The last time W&H cought up with mohicaned man about town DYLAN he was fronting one if his two wildly different combos DYLAN & MY EVIL EX at this here venue, on that occasion supporting twisted Mancunian popsters Vinny Peculiar.
This time, Dylan's only got his trusty Takamine acoustic for company, but - as a veteran of Cork's vibrant open mic tradition - he's entirely comfortable in the spotlight glare, and proceeds to raise the bar for the evening with a set of sparky, intelligent and caustic pop songs that work well even in stripped-down form.
He's got a bulging bag of tricks to dip into, as well. His vivid, percussive guitar style serves him well, and instils an infectious drive into songs like the Buzzcocks-y "Trouble", the chromatic, Diablo-fuelled thrills of "Merry Little Hell" and the catchy quirk-pop of the lovesick "Permanent Heartache."
These are impressive in their own right, though if anything he keeps the best in reserve for the home strait, when he proudly unveils "Hymn To God" - a darker, tense and fraught affair - and the excellent "Adore", which - with its' low-riding riffs - sounds every inch as taut and obsessive as it does with the band in tow.
"I've had dinner with Mark Eitzel tonight," he reveals as a parting shot. "Even if my world ends tonight, I don't care. I can die happy." Fair enough, mate, but let's hope a comet doesn't do the instant obliteration bit, because Dylan (with or without My Evil Ex) is becoming a name to conjure, and one who deserves recognition on a wider scale.
So it's clear acoustic NYC troubadour JOE BRACK isn't going to be given an easy ride, but this is his first trip to Cork, and the end of a two-week trek this gritty singer/ songwriter has been undertaking around Ireland. He's got two likeably accomplished albums ("Stones Throw Away" and "Superhero") to his name and thus plenty of material to draw upon, and is clearly keen to end his tour on a high.
Looking like a cross between Michael Weston King and a younger Eitzel in his smart, white trilby and neat blue and grey shirt (ironic, bearing in mind the American Music Club tune of the same title), Brack's songs are probably the most traditional singer/ songwriter affairs of the evening, but his warm voice is distinctive, his finger picking is fluid and he's not afraid to throw a few curves, as we'll see.
From the off, it's sounding good. Early highlight "Rescue Me" has a defiant, weatherbeaten feel with just a tinge of Ryan Adams and pivots around the line "I tell ya baby, it'll be alright" and a full-blooded chorus. Good start, and one he's soon building on steadily with songs like the keening hurt and loss tangible in "Superhero" ("If I was a superhero, then the skies would clear and you'd be here...wish you were here") and the redemptive, quasi-religious aspect of "Wishing Well" immediately earmarking them as music of quality and depth. Just to show he's happy to embrace diversity, he sets up a primitive beat to sample for another song and intially sets about it a capella, a la David Byrne. Drawing on Americana, folk, blues and the inimitable US power pop tradition, Joe Brack is surely one to watch.
The last time W&H were in MARK EITZEL'S presence, meanwhile, was at an ecstatic American Music Club show in Glasgow back in February. To see him back on British/ Irish shores so quickly is gratifying, and - after being pilloried with requests for AMC songs he can't perform effectively on his own, San Francisco's greatest self-styled "balding geek" is soon explaining why he's back without his grizzled chums in tow.
"See, songs like "Nightwatchman" and "Room Above The Club" only sound right with American Music Club," he says disarmingly. "I can only bring 'em out infrequently because Vudi (AMC guitarist extraordinaire) drives a city bus in LA and he gets loads of health benefits. He says to me, "Sure I'll tour with you anytime Mark....if you gimme $10,000 to get my teeth fixed".....so I can't afford that too often, y'know."
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This is greeted with warm applause, but Eitzel needn't have worried. This is an audience of true devotees and with Cyprus Avenue tonight reinvented to embrace a supper club vibe, these are Eitzel's people, prepared to indulge him. That said, he's keen to meet us half way and with only Dylan's trusty Takamine again being pressganged into action (Mark, where did your own guitar go?), he's soon got us eating out of his hands with a typically fraught and emotional "Outside This Bar." With its' nihilistic lyrics such as "Together we'd turn our love into violence" it's remains classic Eitzel all the way and sets the tone for a typically fascinating, idiosyncratic evening in the great man's company.
The next hour or so finds us strapping in for the expected emotional rollercoaster ride, but - as usual - it's a risky journey that's ultimately worth taking. Songs from past, present and future make their way into the frame, with the skeletal beauty of "Blue And Grey Shirt" and a surprise cover of Joy Division's immortal "Heart And Soul" (introduced by Mark as "a song by my favourite band when I was, like, 20" and played with the scary intimacy of Nick Drake circa "Pink Moon") dominating the early part of the set.
Initially, it looks as though this evening may be more of an opportunity for Eitzel to revisit the dustier corners of his mighty back catalogue, but before long he's laying into a number of choice cuts from recent AMC album "Love Songs For Patriots." Although in this bared-boned form, some of the aggression is inevitably lost, the brooding intimacy and confessional tone only adds to songs like the wracked "Only Love Can Set You Free" and "Patriot's Heart", which is introduced by a hilarious prelude relating to an evening in Ohio involving a gay bar, a man from said establishment called Spanky and several sideways swipes at Dubya's administration. Suffice it to say you needed to be there.
The intimacy is never less than affecting, though on a few occasions you really do wish Vudi, Dan Pearson and co were also present, not least during a rather wooden version of arguably this writer's favourite Eitzel song, "Western Sky" and some of the newer items such as "Ladies And Gentlemen" where Eitzel can match the bellowing fury of the vocal, but the menacing attack of the music is sorely absent. Nonetheless, he gets the desperate yearning of "Why Won't You Stay?" absolutely bang on, and when he reaches the inevitable "Firefly" (presaged by a wry comment of "No, 10 Euros doesn't buy you requests"), it's truly enough to have most of us levitating down the front.
As memorably intimate soirees go, then, this surely must rank as one of the very best your reviewer has been privy to. Slag it off all you like, but the acoustic singer/ songwriter tradition remains the lifeblood of the industry, and when left in the capable hands of skilled protagonists such as these, it seems that Vudi's dentist isn't the only winner after all.
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