17 December 2014 // Dublin, IE // Vicar Street

All proceeds from this show benefit Dublin Simon Community. This charity works to prevent and address homelessness in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow. They provide services at all stages of homelessness and enable people to move to a place they can call home. Dublin Simon Community empowers people to access, secure and retain a home of their own by reducing the reliance on short-term emergency accommodation and providing permanent supported housing for people to sustain a home in their local community. Moving people into supported housing produces life-enhancing and life-saving results and is more cost-effective in the long run. You can find out more at their website.

Note from the band: We were able to donate €21,901 to each of the charities due to the kind efforts of everyone involved, audience included…Many many thanks for showing your support. You can still donate to both organisations:
Dublin Simon Community
Peter McVerry Trust

Support Act: Lisa O’Neill

Main Set: Don’t Do It (Marvin Gaye/The Band), Grace (Beneath the Pines), This Gift, My Little Ruin, Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting – Elvis, I Give You Irish Stew (Lisa O’Neill), Talking with the Wolves*, Philander, Maybe Not Tonight**, When Your Minds Made Up, Bird of Sorrow

Glen Solo: Stay The Road, Paying My Way, Astral Weeks – Smile (Pearl Jam)

Second Set: Lowly Deserter, Wedding Ring***, Fitzcarraldo, Fake****, Revelate****

First Encore: McCormack’s Wall*****, Banjo Barney (poem, dedicated to and inspired by Barney McKenna from The Dubliners) – John Sheahan, Marino Casino – John Sheahan (plus strings), Her Mercy

Guests Set: Speech by Sam McGuinness (Simon Community), Nothing Arrived – Conor O’Brien (solo), Grateful Song – Conor O’Brien (with band), Rise – Paddy Casey, Be Brave and Believe – Declan O’Rourke, Under The Turquoise Sky – The Lost Brothers, Corrina Corrina (Bob Dylan) – The Lost Brothers, Greatest Bastard – Damien Rice (solo), What The World Needs Now (Burt Bacharach) – Lisa O’Neill, The Auld Triangle (Traditional)******, Passing Through (Leonard Cohen)*******

*Leon on shaker
**Grainne Hunt on lead vocals
***Curtis on lead vocals
****with Tom Gaffney on drums
*****with John Sheahan on violin
******verses by Glen, Lisa, Mundy, Mark McCausland & Oisin Leech, Conor O’Brien, John Sheahan, and Mic
*******verses by Glen, Lisa, Conor, Curtis (trombone), Rob, Ronan (trumpet)

[Thanks to Avril and Fleur for the setlist.]

Band: Glen Hansard, Joe Doyle (bass), Rob Bochnik (guitar), Graham Hopkins (drums), Justin Carroll (keys)

Brass: Curtis Fowlkes, Michael Buckley, Ronan Dooney

Strings: Una O’Kane (Violin), Paula Hughes (Cello), Katie O’Connor (Violin)

Notes via Fleur Neale:

Round Two of the Vicar Street Christmas charity gigs comes just two days behind the first.

The recipient of tonight’s charitable donations is the Dublin Simon Community. They provide services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, from emergency accommodation to treatment and supported housing. They therefore deal with all aspects of homelessness and have long-term objectives to reduce homelessness in the Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow areas.

Dublin Simon Community is also the beneficiary of the funds raised for the, now annual, Christmas Busk and so Glen has a long association with this particular charity.

If you were thinking that Monday night’s guest list couldn’t be topped, then think again!

Here’s some of the best bits:

* ‘My Little Ruin’ is by far my favourite new song of Glen’s. It is described as being a song about a person who is into self-sabotage and who chooses to kick closed every door opened to them. The song is a plea of sorts for them to keep going and to ignore those that want to take them down – it ends with an emphatic cry of “You’re better then they are!”. To me this tune could easily act as a partner to Bird of Sorrow. I have my fingers crossed that this tune makes its way onto Glen’s next record.

* Grainne Hunt is given a call up from Glen to take over the lead vocals for ‘Maybe Not Tonight’. Glen is well-known for sharing the stage with his many talented friends – for those of us who don’t really have any vocal aptitude it’s always amazing [read: slightly infuriating ;)] to see so many gifted people being spontaneously called up to the stage and nailing vocal duties. Grainne does this tonight on this track and it’s great fun.

* A wee note of fun for the long time Pearl Jam fan – Glen improvs “Talkin to Eddie Vedder” for “Talkin to Huddie Ledbetter” in ‘Astral Weeks’ (small woot!).

* After ‘Fitzcarraldo’, Glen announces that we are entering the “messy room” and he’s not exactly sure what is going to happen. The messiness kicks off with Glen inviting a young lad (Tom Gaffney) on stage to sit in on drums for a track. Tom’s punk rock band apparently share a rehearsal space with Glen and the lads, and Glen thought it would be some good craic to get Tom out to have a go at a Frames tune (or two). Tom kills it on ‘Fake’, and Glen asks him to stay on for ‘Revelate’. Tom is absolutely belting it out on Graham’s set and is having himself an absurdly good time – it is highly entertaining for everyone involved (including the crowd).

* The highlight of my night comes next with the introduction of John Sheahan. This man is delightful – he is talented, wise, kind and generous – and I picked that up about 30 seconds after he came on stage! John’s violin is a beautiful addition to ‘McCormack’s Wall’ and the lovely Trad solo at the end is accompanied by a very sweet jig from young Ellie whose enthusiasm is infectious. John then reads a poem dedicated to his Dubliners comrade Barney McKenna. My favourite part is the line – “Your Barneyisms embellish the craic” – which is such beautiful sentiment. John then delights us further with a performance of his own composition ‘Marino Casino’ with the string section (forming a quartet). Everything about John being on stage is amazing – what a brilliant guest to amp up the proceedings.

* And after John, the high calibre guests just keep on comin. There are some terrific performances by Conor O’Brien (from the Villagers), Paddy Casey, Declan O’Rourke and The Lost Brothers (whose ‘Under the Turquoise Sky’ with the full band backing them is superb). We are then treated to the surprise appearance of one Mr Damien Rice (cue appreciative crowd roar) who gives a stellar performance of ‘The Greatest Bastard’ from his new record. Ahh was I wondering how Glen was going to top the guests from Monday night? Yeah I think he’s done alright!

* The night ends with two classic singalongs – ‘The Auld Triangle’ and ‘Passing Through’. Almost all of the guests who have graced the stage share verses in these songs. It’s an all in affair and a great example of the community spirit that has run through the entirety of the proceedings and brought everyone to Vicar Street to raise funds for an important charity. This will ensure that a lot more people living on the streets are fixed for Christmas.

Photos: a set by Fleur Neale with some below