The Fat Lady Sings >> Hot Press live reunion at Vicar Street, April 8 2005, Review
“The last time The Fat Lady Sings graced a Dublin stage, people
were smoking in the crowd, we were buying pints with punts and the Celtic
Tiger had yet to get within an ass’s roar of Ireland. The first thing
that strikes this reviewer when Nick Kelly (vocals/guitar), Tim Bradshaw
(guitar) and bassist Dermot Lynch step onto the stage is that the 12 years
since their last live performance have been kinder to the band than their
audience. There’s a scary amount of Fairisle jumpers on display amongst
the mainly thirtysomething crowd, who would look more at home at an upmarket
residents’ meeting rather than a gig. The band, by contrast, look
lean and lively, as they launch into “Boil”, the opening track
from their second album, Johnson.
The trio are well up for it, augmented by some sterling sticksmithery from
the always reliable Paul “Binzer” Brennan and old-school keyboard
licks and 1980s dance routines courtesy of the immaculately coiffured Alastair
Artingstall, while original drummer Robert Hamilton joins in for the two
encores. The set is a mixture of well-known favourites and b-sides, perfectly
complementing their forthcoming collection, The Fat Lady Singles And Opera
Obscura.
“Fear And Favour” sounds as fresh and exciting as the first
time I heard it at Seven Bands On The Up in 1989, “Behind Your Back”
shows that they were years ahead of the alt.country revolution, while “Drunkard
Logic” remains arguably the most beautiful evocation of unrequited
love ever committed to record.
It’s incredible how resonant and relevant these songs sound after
all this time. “Dronning Maud Land”, itself a distant cousin
of “The Loneliest Ghost In Pere Lachaise” (from Nick Kelly’s
solo album Running Dog), is as hauntingly moving as ever; “Be Still”
can still raise hairs on your neck at 20 paces; and “Arclight”
remains one of the classic Irish singles of any era. Indeed, “Show
Of Myself” is the only track tonight where the laughter lines shine
through the cracks in the band’s make-up. Everything else displays
the rugged muscularity that comes from great songwriting, whether it’s
the beguiling tunesmithery of “Twist” or the ferocious down-home
knees-up that is the closing “Every Girl’s The Most Beautiful
Girl In The World”.
This is much more than mere nostalgia, although it does serve to remind
everyone present that The Fat Lady Sings were one of the finest live bands
to grace our stages during that purple period in the late ‘80s/early
‘90s. Fingers crossed that their broad grins as they leave the stage
mean that it won’t be another 12 years before we see them again.”