philipchevron wrote:HORSLIPS
Castlebar, Co. Mayo
November 28
I am surrounded by 50-year old men dancing in a manner that might be considered unseemly anywhere else but a Horslips gig, and the thought occurs that if we had given these men (and they are almost all men: as Barry Devlin notes from the stage, nobody ever met his future wife at a Lipsos gig!) the keys to the country back in the day, when they first realised they wanted them, Ireland would not be in the state of chassis and enslavement in which it currently finds itself. And unseemly dancing would be a thing of the past. As Horslips know better than anyone, their fans are half of the Horslips story.
It remains a strange and wondrous carnival, this Horslips reunion, now in its second Christmas, after 30 years apart. Clearly the band are enjoying it at least as much as the fans, old and new, and the note of "irreverence" (Barry again) that has crept in will have delighted them as much as the heartfelt welcome back does. Back in the early 70s, when they single-handedly turned Ireland from an old black and white movie into a colour flick, these men showed us how attractive a commodity irreverence actually was. Horslips were Ireland's very own Elvis/Ed Sullivan Show moment.
Some new old songs this time, including a welcome chunk of the undervalued Dancehall Sweethearts album. And of course they play "Dearg Doom", showcasing the greatest ever Irish rock riff. Watching Johnny Fean's hands at close quarters again, I remember what it is that makes him unique - he invented the Irish Blues guitar style, that mode of expression that scoffs at first and second strings and keeps itself firmly within the parameters of the heavier gauges and lower frets, not so much because it is self-effacing and modest but because it has a hunch that jubilation might not end well. Look what happened when the Edge started using the top strings - hubris and then bankruptcy.
