Photographs by Fernando Paiz.
He may have been alone on the Massey Hall stage, but Damien Rice sure sounded nothing like a token solo act with an acoustic guitar. It was a big stage to fill – and Rice brought with him a massive sound.
The Irish artist took to the iconic Toronto venue’s stage on Saturday night. For Rice fans, it seems that when it rains it pours.
It was the second of three scheduled appearances in Toronto over the course of just seven months. Long a stranger to Toronto’s live music scene, Rice has only recently made himself available – returning late last year in support of My Favourite Faded Fantasy, his first record in eight years. He’ll again be back in June, due for a show at Echo Beach. If Saturday night’s show was any indication, Rice fans and those yet unacquainted with his charms will unequivocally want to be there.
Tracks from Rice’s third album were well represented, but by no means made up the majority his 15-song set – though he did start with a pair of new ones. Beginning his show unplugged at the front of the stage, Rice quickly charmed with the titular “My Favourite Faded Fantasy” and its accompanying falsetto. It was a soul bearing start that earned him a whole lot of applause.
He followed it up with 2014’s “Colour ie In”. It crescendoed beautifully, filling the room but still making you want to hold your breath out of fear that even the slightest of noises might detract from the performance on stage.
That’s not to say there weren’t any cat-callers, though. Throughout the night, those in the audience were quick to call out requests, general wooh’s, and typical “I love you’s”. To his credit, Rice was present in his own banter – snarky to latecomers and to those headed to the bathroom.
He explained, early in the set, that he had “come clean and soap haired,” before introducing “The Box” (another from 2014’s My Favourite Faded Fantasy) as a song about dealing with your own “dickheadedness”. It was a number that found his guitar becoming much more amplified, joining forces with its belted bridge for an overall grandiose-sounding effect.
Rice’s conversation with the audience ranged between everything from: “We went to look at this shelf of condoms at the Virgin Megastore” to offering up a continuation of the show at the largest house. While no Bridal Path owners were quick to come forward, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the Massey Hall audience who left needing more from Rice.
“Volcano”, from his 2002 debut O, was a clear highlight – Rice stopping part-way to come to the front of the stage to engage those seated in the first few rows. He returned to the microphone, offering up real estate next to him to about 50 people who wanted to sing along. Those close and eager enough jumped to their feet and soon flooded the stage, surrounding Rice’s flanks to help out on human percussion and rounds of “Volcanoes melt you down” and “What I am to you”. It was an ambitious endeavour that culminated in a wall of (surprisingly cohesive) sound and helped close off the first-half of the evening.
If the first 50 per cent of the set was “social and serious”, Rice explained the second-half would be “insular and moody”. He made good on his word with the aggressive and cliched “Woman Like a Man”, from 2004’s B-Sides EP. The belted ballad of “Elephant” followed it up, Rice later making good use of looping pedals for “Cannonball”.
The Celtic-sounding part of the night came with “Trusty and True”, Rice taking a rare break from his guitar to kneel in front of an accordion-type piano to the left of the stage. A cathartic offering of “Rootless Tree” was also extended to the crowd – the musician explaining that it shouldn’t be a song that exists because he “shouldn’t have gotten so sad and so angry” that he could have written it.
The main part of his show ended with “I Remember”, another from his debut. It saw Rice crouching down to sing into his guitar at one point. He then followed it up at the microphone, voicing noises that sounded like explosions and looping it all back for a choir-like effect.
At the insistence of the mostly-on-their-feet crowd, Rice returned for a two-song encore. It began with his debut single, “The Blower’s Daughter” (which notably appeared in 2004’s star-studded Closer,) and ended with 2014 album closer “Long Long Way”. It was a song that featured more looping and rumbling guitar – his acoustic serving as a percussive element in place of a typical drummer.
It was clear throughout the night that Rice was already a musical champion in the eyes of Massey Hall’s crowd. Running off stage before he could even see his standing ovation, it seems Rice is well aware of his strengths. Even better: he’s in a good mood to share them, angst-driven content et al. If three shows in seven months seems like over-saturation, you’ve clearly never been to a Damien Rice show. There’s certainly a lot to take in – even if he is just one man on stage.
