Grace Jones, Olympia Dublin 21.09.16.
(This one is for all the 'Jules' people!)
It was always going to be a weird day, jeez! we even managed en route to the gig venue to visit a full on Christmas Shop in an already yuletide adorned Arnotts department store in Dublin city centre. Its only the middle of bloody September, and it was absolutely pissing down with rain.
Yeah! it was real Christmassy, not!
We'd made the first leg of the boring 224 round trip trek down to the home of Molly Malone once again, for yet another show. But this wasn't going to be no bog standard run of the mill gig. This one promised to be something very special, we were here to see the iconic Ms Grace Jones, and she delivered in spades.
This show was always going to be something very different to the norm for me, and it certainly turned out that way. It actually was one of those very rare unforgettable experiences.
I've been very lucky to attend more than a few outstanding live shows in my time, and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that last nights sold out Grace Jones show at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin was right up there amongst the very best.
She looked, and sounded amazing. Constantly interacting with the audience, and even revealing a previously untold humorous anecdote about herself, Andy Warhol and a screening of the notorious porno movie Deep Throat, which I presume was sometime in the 1970s. The Olympia is an intimate, ornate and musty old school music hall style theatre. I've been here a few times for various shows in the past, and I think its a great venue.
When we arrived the place was just starting to fill up, and as we had standing tickets at this point we began prowling around the stalls looking for that perfect spot to stake our claim, and protect it from invaders for the rest of the evening. My missus decided to go for a wander to get a bit of air, and in the process had somehow managed to find her way into the backstage green room. Where not only did she exchange pleasantries with Grace Jones herself, as well as her equally friendly entourage, but got us upgrades to the front row of the up close and personal VIP section in the circle. Talk about a result!
As I've previously stated, super charismatic Ms Jones gave the performance of a lifetime, and this amazing spectacle of costume and staging was captured in all its eye-popping glory from start to finish on film, for a forthcoming documentary courtesy of Blinder Films for all to see in the near future, photography was banned on the night because of this. Didn't I tell you it was going to be a weird, but very memorable day?.
There's another show tonight (22.09.16), get there if you can!
I've attached a full on and first review of the show here by 'Una Mullally' (which was published in todays 'Irish Times' Online 22.09.16), as I think she's covered all the bases in fine style, I'll now hand the rest of the story of last night over to her.
Joe Donnelly, Belfast (22.09.16).
Grace Jones ★★★★★
The Olympia Theatre
Wednesday, Sept 22nd
Darkness. A silhouette on stage. Fans turning to each other, lungs expanding in anticipation. A glint of sequins. BOOM. Lights, camera, Grace. This brace of shows in Dublin was always going to be special.
Up until now, Jones’ main link with Ireland has been in her headgear, as a fan of Philip Treacy. But now, with Irish producer Katie Holly of Blinder Films producing a documentary on Jones directed by Sophie Fiennes, there’s a whole new relationship with Irish audiences.
Because the concerts are being shot for that documentary, it added an extra frisson of excitement, and as a result, the floor of the Olympia was pleasantly uncrowded, allowing space for cameras to shoot on 16mm film.
DJs from the club night Mother warmed up the crowd, and then she arrived in a metal skull mask blasting out Slave To The Rhythm, which was performed twice. From the first moment, jaws dropped. What followed was something truly awesome, transcendental even. A icon sang, danced, and performed her heart and soul out.The crowd was occasionally stunned into silence between songs, as if we were all trying to digest what we had just seen, how good this was, how special this was, and what a privilege it was to be there to see it unfold.
This was not so much a concert, but an experience, akin to a truly great exhibition at MoMA, each track became its own individual art piece. The production was bolstered by the fact that it was being filmed, and so the sound was ear-ringingly brilliant, Jones’ band was excellent, and the lighting was fantastic.
Even for those who have seen Jones perform multiple times, her familiar live moves took on new intensity in such an intimate space; the hula hooping for the extent of the second instalment of Slave To The Rhythm, or the lasers crashing off her Treacy disco ball-esque hat and shining out towards the crowd for the Roxy Music cover Love Is The Drug. She announced the geographical context to some songs, Jamaica for My Jamaican Guy, New York for Pull Up To The Bumper, and Paris for La Vie En Rose, during which audience members in the pit showered her with roses as she lay outstretched on the stage.
Everything was a highlight, but Williams Blood, which she reminded the crowd she wrote with Wendy & Lisa of The Revolution was especially emphatic.
With each transition between songs, Jones continued to speak from backstage, narrating her own performance, which included her affection for the Olympia Theatre, and heaping praise on the documentary on Panti, The Queen of Ireland. An encore of sorts was in fact an opportunity to reshoot This Is, a track performed both second and as a finale, after Hurricane saw a billowing cape unfurl with help from a wind machine, as if Christo and Jeanne-Claude were in town to swaddle the Olympia.
Jones’ DNA twists like a helix through so many contemporary performers – Roisin Murphy, Lady Gaga, FKA twigs – but at 68, her essence is all her own. Her power, her prowess, her presence was and is astonishing. She sang Amazing Grace, but “amazing” undersells this performance. One of the greatest gigs a decent proportion of the audience had ever seen? Probably. It was, at times, overwhelming.
Una Mullally, Irish Times Online (22.09.16).
It was always going to be a weird day, jeez! we even managed en route to the gig venue to visit a full on Christmas Shop in an already yuletide adorned Arnotts department store in Dublin city centre. Its only the middle of bloody September, and it was absolutely pissing down with rain.
Yeah! it was real Christmassy, not!
We'd made the first leg of the boring 224 round trip trek down to the home of Molly Malone once again, for yet another show. But this wasn't going to be no bog standard run of the mill gig. This one promised to be something very special, we were here to see the iconic Ms Grace Jones, and she delivered in spades.
This show was always going to be something very different to the norm for me, and it certainly turned out that way. It actually was one of those very rare unforgettable experiences.
I've been very lucky to attend more than a few outstanding live shows in my time, and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that last nights sold out Grace Jones show at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin was right up there amongst the very best.
She looked, and sounded amazing. Constantly interacting with the audience, and even revealing a previously untold humorous anecdote about herself, Andy Warhol and a screening of the notorious porno movie Deep Throat, which I presume was sometime in the 1970s. The Olympia is an intimate, ornate and musty old school music hall style theatre. I've been here a few times for various shows in the past, and I think its a great venue.
When we arrived the place was just starting to fill up, and as we had standing tickets at this point we began prowling around the stalls looking for that perfect spot to stake our claim, and protect it from invaders for the rest of the evening. My missus decided to go for a wander to get a bit of air, and in the process had somehow managed to find her way into the backstage green room. Where not only did she exchange pleasantries with Grace Jones herself, as well as her equally friendly entourage, but got us upgrades to the front row of the up close and personal VIP section in the circle. Talk about a result!
As I've previously stated, super charismatic Ms Jones gave the performance of a lifetime, and this amazing spectacle of costume and staging was captured in all its eye-popping glory from start to finish on film, for a forthcoming documentary courtesy of Blinder Films for all to see in the near future, photography was banned on the night because of this. Didn't I tell you it was going to be a weird, but very memorable day?.
There's another show tonight (22.09.16), get there if you can!
I've attached a full on and first review of the show here by 'Una Mullally' (which was published in todays 'Irish Times' Online 22.09.16), as I think she's covered all the bases in fine style, I'll now hand the rest of the story of last night over to her.
Joe Donnelly, Belfast (22.09.16).
Grace Jones ★★★★★
The Olympia Theatre
Wednesday, Sept 22nd
Darkness. A silhouette on stage. Fans turning to each other, lungs expanding in anticipation. A glint of sequins. BOOM. Lights, camera, Grace. This brace of shows in Dublin was always going to be special.
Up until now, Jones’ main link with Ireland has been in her headgear, as a fan of Philip Treacy. But now, with Irish producer Katie Holly of Blinder Films producing a documentary on Jones directed by Sophie Fiennes, there’s a whole new relationship with Irish audiences.
Because the concerts are being shot for that documentary, it added an extra frisson of excitement, and as a result, the floor of the Olympia was pleasantly uncrowded, allowing space for cameras to shoot on 16mm film.
DJs from the club night Mother warmed up the crowd, and then she arrived in a metal skull mask blasting out Slave To The Rhythm, which was performed twice. From the first moment, jaws dropped. What followed was something truly awesome, transcendental even. A icon sang, danced, and performed her heart and soul out.The crowd was occasionally stunned into silence between songs, as if we were all trying to digest what we had just seen, how good this was, how special this was, and what a privilege it was to be there to see it unfold.
This was not so much a concert, but an experience, akin to a truly great exhibition at MoMA, each track became its own individual art piece. The production was bolstered by the fact that it was being filmed, and so the sound was ear-ringingly brilliant, Jones’ band was excellent, and the lighting was fantastic.
Even for those who have seen Jones perform multiple times, her familiar live moves took on new intensity in such an intimate space; the hula hooping for the extent of the second instalment of Slave To The Rhythm, or the lasers crashing off her Treacy disco ball-esque hat and shining out towards the crowd for the Roxy Music cover Love Is The Drug. She announced the geographical context to some songs, Jamaica for My Jamaican Guy, New York for Pull Up To The Bumper, and Paris for La Vie En Rose, during which audience members in the pit showered her with roses as she lay outstretched on the stage.
Everything was a highlight, but Williams Blood, which she reminded the crowd she wrote with Wendy & Lisa of The Revolution was especially emphatic.
With each transition between songs, Jones continued to speak from backstage, narrating her own performance, which included her affection for the Olympia Theatre, and heaping praise on the documentary on Panti, The Queen of Ireland. An encore of sorts was in fact an opportunity to reshoot This Is, a track performed both second and as a finale, after Hurricane saw a billowing cape unfurl with help from a wind machine, as if Christo and Jeanne-Claude were in town to swaddle the Olympia.
Jones’ DNA twists like a helix through so many contemporary performers – Roisin Murphy, Lady Gaga, FKA twigs – but at 68, her essence is all her own. Her power, her prowess, her presence was and is astonishing. She sang Amazing Grace, but “amazing” undersells this performance. One of the greatest gigs a decent proportion of the audience had ever seen? Probably. It was, at times, overwhelming.
Una Mullally, Irish Times Online (22.09.16).