TCS were taking a ferry from Scotland to Belfast, driving from Belfast to Dublin and then appearing with Irish DJ Donal Dineen to tape a couple of songs in session. They played "Trouble Sleeping" but I don't remember what the other song was, and I'm not sure when that show aired (or if it has).

At 5:00 the group of us headed over to the Mean Fiddler as we were supposed to meet TCS to do an interview for the TCS mailing list. The band was running late and around 5:30, their manager, George, came walking in and then Frank and Paul came in a few minutes later. A little while later, George came back and hung out with us for close to an hour, just talking about what the band is up to, the recent Japanese shows, other music groups, etc. We didn't have a chance to do the interview, but around 7:00 or so George managed to convince the bouncer that our group (which had grown to around 10) could be trusted, and he led us upstairs for the sound check.

Now, I had talked to TCS a lot over the last couple of years, but I had never actually met them or seen them in concert, so when we walked through the door and TCS were up on stage getting ready for the sound check, it was hard to believe I was actually in Dublin. They played four songs: "Easy Read", "Trouble Sleeping", "Usually" and "Duty Free" and of course I thought they sounded great, but they were working out some sound problems for part of it.

Afterwards we headed back down to the bar area, then came back when the doors opened for the opening act. While the opening act was on, George, Grant, John and I think Paul and Stevie were hanging around the bar chatting with people. While this was going on, they were surprised to find out a record label representative from Japan had made the trip to Dublin, and even more so when Sokabe from Sunny Day Service showed up! After a while they headed backstage to get ready for the show.

Before I give you the set list and try to describe the songs, let me say this: the new songs are very mellow, somewhat in the vein of "Claw", but there really aren't any ballads like "To Sir, With Love". I think John and George both said something to the effect that 'TCS are too old to rock and roll'. (Not that they were ever a rock and roll band, but they are definitely moving in a different direction, there seems to be more emphasis on the overall sound and not as much of the chiming guitars. It's hard to describe, but even though the songs are mellow, we all agreed that they are great, even after only one listen). Okay, here is the set list:

• Leave Me Alone - this is a nice song, maybe a bit like "How Can I Apply...?" (these comparisons are really just to give you an idea how fast or slow the songs are, not necessarily what they sound like). The lyrics that I could pick up talk about "the hardest thing of all is to be loved (?I think?)...the oddest thing of all is time. I'm not sad alone, so leave me alone, goodbye" (keep in mind that we tried to piece these together afterwards and it's now 6 weeks later, so these could be wrong!).
• Hammer Time - This features John on vocals ("hammer time, planets in a line, watch what unwinds. Days nailed down, in some other town...") He sounds great and the song starts out slow, but picks up steam as it goes along (as do many of the new ones), ending with Frank and John alternating with Frank singing these high notes and John singing these unintelligible symbols (I think he might be saying "time"..."dies"..). It's actually pretty good!
• Easy Read- The 'old' songs all sounded fantastic and actually not as mellow as they do on record (Easy Read and HCIA, for example, have more kick to them).
• Duty Free - For those of you who have heard Duty Free from the Sound of Purple CD, they have changed it a bit. Frank sings the whole song higher and they are playing in a higher chord. If you haven't heard this, it's another song that starts out slow and really picks up as it goes along. A very nice song.
• In Capitals - This is also sung by John. I can't really remember how it goes. John's voice sounds great and I think Frank sings quite a bit as well. This song used to be called "Busking", which is a term for street performing. The only words I can remember are something about "our lights in capitals", so I think it must be about dreaming of being famous. It's another mellow song, I'm not sure what to compare it to.
• How Can I Apply...?
• Trouble Sleeping - This is a neat song. Stephen Douglas (who sings on many more songs than I would have thought) keeps singing "flowers" in the background while Frank is singing. A couple of the guitar players in our group said John is playing the most amazing guitar riff in this song, but I don't know what they're talking about. The song ends with quite a bit of an instrumental. It sounds good, another mellow one.
• Hayfever
• Co-Stars - This is probably my favorite of the new songs. Again, it starts out slow, with just drums and bass, but then John and Paul start getting the guitars going and by the end it has really picked up. It has a wonderful melody, but I couldn't understand much of the lyrics ("co stars, fallen light so dark, do you have to fall so far"). I later found out there are some references to places in Scotland and supposedly if you know anything about them, then this song will make more sense, but even if you can't understand the references, this is really a wonderful song. Good choice for a single.
• A Boy and A Girl - I have to say this is not one of my favorite songs, but hearing it live really gave me a new appreciation. It's amazing to hear the contrast from Co-Stars to Boy and a Girl and then to...
• What Women Do To Men - This was the first time TCS played this song. Think of "An Unfortunate Age" but with some sparse guitars instead of a piano.
• Usually - This is basically a duet with John and Frank, but they're mostly singing at the same time instead of trading lines. This is another one that is kind of slow at the beginning but gets louder as it goes along. There are a lot of plays on the words usual/usually/unusual. I like it.
• The Hairy Years
• I've Seen Everything
• The Safecracker
  Encore
• Snow

That's it, 16 songs, about 75 minutes. I'd say Co-Stars, Leave Me Alone, Duty Free and Usually are my favorite songs. As our group talked about afterwards, I wonder if they have a couple of 2-3 minute faster paced new songs to round things out. It will be interesting to see what ends up on the album and I'd guess that all the songs they played will end up on the album or as a b-side. There aren't any throw-aways. There were a few hundred people there (maybe 300 or so) and the new songs were very well received. The crowd was very enthusiastic, really going nuts after every song and actually singing along with The Safecracker.

After the show, TCS came out to the bar area around 12:00 and spent the next two hours talking to everyone, signing autographs and taking pictures. They really are about as friendly a bunch of guys as you could expect to meet. They don't at all think of themselves as famous or stars and don't treat you any differently than they would expect to be treated. They seem more interested in finding out about you than talking about themselves and were amazed that people had travelled from the US, Scotland and Norway to see them. They are also very critical of themselves, they all thought the show was terrible (by the way, they thought the Fukuoka show was the best in Japan). If Dublin was terrible, I couldn't imagine what they might think is a good concert! It really was a pleasure to finally meet them.

I wish I had put this page together sooner after the concert but this is what I can remember. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail, and hopefully you'll be able to see and meet them soon.

If you have any questions, comments, etc, e-mail me at jdimaria@gis.net
Back to my TCS page
The last time I messed with this page was April 23, 1999 1805
All pages at http://www.gis.net/~jdimaria/ © copyright 1996-1999 Joey DiMaria