24 November, 2003, Limelight, Belfast, N. Ireland

review by Rory

After making the 80 Mile journey North we arrived at the more intimate Limelight venue in Belfast. Having recovered from his illness Troy Van Leeuwen and his band Enemy opened tonight's proceedings with a fantastic (and quite heavy) set, if their forthcoming release is half as good as their live show then we are in for a treat. Soon afterwards the Lanegan Band took the stage and played as follows;

Message to mine (great new song) Borracho One way Street Sleeping With Me Don't forget me Wedding Dress No Easy Action Miracle Death Don't have Skeletal History (another great new song) On Jesus'program Because/Hotel Creeping Coastline of lights I'll take care of you Metamphetamine Blues Mockingbirds (solo with van Leeuwen) She Done River Rise Fix (The set list had included Pill Hill Serenade and Clear Spot but was seemingly cut short by Lanegan who whispered to the other band members who then proceeded to play Fix which turned out to be the last song)

Tonight's show wasn't quite as good as the Dublin Gig largely Due to the poor Acoustics of the venue coupled with a less than enthusiastic crowd who kept shouting stuff like "play some Trees" or play "hanging tree". That aside it was still an amazing show and i got to hear some different songs from the Dublin gig which was great. We managed to Meet Mark again (in a random Side street!)who was searching for his hotel, he remembered me from the night before and once again signed some stuff for me, all in all a great night out.

Review by Rory Rushe

review by Colin

This was the second time I've seen Mark Lanegan live in Belfast. The last time was at the Empire Music Hall two years previously when he was touring the Field Songs album. (Although I did catch him with QOTSA at the Reading 2001 festival) There were two notable differences with the Limelight gig on Monday night.

Firstly, the Limelight was packed with people. When I had seen Lanegan 2 years previously there was a big empty space right down in front of the stage. This was undoubtley to do with the QOTSA connection, as he's been exposed to a wider audience now. The other big difference was the sound of the music. The sound was a LOT more heavy, with more emphasis on guitar solos and distortion this time around. Obviously touring with the Queens has rubbed off on Mark!

The crowd did seem disappointed, as I could tell a lot of them where expecting him to maybe do Queens songs, but what the fuck do they know. This was different from when I'd seen him previously, but equally as excellent a performance. The hecklers pissed me off no end, there was none of that shit 2 years ago,those people then where there for the MUSIC. Not to say everyone was disappointed, I'd say the hardcore Lanegan fans of about 25% of the crowd were pleased.

oh yeah, he didn't do any Trees stuff either. (He closed his previous show in the Empire with a rousing version of Gospel Plow,, probably the most rock out moment of the show!)

My only criticisms of the show would the keyboard player, who did not add anything good to the music that I could hear, the acoustics of the club in general, and the fact that they cut the set short by two songs. Lanegan was his usual godlike surly self, they should have brought a street sweeper on tour just to clean up all the fag butts around the microphone stand.

And finally my girlfriend got to meet him after the show, after bumping into him before the show a couple of times and not realising who he was. He was a true gentleman, signing autographs and chatting away. She told me that before the show she had seen him looking at a Robbie Williams poster outside his dressing room, and then shaking his head, which amused me no end!!

review by T-Bop

Dublin, Village 23rd Nov/Belfast, Limelight 24th Nov.

I managed to get the two shows in this time around due to an old friend from Dublin giving me a call and providing the necessities - guest list, booze and place to stay. Then wheeled it up to Belfast on a bus the next night and caught the ML band in Belfast. Ta to all concerned.

Highlights - Clear Spot, Fix, Blues for D, Message to Mine. Lowlights - synth guy (he must be supplying something)

The Dublin show was a bit messy, I had a word with Brett Netson about this while in Belfast, he reckoned they were all over the place at that show, major balls ups happening in basically every tune. I told him that probably most of the audience didnt really notice but that guy Norman Block is a bit dodgy compared to Gene Trautmann on the last tour. Then Brett goes, 'Did you think the last band was better than this one? You can tell me - I was in them!' we laughed a bit and i admitted yeah that the last band was a lot tighter. He told me this current line up had 2 weeks to learn 30 songs, so that might give you an idea of the pressure. I reckon Gene Trautmann and Mike Johnson were missed, Troy van Whatever is a good guitarist no doubt, but I think MJ and Brett gel better. Thats just me. Oh and lose the synth guy, its like - too many cooks.

Lanegan delivered as usual, he could go anywhere with that voice - but damn does he smoke like a demon. I mean deep sucking drags. Bucket lungs. By the way - he should get an ashtray sorted out. He was a bit more animated in the Belfast show than in Dublin (if you can call it animation!!) - which is surprising - a friend of mine was the lighting tech in Belfast - he says they arrived from Dublin at 6.0pm (soundcheck was due at 2.pm). Hungover as pikes by the looks of things. Lanegans birthday you see. By the way both shows were mini-disc recorded, apparently for the aid of the drummer. Bit like locking the stable after the horse has bolted......
P.S. my buddy the lighting guy got told to calm the lights after he did a few moving light spills onto lanegans face during one song. apparently he likes to keep it dark....!
Laters T-Bop.