Setlist
Foy Vance Tour Dates
10/24/13 - Basement - Nashville, TN (sold out)
10/26/13 - Holy Mountain - Austin, TX 10/28/13 - Hotel Cafe - Los Angeles, CA (sold out) 10/29/13 - Independent - San Francisco, CA 10/31/13 - Bunk Bar - Portland, OR 11/01/13 - Columbia City Theater - Seattle, WA 11/02/13 - Electric Owl - Vancouver, Canada 11/04/13 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY 11/06/13 - Drake Hotel - Toronto, ON (sold out) 11/08/13 - World Cafe - Philadelphia, PA 11/09/13 - Jammin Java - Vienna, VA Read More
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Since the last time we saw Little Green Cars (in April at the 7th St. Entry), they’ve gotten a bit of an update—new paint job, matching pinstripes, maybe some sport wheels. In actuality, they’ve been touring non-stop since then and ended their U.S. Tour Tuesday at Minneapolis’ First Avenue Mainroom, sounding more confident and road tested with perfectly honed harmonies, in a satisfying 70 min. performance that translated well inside the bigger venue.
First up for the evening was spirited Northern Irishman Foy Vance, touring in support of his latest, Joy of Nothing (Glassnote Records) , and who provided a 40 min. breath-of-fresh-air set filled with toe-tapping songs, no-holds-barred stories, and a brutally funny and honest nature of telling things like he sees them. Opening with the inspiring ‘Be the Song’, Vance entertainingly interspersed his unique commentary during the song breaks- “I used to live in London—very expensive and full of wankers” and defining his current status, “Any port in storm, ladies, any port” were among the hilarious bits that kept most of the audience’s attention.
Vance even went on to chastise the groups of people that were having full-voice conversations during his set, mentioning most attending were there for the actual music (which drew rave applause) and to the lot of people just there to be cool and seen, “good luck with all that…wankers”, which drew a collective laugh. In between, he moved from standing with guitar to sitting with a piano, playing a passionate ‘Feel for Me’, ‘Joy of Nothing’ ,and the set-closing ‘Guiding Light’ which he taught the audience the chorus to, and which we all continued singing, long after he left the stage. A unique treasure to be sure, especially live.
The Dublin quintet Little Green Cars (Stevie Appleby- voc/guitar; Dylan Lynch- drums; Donagh Seaver O'Leary- bass; Adam O'Regan- guitar; and Faye O'Rourke- co-voc., joined with Kevin, a touring keyboardist) began their set barely above a whisper, the acapella ‘Red’ with all members harmonizing under stark stage lighting, then gave way to the also delicate ‘Goodbye Blue Monday’, the band sounding assured in their combined voices.
The volume then amplified as soaring vocalist O’Rourke took over, with pipes and range reminiscent of Florence Welch with Dolores O'Riordan undertones. The boy/girl vocals were particularly effective on the driving ‘Angel Owl’ and four-part harmonies were on full display for radio hit ‘Harper Lee’. Most of the songs from their Glassnote debut, Absolute Zero, were played – the positively bouncy ‘Big Red Dragon’ and completely eerie ‘My Love Took Me Down to the River’ which starts quietly with an O’Rourke acapella, then builds impressively.
“It’s easy to fall in love with you”, starts their biggest hit, ‘John Wayne’ which had Appleby prefacing with a story of meeting an American girl and trying to impress her and the band ended the song with half the audience on-stage, dancing and singing along joyously.
For the encore, instead of the crowd again joining them on stage, the band decided to come out to the middle of the floor , for a quiet, off-mike version of ‘The Consequences of Not Sleeping’, surrounded on all sides by a mostly hushed and enraptured throng.
Though still somewhat nervous and reserved on stage, the group has definitely become more comfortable with the positive reception their indie folk-pop songs have been receiving and Appleby has gained a quicker wit when dealing with hecklers and responding on the fly.
The mostly younger crowd, was well-behaved with a few exceptions—those talking over the music, yelling idiot comments, and clearly not there for the bands; something both acts noted which was a little unfortunate on this, their final U.S. show before LGC returns to Europe and their first full-fledged tour of native Ireland. But, both Foy Vance and Little Green Cars rose above all of that, each delivering solid performances- and for those who weren’t paying full attention, you missed something exceptional.
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FOY VANCE
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Foy Vance (Closeup)
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Little Green Cars
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Faye O'Rourke
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“It’s easy to fall in love with you”, starts their biggest hit, ‘John Wayne’ which had Appleby prefacing with a story of meeting an American girl and trying to impress her and the band ended the song with half the audience on-stage, dancing and singing along joyously.
For the encore, instead of the crowd again joining them on stage, the band decided to come out to the middle of the floor , for a quiet, off-mike version of ‘The Consequences of Not Sleeping’, surrounded on all sides by a mostly hushed and enraptured throng.
Though still somewhat nervous and reserved on stage, the group has definitely become more comfortable with the positive reception their indie folk-pop songs have been receiving and Appleby has gained a quicker wit when dealing with hecklers and responding on the fly.
The mostly younger crowd, was well-behaved with a few exceptions—those talking over the music, yelling idiot comments, and clearly not there for the bands; something both acts noted which was a little unfortunate on this, their final U.S. show before LGC returns to Europe and their first full-fledged tour of native Ireland. But, both Foy Vance and Little Green Cars rose above all of that, each delivering solid performances- and for those who weren’t paying full attention, you missed something exceptional.
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Little Green Cars at First Avenue, Minneapolis (10/22/13) |
