includes drummer Will Lawrence and bassist Jesske Hume. As a rhythm section they are both economical players and blend into a perfectly tight engine room for the melody supplied by James on keyboards and accordion and Ian on electric guitar. There is an energy present that may have been absent in previous years, leading to the brothers deciding to pursue other paths for a while; James touring with Conor Oberst and Ian concentrating on a solo project.
Old songs are revisited and versions of Butch Cassidy, Jack At The Asylum, Aerosol Ball and the excellent Let Me Come Home are all very well received by the partisan crowd, who sing along with happy smiles at the chance to relive past favourites. Ian and James balance each other very well with James doing most of the between-song conversations with the audience and Ian jumping in every once in a while. Indeed, Ian seems to be really enjoying the new focus in the 4-piece and he regularly breaks into an easy, relaxed grin, in addition to falling to his knees in squeezing out some incendiary guitar lines.
Whelan’s is renowned for its great sound but the decibels tonight are turned right up to Spinal Tap levels, with some distortion and muddiness creeping into the room as a result. Not that anyone seemed to care very much as this was a celebratory return and everyone was certainly into the general groove of living for the moment!
James spoke about previous incidents in Whelan’s when he accepted one drink too many from the crowd and how he doesn’t tend to indulge very much these days; upon which, 4 whiskeys duly arrived stage right from a generous audience member. James smiled with the irony of the moment before tipping two drinks into the one glass and delivering a stirring rendition of Whisky In My Whisky.
The excitement was building throughout the gig and the pace at which the band played through their repertoire was very impressive, with one song blending into the next number with barely a pause for breath at times. I don’t know if I captured every announcement and often the band didn’t name check the songs, but I’m pretty sure that Katie Dear, Silver In The Shadow, Wonderful Life, Lincoln Continental and Love Me Tenderly were all included.
The encore was a solo version of Ballad of Lou the Welterweight by Ian, along with killer guitar breaks and followed by band workouts of Cherry Liquorice and the superb Penn Station.
With this much momentum to boost them, James excelling on both accordion and keyboards, Ian delivering inventive and incisive guitar lines and the watertight rhythm section of Will and Jesske, this is a band that is having fun and has been born again.
Review by Paul Mcgee and Declan Culliton Photos by Declan Culliton