{"id":538,"date":"2009-11-14T22:44:39","date_gmt":"2009-11-14T21:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/blog\/?p=538"},"modified":"2009-11-14T22:45:53","modified_gmt":"2009-11-14T21:45:53","slug":"the-hothouse-flowers-at-the-alley-theatre-review-by-mickey-ferry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2009\/11\/the-hothouse-flowers-at-the-alley-theatre-review-by-mickey-ferry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hothouse Flowers at the Alley Theatre – Review by Mickey Ferry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"The<\/a>
The Hothouse Flowers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite being a live unit for almost 25 years there are no indications that Hothouse Flowers are about to succumb to the role of complacent elder statesmen of Irish Rock, chiming out the tried and tested on auto-pilot. As exemplified on this particular evening in the Alley,<\/a> there is still no certainty as what Liam \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed and Fiachna O\u2019Braonain will do next. The Hothouse Flowers take their audience around the world, with the musical styling changing not just from one song to the next but, at times, from one verse to the next.<\/p>\n

Tonight, they took Strabane to the Afro-American Gospel Halls of the South, and then hitched a ride with Muddy Waters to Blue Chicago after finding some African Roots in classics standards like \u2018Your Love Goes On\u2019 and \u2018Don\u2019t Go\u2019. At the heart of this trans-global two hours, twenty minutes was an unmovable Celtic Soul that only reinforced just how sweet a thing it is when music travels, marries and merges. Ultimately, there are only two kind of music: good and bad, and this was damn good stuff!<\/p>\n

The mood was set with epic opener \u2018Isn\u2019t It Amazing\u2019, which immediately accommodated for \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed\u2019s love for building a song from a subtle beginning to something anthemic and rousing. Appreciation was unanimous, with the audible seal of approval from \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed\u2019s three-year-old daughter, Pema (meaning Lotus) from the balcony enough for the man himself. Pema later took to the stage herself and sat on daddy\u2019s knee during \u2018Better Man\u2019, a lovely moment between father, daughter and the audience.<\/p>\n

As ever, \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed managed to make scruffy look stylish: barefoot and dressed in a manner that would see the rest of us told to \u201cmove along\u201d; the open shirt and long overcoat fitted him like a glove. He looked every inch the rock star poet, like a vagabond in the gutter forever looking at the stars. Only he can pull it off and he does it well. Besides, it was his birthday; he could wear what he liked!<\/p>\n

A tale of being arrested for \u201cminor grevious bodily harm\u201d preceded \u201cIt\u2019ll Be Easier In The Morning\u201d, scaled down but no less powerful than it was in its 1989 carnation on the band\u2019s \u2018People\u2019 album. A beautiful version of \u2018Sweet Marie\u2019 had couples snuggling up, which was a bit odd considering it\u2019s a song about the breakdown of a relationship in the Dylan \u2018Blood In The Tracks\u2019 mode.<\/p>\n

Snuggling to \u2018Dear John\u2019 letters done, it was then time to dance! Audience members got up off their seats for \u2018This Is It\u2019, as \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed swooned and swooped like a gentleman in need of a lot of room on a dancefloor. \u2018Forever More\u2019 and \u2018You Can Love Me Now\u2019 illustrated how the absence of the studio choir matters very little when you\u2019ve got \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed and O\u2019Braonain filling in with harmonies to raise any roof. The band got playful again on \u2018Your Love Goes On\u2019 with pop, trad and reggae breezing along together. This continued with the African-tinged rendition of \u2018Don\u2019t Go\u2019, much to the delight of the dancing audience.<\/p>\n

In the midst of the party, the Flowers\u2019 penchant for risk perhaps went to step too far as the joyful \u2018Don\u2019t Go\u2019 was stopped abruptly only for the band to venture into what could be best described as a long winded extended moment of progressive rock. It was obvious that it was going to kick back into \u2018Don\u2019t Go\u2019 eventually but the momentum of the slightly bewildered audience wasn\u2019t the same come its return.<\/p>\n

Come the encore and all was forgiven as the Traditional Irish roots of the Flowers came to the fore with ‘Cailleach an Airgid\u2019. A foot stomp resonated around the Alley as tin whistles and bodhr\u00e1ns and Irish dancing graced the stage. The set was closed with the very wonderful \u2018Hallelujah Jordan\u2019, as the Flowers, after taking us around their catalogue \u2013 and the world – for over two hours, took us back to the beginning \u2013 a journey worth taking time after time.<\/p>\n

Mickey Ferry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Published with the kind permission of N. Flatman of the Alley Theatre Strabane.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For full programme listings at the Alley Theatre Strabane <\/a>please go to www.alley-theatre.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Alley<\/a> offers a state of the art 270 auditorium, modern art gallery, box office, training\/break out rooms, sound recording studio, the Strabane Tourist Information Centre and Jenca Cafe Bar.<\/p>\n

The Alley Arts and Conference Centre<\/a> is available for hire for business, government and the 3rd sector. The venue has a strong record for hosting press launches, regional and national conferences and workshop\/training days with clients from across Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

For further information about hiring this award winning venue, contact the Alley Arts and Conference adminstration Office on 028 7188 4760. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being a live unit for almost 25 years there are no indications that Hothouse Flowers are about to succumb to the role of complacent elder statesmen of Irish Rock, chiming out the tried and tested on auto-pilot. As exemplified on this particular evening in the Alley, there is still no certainty as what Liam … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[47,5,46,48,10,6,9,3,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}