Concert Review by Shawn Fitzmaurice

For their Boston show on 14 March, 2008
(Watch for an interview with with Bell X1’s keyboardist, guitarist, banjo player and some time singer, David Geraghty, coming soon to Pady-Whacked Radio!)

Concert Review by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Bell X1 is positioned to hit North America at a super-sonic level. Named for the first aircraft to travel faster than the speed of sound, this band has been booming in their native Ireland for over a decade. For the past several years they have been achieving tremendous success there and with their neighbors in the UK.

Imagine the chance to see a band like this in a venue with the floor space of an average house. That is what North-American audiences are getting on this tour, the band’s first major one on this side of the Atlantic.
T.T. The Bear’s Place is a legendary rock club in Boston’s neighboring Cambridge Massachusetts. Like most venues in the area, it is built into a room that was not designed for music. The acoustics are awful in this place where many famous acts began their carriers. Having said that, there is a dark hominess about it, but that may be skewed by nostalgia for this establishment that hasn’t changed one bit in the nearly two decades I have been going.

The opening act couldn’t have been more apt. Brit singer-songwriter David Ford kicked off this event with a powerful one-man-show, steeped in song-smithery and an arsenal of effects. I found this eerily reminiscent of performances by former Bell X1 band mate (from their former band, Juniper), Damien Rice.

Though tremendously engaging and intense, the performance was frustrating in that the audience seemed largely uninterested. This compelled Mr. Ford to leave the stage with a sarcastic rendition of “Oh What A Night.” Ironically, and sadly, this got the crowd’s attention and hearty participation.

But, oh what a night for those who have been waiting a decade to her Bell X1 play live! By the time the Bellies (the band’s “pet name”) arrived on stage, this largely Irish accented crowd was jammed together, wedged between the stage and the sound board.

The Band’s lack of new material can be forgiven, as their four-year-old record, Flock, was finally released in North America this past February. The years have been generous, and these already amazing songs are increased exponentially in their ability to enthrall a live audience. The melodies are intelligent; the lyrics poetic and clever. Drummer-turned-lead vocalist, Paul Noonan’s “David Byrne-esque” body language and lyrical-banter are punctuated by skillful percussive accents on the small kit situated front and center.

Though it took Noonan half a song to find his voice, he soared through the set largely negating the room’s built in acoustic “suck filter.”

This band shows off its multi-instrumental abilities with the three front men. On stage right stands Brian Crosby who mostly plays guitar but switches off to keyboard on a regular basis.

On stage left is David Geraghty who fills a similar roll to Crosby, except in reverse, and plucks a killer rock and roll banjo on the song Alphabet Soup. He takes up the back end of the band’s fluid harmonies and provides lead vocal on the song Trampoline.

Supported by a rock solid rhythm section of Dominic Philips on Bass and Tim O’Donovan on drums, Bell X1 is one to watch, and one to watch live. If you get a chance, see them on this tour in a small venue. It’ll likely be your last opportunity to be up close with this band who has potential to rival the other Irish rock band named after a legendary airplane.

Shawn Fitzmaurice is the founder of Paddy-Whacked Radioâ„¢, running an FM broadcast and a podcast focusing on Irish Indie Music.

Copyright © 2008 Shawn Fitzmaurice and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 at 4:02 am and is filed under Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.