The Dirty Three – Queen Elizabeth Hall, London 07/12/09

-

“This songs about you being right, and the rest of the world being wrong. And you think that you’re right for about a good 15 years and then one day, actually realise that it was actually you who was wrong all along. But sometimes it’s good to be wrong. It’s called Sea Above, Sky Below” Violinist (and I guess you could say front man) Warren Ellis is in typical form tonight. Bantering freely and candidly inbetween songs. And I swear, he goes on longer inbetween songs than the songs themselves. Not that we’re complaining or anything.

He sure does give a human element to the mystical and sweeping instrumental music. He opens the evening discussing his experience at My Bloody Valentine curated All Tomorrow’s Parties (which Dirty Three performed at over the weekend) which he refers only as “Butlins”. I’m not entirely sure if it was a wholly positive experience, only because he only refers to enduring excessive heat in his chalet and “Boiling like a sausage in Butlins”.

But tonight isn’t an evening of self promotion or pushing any new records or singles. Thankfully. No pressure to pick tracks from the latest release. We get songs like ‘Some Summers They Drop Like Flies’, ‘Hope’, and ‘Kim’s Dirt’. The hits. Tonight is a mutual love in. They’re here just to play and it’s reflected in the relaxed atmosphere of the performance. Why don’t we just get a room eh? The band are in the country and have their weekends book-ended by “Butlins” and are making good use of their time over. Warren himself admits, “We’ve got no new songs tonight for you.” Pause. You can almost see trying to find an excuse but failing… “So yeah we just haven’t got any new music”. Lazy buggers. New songs are overrated any way. Bands should only play old songs. The classics. So they brought the hit parade instead.

“What shoe size are you?”
“”Not telling… What size are you?”
“12!”
“4? Fuck me… I think got them in London though. I think…”

Highlight of the evening is the very incredibly affecting ‘Authentic Celestial Music’, sounding achingly heartbreaking as Warren’s violin mournfully croons over Mick Turner’s simple yet effective progressive guitar chords which give the song a solid foundation to build from as Jim White’s drum flourishes add another dimension as the violins begin to swell into overdrive. It sounds like a distant dream of longing and desire. Absolutely gorgeous.

“I Like your shoes!”
“Yeah, we covered this already before.”

The banter between artist and crowd is such a pleasure to feel part of. Usually, audience members randomly screaming out could create awkwardness and ruin the general mood but Warren takes each heckle in his stride and bats it out of the park with effortless ease. “Now this next song, this was our attempt at an American Pie or a Hotel California. We wanted to played in Supermarkets. It’s a song about living in a hole. Living an a hole and decorating it. Ladies and gentleman, this song is called Everything. Is. Fucked.” Oh my god… I love this song so much. I really do. The way the strings weave in and out and how it propels in to a gigantic overwhelming climax of noise and drum barrages.

“This next song is about being dead in the back seat of the car… Because you had too much fun. This is song for any one who’s dead or is dying. It’s called ‘Sue’s Last Ride’.” And what an end it is to the evening. There was even a mid-song silence that lasted a good 15 seconds, that was impeccably observed. You could hear a pin drop, the silence was that good. Well done, Londoners!

“Did any one see us at Butlins this weekend?”
“YES!”
“What the hell are you doing here tonight then?”
“Because we love you!”
“Ah…good answer.”