"Sorry for the delay in the gig. The flight took two years", quips Ron Sexsmith at the beginning of a hugely entertaining, and at times emotional, night. There is a hugely endearing quality to Ron. His shyness on stage remains, yet with that simple one-liner, he was able to win over the Dublin crowd.
The crowd won over, he then proceeded to wow them with a performance of beautifully crafted, poignant, and quite charming songs, solo on guitar and keyboard, with no safety net.
With 16 albums filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, we were treated to two sets, the first focusing on deeper cuts from his work, the second from his better-known songs, all of equal quality, and delivered with quiet grace, and good humour.
Even the deeper cuts are songs that others would kill to have written.
‘The Words We Never Use’ is music as an olive branch. ‘Pretty Little Cemetery’ raises issues of death and the resilience of childhood to contemplate loss. Heavy stuff, but delivered with a light touch it is both, tender and thought-proving.
The man can write a love song, and encapsulate so much in 3 minutes. ‘Fallen’, covered as a torch song in the past, is delivered in its purest form, with Ron accompanying himself on guitar, and it is quite stunning.
After two years of the pandemic, and all the losses and hardships it has entailed, ‘Spring Of The Following Year’, is a hugely appropriate message that fresh shoots of recovery are here.
The first set ended with a song from Sesame Street, ‘New On The Block’, beloved by his daughter back in the day. Ron introduces the song, telling the crowd his wife Colleen had met a couple in the Dublin hotel where they were staying, who had just arrived in the country 5 weeks ago, and spoke of the warm welcome they had received. The couple were in the audience, and received a warm round of applause.
Without referencing the dreadful sciences in Ukraine, and the growing refugee crisis, Ron had managed to speak to the heart of all in the hall. With the world in disarray, and so many displaced, the short song spoke of the compassion and love we all seek from each other.
On the very first day in my new neighbourhood someone said hello.
Such a simple act of kindness dispensed by a child, but there is so much we can learn from such unconditional acts.
Alternating between guitar and keyboard, Ron’s songs have always been able to encapsulate their message with brevity and clarity, and always with melodies that return to the listener days after the gig. Tonight, stripped bare to their basic essence, they sparkled in such a setting.
I have seen Ron several times over the years, and tonight his voice seems stronger, yet mellower at the same time. Is that possible?
The wonderful ‘Gold In Them Hills’ was given an airing, as was ‘Secret Heart’, ‘Get In Line’, and ‘Nowhere To Go’… and the Dublin crowd loved it.
The enigmatic short story that is ‘Strawberry Blonde’ always leaves the listener wondering, hoping things will work out okay for the mother and daughter. Rare that a song story, will leave its audience so concerned about it’s protagonists, but that is the magic of the song, and the man.
Ron acknowledged that Micheal Buble covered ‘Whatever It Takes’, before suggesting, “but this is the way to do it”, to great laughter.
After a richly merited encore, Sexsmith tells us he’ll be 60 in two years.
I’ll look like Dumbledore next time I’m back.
After such an amazing and life-affirming show, we really don’t mind how he looks, just as long as he comes back.