Review: David Gray
The O2, Dublin
David Gray performed at the O2. Photo: Getty Images
A DECADE ago, David Gray would have had little trouble shifting all 14,000 tickets for this venue -- had it existed then.
Tonight it's far from full, but one Liam Devaney from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, is honoured as the one millionth punter to walk through the O2's doors since its opening.
Free tickets for future concerts and a private backstage meeting with Gray are his prizes.
Mr Devaney is lucky to get an intimate audience with the Manchester-born, Wales-raised singer: for a good chunk of the crowd, Gray and his sartorially elegant six-piece band are tiny figures dwarfed by the giant stage.
If ever a gig needed big screens, it's this one. Unfortunately, those visuals are not utilised tonight and as a result the actual music has to work harder to make a connection.
The first half of the show makes for compelling listening to fans of his more recent work, with two songs from his latest album 'Draw the Line' especially well realised.
Opener 'Fugitive' finds Gray musing on the state of the world post-Iraq war, while the tender 'Kathleen' is as lovely as anything he has written.
But for great swathes of the show, Gray struggles to make his songs transcend the enormous venue -- this, after all, was a man who honed his skills in the tiny confines of Whelan's on the other side of the Liffey.
The audience have to wait a full 40 minutes before he plays anything from 'White Ladder' -- the 1998 album that's by a long distance the biggest seller in Irish chart history.
He can hardly be surprised that 'Say Hello Wave Goodbye' is sung back word perfect from a crowd that have only offered polite engagement up to that point.
They're putty in his hands whenever he lifts the lid on the delights of 'White Ladder' -- 'Babylon', 'This Year's Love' and 'Sail Away' provide a giant karaoke session, while 'Please Forgive Me' allow his band to showboat.
Yet it's a new song that provides the night's highlight. A lengthy take on 'Nemesis' is so superbly delivered that it may encourage many to investigate the new album. With a mirror ball glinting behind him, Gray manages to make the O2 seem intimate.
- JOHN MEAGHER
Irish Independent
