Dave O’ Grady at the Music Room in Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The ambience, the environment of a tangible quiet serenity is only ever enhanced when a musician of deep meaning words adds his worth to the vibe on offer. Like a master painter of seascapes finding the one flaw in his work that would have gone unnoticed by all and sundry who marvelled infront of it, the addition of a single piece of spectral light peering ominously from behind a passing cloud, not only adds texture and meaning, it adds a vision perhaps unseen.
Dave O’ Grady has long been a favourite adopted son of Liverpool. The mixture of Dublin inspired lyrical value cohabiting in one space with an ingrained desire to put across with much love, a Liverpool sentiment that hangs well on the shoulders of the genial man, is something that should never be dismissed, not lightly or with flippancy. For Dave O’ Grady stands proud both on and off the stage and listening to his voice remains a true pleasure, no matter how many years you have been following music in the city of Liverpool.
The Music Room at the Philharmonic Hall may be serene, the vision of modern cool situated and nestled in amongst Victorian grandeur, post war design and perhaps the disturbing allusion to caring for 21st Century student needs, but that serenity is inflated as both Dave O’ Grady and Adrian Gautrey on pedal steel guitar come to the stage; the sense of the Music Room being initiated into the culture of Liverpool music finally being realised by the calmness of depth and beauty.
The six songs on offer by Mr. O’ Grady were subtle, gorgeous and filled with deft imagery and Mr. Gautrey’s involvement added something tremendously different to the evening.
Whether in the shape of Home, Sister, Whisky, a splendid cover of John Prine’s Angel From Montgomery, the powerful pull of My Best Friend and the expansive argument behind Petty Tyrants, all were captured with grace, undisguised affection and meaning for the audience to digest.
Dave O’ Grady is a songwriter that doesn’t know the meaning of writing of a song without passion, the crowd at the Music Room, Liverpool as a whole, is better off for that.
Ian D. Hall