Artist: Jam
es Vincent McMorrow
Support act: Neeskens
Date: January 14, 2012
Venue: Tivoli Oudegracht
City: Utrecht, Netherlands
Stars: **** (out of *****)
Online Review (In Dutch) : My review for Ekaya.nl
Photos: all by MarcoSmeets.nl
Similar Artists: Ray LaMontagne, Bon Iver
Last month I went to my first concert in 2012 and I was really excited about this one. I went to see this amazing Irish singer-songwriter named James Vincent McMorrow in Tivoli, Utrecht at his sold-out show. He is one of my favorite artists at the moment. I discovered him for the first time when I saw him play in the woods of a small Island named Vlieland last September. He played a accoustic set at the Into The Great Wide Op
en Festival in front a crowd that was sitting on the ground and even in the trees. The only word that could describe that performance best was ‘magical’ . His voice was so amazing and even without his mic he sang a song while we could only hear him and some birds, everyone else was holding their breath. Here’s a picture of that gig——->
Last November he played in my hometowm Eindhoven, so I had to see him again. This time he played in another amazing venue, the Catharina Church, during Glow Festival. ( a light festival) He played at the 3 Nights In Heaven Festival together with Brett Dennen and Scott Matthew. It was another highlight of my year. (I see about 50+ live performances each year, but this one really stood out for me and many other people.) This time me & Marco took m
y parents with us and they fell in love with his voice.
<——–Here’s a picture from that night.
So I was very excited to see him perform in a regular venue to see if he could work his magic in a ‘normal’ place. This time Marco took his uncle with us to share this amazing experience with. I was very curious how James would sound together with a live band since we’ve only heard him perform by himself. His album Early In The Morn
ing is recorded by himself on a Island where he isolated himself for 5 moths to record his album. While you listen to it he takes you on a journey to another world. His songs are almost hypnotizing which makes you want to listen to it and stop everything else that you’re doing at that moment. That’s what I call good music. Music that sweeps you of your feet.
After support act Neeskens, which was a very friendly French/Dutch guy who played sweet popsongs and talked nicely to his audience we finally got to see James and his live band. The concert was partly seated so people would be inspired to be quiet while the band was playing. But there was no need for that. Right after the first note played everyone stopped talking and focussed on the music.
James started of a litt
le shy, like a hermit that hadn’t seen other people for months. His voice sounded beautiful and his band made the songs bigger and gave some great energy. He had 2 backingvocals singing with him and they melted nicely together. Within minutes everyone was flowing away into James’s world with his music. He brought us many beautiful songs and also some great covers from ‘Higher Love’ and ‘Wicked Game’. They were both breathtaking and during those songs I got very emotional which means he really got to me. That doesn’t happen to me lately because I go to so many concerts it’s harder for me to truly enjoy a good song that much that it makes me cry. After a few songs he started cracking jokes and really seemed to enjoy himself, which was very fun to watch.
What a night. Simply beautiful. He did it again. Even with his band he sounded amazing. I do have to admit that I love him more when he keeps his songs smaller by himself without the support of his band, just because his songs are suppose to be small. Besides that this has been an amazing concert which will be hard to beat this year by other artists. This is a artist that you def should go and see if you love singer-songwriters who make gorgeous Indie music. He will be worth to check out and you won’t regret it for sure!
Next concert will be: Gavin DeGraw – February 8, 2012 – Melkweg Amsterdam (with VIP! Yay)
Here are some of the videos we’ve made during the concert:
James Vincent McMorrow – Higher Love – 14-01-2012 – Tivoli Utrecht Made by Janske
James Vincent McMorrow – Follow You Down .. – 14-01-2012 – Tivoli Utrecht Made by Janske
James Vincent McMorrow – Early In the Morning – 14-01-2012 – Tivoli Utrecht Made by Janske
