Fiona Apple/Damien Rice @ Central Park Summerstage 7/26/06
Someone please give Fiona a hug. While you're at it, tell her it's all gonna be alright. Because if you take her at her word on "On the Bound," she believes that it isn't. And if you've been ensnared by her tales of torment, on-stage breakdowns, and moments of raw genius over three-and-a-half albums, you're likely unsure if she ever will be alright. Hell, you probably even think you can Photoshop a better Extraordinary Machine album cover than Sony.
Last night Fiona took Central Park's Summerstage and turned it into a therapist's couch. The set opened promisingly with the muscular two-chord vamp verse of "Get Him Back," but with each passing line, the sultry songstress increasingly aired her inner turmoil; what were on-pitch growls in the studio were tossed off as broken yelps and exasperated sighs. Between song banter became unhinged rants, vaguely cohesive and accompanied by pained expressions and tortured body language. Between vocal lines, she'd argue with the night air, mic held by her waist, yelling and bobbing. Scarier still, I'm pretty sure it's not an act. We stood transfixed -- and vaguely concerned -- but others sang along and laughed like drunks by a jukebox. Just goes to show, it’s a fine line between pathos and a party! (Maybe you guys have some insight? Thought the extreme angst was an act going in. Not so sure anymore.)
But Apple has so many amazing songs that -- for as long as she eased on the catharsis –- her set was genuinely engaging. She played it straight for "Shadowbox" and it rocked, while "Limp" and "Fast As You Can" were the sort of measured, limb-flailing madness television had made me expect. And EM’s "Oh Well" is one of the most inventive chord progressions you’ll hear in a straight, accessible pop song –- and about as close to one as you’ll get from Fiona. We couldn’t get pics last night, but did find these on Flickr.
Photos by hightea (Flickr)
Roller girl hearts Fiona!
Opening for the Apple was Damien Rice and his sack of sensitive sighs.
Starting solo with "Cannonball" to a slew of "I love this song!"s, Rice then welcomed his band of cellist, hired-gun rhythm section and the incomparable Lisa Hannigan. (Though if comparisons could be drawn, I'd say a slightly strained set of Chan Marshall's smoky pipes with a mix of early Alanis's hand wringing demeanor.) Everything is better if she’s singing.
Damien used the night to share some of his post-O products. Not sure of the titles, but at least one should be called "The Blower’s Daughter 2.0." Just throwing it out there, Damien. A few tunes fall back on those old tricks (unaccompanied Rice on guitar/piano for two minutes, enter cello and Lisa, enter rhythm section for four bars, and out with Rice’s pleading lyric set to silence), but others show Damien bringing out the rock. He even drops a few "f" bombs here and there -- at first making the young crowd a little tense, and later drawing huge cheers with each repetition. (Let’s hear it for "fuck!") Well, it’s an attempt at edge, and it just may draw some new fans. At the very least, it'll speak to frat dudes who like their obscenities set to acoustic guitars. Wouldn’t be summer without 'em!
Posted at 3:47 PM in Concert
Tags: Damien Rice | Fiona Apple
Have you heard the Zack Galifianakis song featuring Ms. Apple? Really funny stuff.
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I saw Fiona in Detroit w/ Coldplay and she acted the exact same way.
"Between vocal lines, she'd argue with the night air, mic held by her waist, yelling and bobbing."
I kept thinking, "What is she yelling at? And what is she yelling?"
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Saw her at Mohegan Sun last Monday. First of all, Damien was incredible. Then she came out and ruined everything. I am a big Fiona fan but every song was filled with the above mentioned schtick. Me and my friend walked out after Limp and before Paper Bag( about 5 songs in). I refused to hear her crucify one more note of some of my favorite music (which she has written, ironically).
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oh, no...don't expect fiona to quit her wacky antics...i remember seeing her years ago with lilith fair and she was way under her piano at one point writhing in the fetal position...then suddenly became hyper running amok about the stage...i just don't understand that whole thing but oh well...
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oh, no...don't expect fiona to quit her wacky antics...i remember seeing her years ago with lilith fair and she was way under her piano at one point writhing in the fetal position...then suddenly became hyper running amok about the stage...i just don't understand that whole thing but oh well...
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FYI, Damien does, indeed, have an unreleased song called "Blower's Daughter Part 2". Check it.
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Oops, that was supposed to be a link:
http://www.eskimofriends.com/lyrics.asp#blower2
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Well, her SNL performance of 'Limp' was, um... interesting. While not singing, she did a cute little loose-limbed dance, while staring at the floor. Then when she did sing, she had this demonic grin on her face the whole time.
Then there was EM's DualDisc onstage performance, where she forgot the words to 'Fast As You Can', then blurted out "No, I got it, I got it, I got it."
But basically, seeing her perform live is either a real trip or a real annoyance?
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I hear that at Mohegan Sun the other night she broke down in the middle of a song, and a security guard came over and had to give her a pep talk. Also, the crying was prevalent, too. Lastly, I heard that Damien owned the show.
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She was the same way in Chicago. I felt the same, a little worried at first, but it ended up being one of my favorite shows in recent history. I really wanted to know what she was yelling though.
I'm glad to see Lisa was there. She was MIA when I saw them.
Where is this Zach Galifinakis song? I'd love to hear it!
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She is absolutely insane. I'd say schizophrenic. We saw her in CA, and it was like watching a homeless woman. But maybe it was alcohol or drugs, because it seemed to wear off by the end, and she was quite enjoyable for the last several songs.
I do love her music.
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Oh Damien Rice is fring brilliant. Especially with that Lisa Hannigan, who should be on the bill as far as I'm concerned.
Hasn't it been like 9 years or something since O? What's up with that? Time for a new album.
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Yeah, I'm not so sure about all the love for Damien. Sure, he's a tortured Irish Catholic but his songs sound like standard coffee shop wallpaper. Except that he says "fuck" a lot. Oh, he's so outre.
And Fiona was bizarre. It definitely dampened any enjoyment of the show for me, what with it being awkward (like walking in on your friend's parents fighting). I honestly just hope she's getting the help she desperately needs.
And Heather Graham is super hot (she was standing right to my left but didnt' stay for the whole show).
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rollergirl is a certified hottie
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and man can she act.
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Fiona might be crazy but I'd still bang her. No, scratch that. I'd bang her because she's crazy.
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I don't know, rollergirl is lookin a little rough there...
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i'm surprised at the negative review of rice's set. missed him last night, so can't speak for that particular show, but i've seen him twice before. once in a small bar with about 200 other people, and then again 6 months later in a packed venue of about 1000 people. both times he blew me away. incredible performer...
oh, and heather graham = hot.
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I'm really tired of Rice. The man, not the delicious snack that goes with everything.
He released his debut full-length "O" eons ago (ok maybe four years, maybe five), and hasn't really done much since apart from a b-sides record and a few small notes.
Stop milking it, Damo. We're onto you. You follow the same structure over and over again (as noted) and your songs rarely take me, personally, anywhere but down in the dumps, and not in that good melancholic sense.
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For Laura:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=D566D9566064B0D1
Zach Galifianakis f/ Fiona Apple - Come on and Get It Up In Dem Guts
Best line: Baby show me your fanny pack. I'll show you my fanny.
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Thanks H!!!! Haha that is fantastic.
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Its plan and simple Fiona has always acted that way live. Sometimes more than others. It's her way of forgetting the audience and gets her head into the songs. I love the fact that she can play the same set every night and it sounds completely different. Her voice is getting raspier due most likely to a long tour after 6 years of inactivity which I believe is making her more emotional. I loved last night's raw and emotional performance at times screaming like Janis Joplin sometimes looking like she was possessed, other times dancing and telling stories. The perfect voice of December's show was lost but I liked it.
Could she breakdown, yes, could Fi use a hug, yes but I wouldn't be that worried she is fine, the tour will be over and she can go back to her life. Lets just hope she doesn't stop writing and performing music cause I think her music is wonderful no matter what way she decides to sing it.
Hightea
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I'll take roller girl circa license to drive
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I've seen Fiona three times now, and while I come to expect some goofy chatter or tantrums or skeletal limb flailing, this was off the charts unhinged. I was a little scared.
She'd sing a line, then take the mic away from her mouth, but she like, kept singing to herself or talking to herself. Anyway, her mouth was still moving but she was intentionally not putting it into the mic. Then at one point she sat down and put her head in her hands during the instrumental portion of one of her songs.
Like I said, some bizarre behavior is par for the course, but I think I figured it out- a friend of mine saw her at Foxwoods and said she came out on the stage, appearing to be drunk, and said she had just broken up with her boyfriend. Don't know if that's true, but that's the word on the street.
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Zach also did a video for Fiona recently, I think...
When Damien was on Letterman years ago, that was terrific. One of those top-tier, unbeatable performances.
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Wow. The only thing I'd wanna do less than date Fiona is break up with Fiona. Bang Fiona on the other hand? Giddyup.
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i guess having a tortured soul makes for great songwriting!
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oh amrit, you and your ignorance has no bounds!
and for the record, regarding your "cool" jab at Damien saying that one of the songs should be called blowers daughter 2.0...well, the song is actually called the blowers daughter part two.
funny that when you think you're being clever, you're really not. Instead, you continue to be a joke. Hey, at least this city gets another idiot to constantly make fun of :)
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Didn't David Garza open? Where's the love? He's a talented singer-songwriter in his own right.
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I saw her in Chicago.. same thing... she took a handful of crazy pills it seemed... I went with my father (a long time Fiona fan as well) and he said "do you think she's going to make it to the end of the show?"....
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I saw Damien Rice live the year "O" was released and it was one of the most honest, real, moving, passionate performances I've ever seen in my life. Respek.
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Aww, I like Damien Rice! I didn't mean to be mean. His O songs are a little old, that's all. I wasn't blown away. He would have been better indoors, at a coffee shop or something.
And if that song is titled "The Blower's Daughter Part 2," some of the hope I have for his next record has been restored! And if not, yikes.
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For what it's worth...
I was up front, almost right in front of Fiona, at Summerstage. She had some very grouchy, heated moments staring daggers at her monitor engineer on the side of the stage, yelling at him between songs and always looking exasperated with whatever was yelled back. Two songs in she ripped out her in-ear monitors and tossed them across her piano.
So I think she was having trouble hearing herself onstage, and that accounted for a lot of the, umm, unusual vocals and erratic-even-for-Fiona behavior. Being unable to hear your own vocals onstage is fucking torture, and I can't blame her for having a rocky set because of it. Her show at the Nokia Theatre last December was completely the opposite, she was positively thrilling and spot-on all the way through.
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I just wanted to share my quick review of Damien's set from the other night, along with a couple of the pictures that I was able to take.
http://ynznnyc.blogspot.com/2006/07/damien-rice-in-central-park.html
Let me know what you think, if you get around to it. Thanks.
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Hmmm... she was a bit on edge in Boston (at least compared to the cool laid back Fiona we got in December), but nothing like what everyone else is describing. She was chatty and playful and fidgety, but we were spared any major wigouts.
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truly impossible to encapsulate that fiona concert- having seen her at nokia in december, summerstage found her much more spirited, invested, and rough around the edges...which is to say, quite unhinged. those who've kept up w/ her shows expect this to some degree. believe it or not, i felt this was a much more confident, road-savvy fiona, and i liked some of the spontaneous, jazzy turns she took. she was clearly out there taking some chances. but voice-wise, i thought she too-often took the lazy scream-option. we all know she's an extraordinary singer; she has little to prove there. i'll take the more intimate setting and sound of the nokia show- one of the best concerts i've seen in years- bookended, they showcase an entirely unique talent.
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I've wanted to fuck fiona apple for a long time.
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I saw Damien Rice in Seattle a couple years back and he was incredible. One of those shows that you can't even really talk about for a couple days, it was so good.
He made a lot of his songs very abrasive, using really loud distortion on the guitar, and lots of people (up where I was in the 3rd balcony, anyway) walked out.
He also did something that I thought was incredibly brave during the song "Cold Water." He turned off all the stage lights. The only light you could see was a small flashlight for the celloist to be able to see her strings. It was pitch black. And it went on for a long time. Then at the end of the song, when it climaxed, huge lights shining out into the audience suddenly came on, blinding us. It was awesome.
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fiona apple is a wonderfully, talented individual? her choice is to let the whole world know what it is like (for many people) to have lived and survived a very turbulent life and she puts it all out there for all to see (maybe, recognize? .......now, that's courage, if everyone had the option to just to scream out loud like that? maybe, we'd have less people doin prozac or killing others or themselves? yeah, allright, a weird way of expression? but she's not in jail or in a nuthouse? she's putting it all out right on a platter and she's making money doing this and hopefully, it's a form of therapy for what she's endured in her young life ! kudos to this young woman and may she be blessed with some happiness in her life and i hope that she's financially stable, becaus that's a HUGE plus, because, whether we like hearing this or not? YES, money DOES buy many slices of LIFE ! go guuuurll ! love her :P
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zyrtec
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