Live Review: Mark Eitzel - Workmans Club, Dublin Feb 21st

The danger of seeing and reviewing an Idol is that it's very difficult to be objective and rational in the critique. It wasn't going to take me much to really enjoy a Mark Eitzel gig but I'm going to try my best to reveal how entertaining the gig was.

Support came from Gary McFarlane, the lead singer of Dublin Alt/Rock band Autumn Owls. It was a solid acoustic set from Gary which showcased his impressive vocals and intricate finger picking style. The songs were fine but unmemorable.



I adore the 1994 American Music Club album 'San Francisco' and on Thursday night I got to see the chief architect of that album Mark Eitzel in The Workmans Club in Dublin. Mark Eitzel arrived on stage with his drummer, keyboardist and bassist and proceeded to perform one of the standout tracks from the album 'San Francisco'. That song was 'What Holds The World Together' and the band had me won over immediately.





Here's a live video of 'What Hold's The World Together' from London's Bush Hall


Video credit: http://www.youtube.com/MartianRap

The remainder of the gig became a  roller-coaster ride through old songs, new songs, hilarious introductions and song explanations with the type of good spirited audience banter that only a veteran of the personality of Mark Eitzel can pull off.

Stand-out tracks performed from Mark's most recent album 'Don't Be A Stranger' include 'I Love You But You're Dead' which was a line written by an actress on a poster for Mark, 'Costume Characters ....' about those people employed to dress up for Disney and the best track on the album 'Oh Mercy' about Mark being invited and then ignored at a party. As a result of hearing 'We All Have To Find Our Own Way Out' live and it's explanation that it's about a female stalker who was trying desperately to get attention from Mark, I've grown to really love this track.

Here's a live video of 'We All Have To Find Our Own Way Out' from Munich:



What raised Thursday's gig above the ordinary was the audience banter. From the hilarity of his introduction of the second annual farewell tour, or of showing a paper bowl that the setlist was written on, to thanking people for choosing his gig over Ron Sexsmith's Academy show and revealing at one stage that he'd rather be there than ...... and then embarrassingly regretting going down that road, had all ultimately made it a very unique night of pure entertainment. 

I for one can't wait to go to his third annual farewell gig! 


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