The Witnness Rising tour made its inaugural run last week, bringing a diverse bunch of alt-rockers together under one sponsor. The tour hit Dublin on Saturday night, and while 30,000 people joined The Eagles on their country-rock nostalgia trip at the RDS, a few hundred discerning punters packed into Whelans to experience the offbeat worlds of Sparklehorse, Ed Harcourt, Gemma Hayes and Pat McMellow.
DJ Pat McMellow set the sweaty atmosphere, using that most popular device, the "eclectic mix".
Tipperary girl Gemma Hayes has recently signed a deal with French label Source Records and is releasing her debut EP, 4.35am. Watch her rise - early. Singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt is already on the up: his debut album, Here Be Monsters, has earned him comparisons with everyone from Nilsson to Randy Newman, and had the critics predicting great things for the multi-instrumental whiz-kid.
Like a car mechanic entering his garage, Mark Linkous stepped gingerly onstage, trying not to step on the various gadgets and doohickeys which littered the Whelans stage. Sparklehorse has always been the sound of Linkous tinkering with sounds and ideas, and Linkous has always managed to coax sublime beauty from rusty old implements. Wearing his workman's cap, and clutching a gorgeous hollow-body guitar, Linkous kicks into first gear, and pretty much stays there, juddering along like a tractor along a dirt road. He's backed by bass, drums, keyboards and violin, and as they pick their way slowly through songs from the new album, It's A Wonderful Life, the crowd has to downshift a little in order to catch every nuance.
It's not the ideal setting in which to hear Linkous's peripheral musical vision, but it does the job without too much fuss. It takes a while, but soon the old engine is ticking over nicely, and when Linkous finally shifts it up a gear or two, the rush of exuberance is palpable.
