2006, October 4 & 5 – An Evening of Songs by Leonard Cohen, Point Depot, Dublin, Ireland

A three hour show celebrating the work of Leonard Cohen at the Point Depot in Dublin as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival, curated by Hal Willner.

Hal Willner’s Came So Far For Beauty – An Evening of Leonard Cohen Songs was originally commissioned in 2003 by the Celebrate Brooklyn Performing Arts Festival with support from the Canadian Consulate General New York.

With: Anjani, Antony, Laurie Anderson, Perla Batalla, Steven Bernstein, Rob Burger, Charlie Burnham, Nick Cave, Julie Christensen, Jarvis Cocker, David Coulter, Don Falzone, Gavin Friday, The Handsome Family, Robin Holcomb, Briggan Krauss, Maxim Moston, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Beth Orton, Lou Reed, Chris Spedding, Kate St John, Teddy Thompson, Kenny Wollesen.

Gavin tackles Cohen’s difficult and ubiquitous “Hallelujah” together with Mary Margaret O’Hara and the pair take the song to places it hasn’t seen before. During the intermission their performance is much discussed. In the second half of the show, Gavin cheekily dedicates “Everybody Knows” to the Irish Taoiseach (PM) Bertie Ahern.

Setlist (October 5):

1. Avalanche – Nick Cave
2. Seems So Long Ago Nancy – Robin Holcombe
3. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong – Lou Reed
4. A Thousand Kisses Deep – The Handsome Family
5. The Guests – Antony
6. Dear Heather – Laurie Anderson
7. My Secret Life – Laurie Anderson, Antony, Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen
8. Who By Fire – Gavin Friday, backing vocals by Antony
9. Hallelujah – Gavin Friday & Mary Margaret O’Hara
10. Blue Alert – Anjani
11. Dress Rehearsal Rag – Nick Cave
12. The Stranger Song – Lou Reed
13. So Long Marianne – Beth Orton
14. Tonight Will Be Fine – Teddy Thompson
15. Death Of A Ladies Man – Jarvis Cocker & Beth Orton

Intermission

1. Because Of – Mary Margaret O’Hara
2. The Window – Mary Margaret O’Hara
3. I Can’t Forget – Jarvis Cocker
4. Sisters Of Mercy – Beth Orton
5. Joan of Arc – Lou Reed & Julie Christensen
6. Closing Time – Robin Holcomb, Julie Christensen & Perla Batalla
7. Bird on a Wire – Perla Batella
8. Chelsea Hotel #2 – Jarvis Cocker
9. Waiting For the Miracle – Teddy & Kami Thompson
10. If It Be Your Will – Antony
11. Famous Blue Raincoat – The Handsome Family
12. Suzanne – Nick Cave, Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen
13. Never Got To Love You – Anjani
14. Everybody Knows – Gavin Friday
15. You Know Who I Am – Antony & Laurie Anderson
16. Anthem – Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen
17. The Future – Teddy Thompson
18. Memories – All

Encore

1. Winter Lady – All the ladies

2001, April 25 & 26 – Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

The third and last of the Harry Smith Project incarnations takes place with two star-studded shows in Los Angeles. Both nights the running time was over five hours.

Performers: Elvis Costello, Beck, Don Byron, Marianne Faithfull, Steve Earle, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Van Dyke Parks, Richard Thompson, Bob Neuwirth, Gavin Friday with Maurice Seezer, Philip Glass, David Johansen, David Thomas, Percy Heath, the Folksmen, Robin Holcomb, Todd Rundgren, Eric Mingus, Adam Dorn, Eliza Carthy, Daniel Lanois, Steve Young, Garth Hudson, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap).

Music director Smokey Hormel and Bill Frisell fronted the band with horn-woodwind player Ralph Carney, violinist Richard Greene, D.J. Bonebrake on drums and alternating bassists Larry Taylor, Adam Dorn and Eric Mingus. Legendary keyboardist Garth Hudson performed the post-1 a.m. exit music on Royce’s pipe organ on both nights.

The L.A. Times wrote: “Irish singer Gavin Friday offered a fascinating music-hall rendition of the eerie “Fatal Flower Garden,” which was recorded in 1930 by Nelstone’s Hawaiians, and an equally theatrical treatment of “When That Great Ship Went Down,” recorded in 1927 by William and Versey Smith.”

Entertainment Weekly wrote: “Another highlight was Irishman Gavin Friday’s rocking rendition of ”Fatal Flower Garden,” a 1929 tune about a boy who goes to retrieve his ball from a neighboring woman’s house and gets locked up and killed by the psycho lady. Let’s see Marshall Mathers write something that sick! (On Wednesday night, at the first of the two shows, Friday was cheered on by his Dublin pals Bono and the Edge, taking a night off amid their own series of L.A. concerts.)”

2004, January 23 – Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

“Shock and Awe” was the second of two back-to-back performances featuring Randy Newman at Royce Hall in L.A. Newman himself performed songs from “The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1,” on January 23rd, followed by the Hal Willner produced tribute night “Shock and Awe”.

In the tradition of Willner’s Harry Smith Project, Willner put together an eclectic musical cast for his take on the Newman songbook. Willner and co-producer Janine Nichols reviewed almost 300 of Newman’s compositions and selected about 40 songs.

Artists performing on the night included: Terry Adams, Perla Batalla, Steve Berlin, Vic Chesnutt, Julie Christensen, Elvis Costello, E, Elysian Fields, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Frisell, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer, Bill Frisell, Ellen Greene, Ed Harcourt, David Hidalgo, Robin Holcomb, Peter Holsapple, Bob Neuwirth, Van Dyke Parks, Stan Ridgway, Steve Soles, Joey Spampinato, Chris Spedding, Rip Torn, Pete Thomas, Marc Anthony Thompson, John Ventimiglia and Victoria Williams.

The band included Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz, Sebastian Steinberg, Pete Thomas, Davey Faragher and an orchestra of horns and strings.

Stan Ridgway’s performed “Bad News from Home” and “Rider in the Rain,” Victoria Williams sang “Texas Girl at the Funeral of her Father” and “Davey the Fat Boy”, Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo’s sang “Sail Away” and “Going Home.”

Jack Shit played “My Old Kentucky Home”, Jennifer Charles played “Let’s Burn Down the Cornfield”, pianist Van Dyke Parks joined Frisell and Leisz for the main title of the film “Ragtime”; E (of the Eels) sang “Living Without You”, actor Rip Torn read “Political Science”; Robin Holcomb did “Shining” and Ed Harcourt’s sang “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”.

Gavin Friday’s sang “Germany Before the War” and “You Can Leave Your Hat On”.

The L.A. Times wrote: “Gavin Friday, for instance, found a strain of defiant affirmation amid the sad self-delusion in the “I know what love is!” rant from “You Can Leave Your Hat On.”"

2007, June 17 – Hal Willner Presents Vintage Disney Songbook

Forest Of No Return at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England was part of the 2007 Meltdown festival, curated by Jarvis Cocker and billed as follows:

“Hal Willner presents the Vintage Disney Songbook featuring Jarvis Cocker and very special guests. A live performance of Willner’s reinterpretations of classic Disney songs from films such as Pinocchio, Dumbo, Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book sung by special guest artists.”

The all star cast included Gavin Friday, Nick Cave, Grace Jones, Pete Doherty, Richard Strange, Beth Orton, Shane McGowan, David Thomas, Fenella Fielding, Roisin Murphy, Ed Harcourt and others.

Gavin performed “Siamese Cat Song” from “Lady and the Tramp” and “Castle In Spain” from “Babes in Toyland”.

Stuart Hardy wrote: “Gavin’s first number, the Siamese Cat Song (from Lady & The Tramp) came mid-way through the first half of the set. Musically this was an angular piece that emphasised the strangeness of the original, with the staccato, swooping strings suggesting the arched feline backs of its subject material. Superficially different to his recent performances of the past few years, there nevertheless seemed to be a continuity with some of the Tomorrow Belongs To Me material.

“Gavin’s second performance was the more straightforward Castle In Spain, also from Babes In Toyland: a gentle, vaguely Walker-esque song of cake and champagne. He gave it a Brechtian flavour and at times it was slightly reminiscent of his former wistful performances of Benares Song during the earlier phase of his solo career.”

• Review by Stuart Hardy
• Review in The Guardian
• Review on Musiclikedirt
• View Forest of no Return photos on Flickr

2008, July 28 – A Concert of Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys

Based on the Hal Willner produced CD release “Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys”, Rogue’s Gallery Live concert at the Barbican in London featured contemporary interpretations of traditional sea-songs and chanteys.

Artists involved included Gavin Friday, Baby Gramps, Ed Harcourt, Martha Wainwright, David Thomas, Ralph Steadman, Robyn Hitchcock, Neil Hannon, Shane McGowan, Norma Waterson, Teddy Thompson, Martin Carthy, Julie Fowlis, Eliza Carthy, Sandy Dillon, Suzanne Vega, Richard Strange, Tim Robbins & more. Pete Doherty, who was one of the first to sign on, didn’t show up on the night.

Gavin Friday sang “Baltimore Whores” and “Pinery Boy”, and guested on “Bully in the Alley”, “Boney was a Warrior” with Ed Harcourt, Baby Gramps and Sandy Dillon and “What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor” with David Thomas (Pere Ubu), Keith Moline and Shane McGowan.

Musicians

• Kate St John (oboe / cor anglais / saxophone / accordion)
• David Coulter (banjo / violin/ saw/ukulele/banjo/mandolin)
• Leo Abrahams (guitar / hurdy gurdy / mandolin/ bouzouki)
• Andy Newmark (drums)
• Martyn Barker (percussion)
• Dudley Phillips (double bass / electric bass)
• Roger Eno (piano, keys, harmonium)

Setlist

CAPE COD GIRLS / CROSSBONE SCULLEY – Baby Gramps + Chorus
HOG EYE MAN – Martin Carthy + Chorus
MY SON JOHN – Tim Robbins + Chorus
HAUL AWAY JOE – Teddy Thompson + Chorus
BALTIMORE WHORES – Gavin Friday + Eliza Carthy
FAREWELL NANCY – Langley Sisters/Ed Harcourt
OLE OG – Langley Sisters/Ed Harcourt
SAM’S GONE AWAY – Robyn Hitchcock + Chorus
LEAVE HER JOHNNY – Sandy Dillon
BONNIE PORTMORE – Kami Thompson + violins
ROLLING SEA – Eliza Carthy
DAN DAN + OBOE DUEL – David Thomas
FIRE DOWN BELOW – David Thomas
GED A SHEOL MI AIR – Julie Fowlis
MINGULAY BOAT SONG – Chris Difford + Kami
GOOD SHIP VENUS – Richard Strange
LONG TIME AGO – White Magic
BLOOD RED ROSES – White Magic + Chorus
COAST OF HIGH BARBARY – Neil Hannon
TURKISH REVELRY – Neil Hannon + Gita
BAY OF BISCAY – Norma + Martin, Eliza
SALLY BROWN – Teddy Thompson
BULLY IN THE ALLEY – Gavin/Sandy
BONEY WAS A WARRIOR – Gavin w/ Shane
SOUTH AUSTRALIA – Shane McGowan w/Tim + Chorus
HAUL ON THE BOWLINE – Tim Robbins + Chorus
THE CRUEL SHIP’S CAPTAIN – Tim Robbins + violins
CAROLINE AND HER YOUNG SAILOR – Suzanne Vega + violins
LITTLE BOY BILLIE – Ralph Steadman + Chorus
ONE SPRING MORNING – Teddy + Kath Williams + violins/BVs
ROW THE BOAT CHILD – Jenni Muldaur + Chorus + violins
DRUNKEN SAILOR – David Thomas + Shane + Tymon
LOWLANDS LOW – Chris Difford + Gita
LOWLANDS AWAY – Martha + violins
GREY FUNNEL LINE – Martha
NEW YORK GALS / WILD GOOSE – Robyn Hitchcock + Chorus
PINERY BOY – Gavin Friday + violins
TURAS – Julie Fowlis
LIVERPOOL CHANTEY – Shane + Pete Doherty & Tim + Chorus
THE MERMAID – Martin
THE NIGHTINGALE – Eliza
SHALLOW BROWN – Norma + Chorus
OLD MAN OF THE SEA – Baby Gramps

• Download Rogue’s Gallery Barbican programme (PDF)