Kurt Wagner has broken a string on his '47 Gibson and it's only the second song. "A good omen" he claims.
As the show unfolds, it would be hard to find anyone to disagree with this statement, as we are treated to over 2 hours of life-affirming, Alt.Country-soul-jazz-punk-rock.
Well, pigeonholing doesn't work when it comes to Nashville's finest 14+ piece band, 7 of whom take the stage tonight: a line-up including piano, pedal steel and two guitars producing all manner of strange noises.
Pianist Tony Crow takes the stage first, arriving at what sounds like the "Looney Tunes" theme after a couple of minutes of piano virtuosity. This cue introduces the rest of the 'Chop collective and they commence with a straight 1-2 from the latest opus "Is A Woman."
Both "The Daily Growl" and "The New Cobweb Summer" benefit from a more muscular stage sound, a combination of the rhythm section's laiad-back funk (Matt Swanson on bass and Sam Baker on drums) and Kurt's percussive guitar sound.
The first broken string sets the tone for the first of two new tunes tonight: the piano-led "The Puppy And The Leaf", which wouldn't have sounded out of place on "Is A Woman." This is followed by several raids on the back catalogue including "The Old Gold Shoe" where the on-record horns are replaced by "bop bop" backing vocals, and a soulful "Betweemus" going way back to debut album "I Hope You're Sitting Down."
During the guitar breaks we get the first indication that these guys rock just as hard as anyone else you might care to mention, when guitarists William Tyler and Alex MacManus go into noise-out mode.
The band let loose again on the coda of "You Masculine You, " yet another performance where the 'Chop prove themselves way too funky and soulful to be considered a mere "Country" band. They proceed to demonstrate even further versatility, switching effortlessly to the rhythms of latin jazz for a second new tune "The Gusher", apparently inspired by a shaving cut and definitely a highlight tonight.
By no means does it constitute a "peak" though, as it's followed by a menacing, slowed down "Butcher Boy," Kurt squeezing every inch of emotion from the folk song lyric, and our guitar heroes once again deploying a wall of noise. The contribution of the third guitarist should also be mentioned, pedal steel maestro Paul Niehaus, who also takes some beautiful Spanish acoustic solos. "Nashville Parent" being a case in point.
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The band head into the home straight with another back catalogue surprise, "Garf" from "How I Quit Smoking," which boasts some classic Wagner lyrical gems, e.g: "And I could receive a call from the overweight Garth Brooks/ who would then try to offer me like a hundered thousand dollars just for me to go the fuck away."
Kurt breaks his second string of the night and Tony Crow tells some jokes involving the private parts of donkeys before the guys build up another soulful groove with "D.Scott Parsley" (embellished by samples and weird trickery from Tyler's Ace Tone gizmo) and capitalise with a rapturously received "Up With People."
Current single "Is A Woman" closes, and Kurt gets to go for a well-deserved cigarette break with the chants for more ringing in his ears.
This time Tony brings 'em back with "The Simpsons" theme. 1st encore is "The Man Who Loved Beer", a case of title belying melody and lyrical poignancy. Then, from out of nowhere, we get a funked-up cover of THE BUZZCOCKS' classic "Why Can't I Touch It?" with glorious three-part chorus harmonies. Kurt stands up, takes a bow and exits, leaving the guys to mop up, hitting each chord in the finale with relish.
And so Mr. Wagner and co finish yet another European jaunt with plenty to be proud of, and their Cork audience await their second coming with just as much anticipation as the first. It seems Kurt is just as adept at reading his omens as creating masterpieces of the songwriter's craft.
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